AMC Madison Spring Hut — Hotel in New England

We decided in March that we wanted to spread out a Presidential Traverse over many days and stay in the huts along the way so we didn't have to camp out and carry much food. We targeted July 4th weekend because that seemed like the best chance for good weather, and we were surprised there were still enough isolated days open for booking that we were able to patch together a trip going from south (Highland Center) to north (Madison Springs). We joined the AMC with a $60 family membership because their discounts on rooms more than made up for it, and always happy to support a great conservation organization. See our other hut reviews for more details. For this hut (Madison Spring), we paid $108 each ($216) plus tax for a night (after our AMC member / 3+-night discount). ||||You Should Have Known When You Booked (So Don't Complain):||- No Showers||- No Hot Water||- Shared Rooms with Bunk Beds....and they ONLY provide you a thin rubber mattress, thin pillow, and 3 wool blankets (if you want anything else, you should know to bring it yourself)||- Shared Bathrooms||- In the Middle of the National Forest||- No TVs, No Outlets for Power||- This is a community experience, you will be eating at large tables with other hikers, as well as socializing with them in your free time||- Yeah, it is expensive....but look where you are and what it takes to keep this place going||- There are no room / bed reservations….so first come first serve, which sometimes means if you arrive late, you are getting the top of a 3-stacked bunk bed||- Wake-up call is 6:30AM (although most rooms seemed to have people up and making noise around 6AM), breakfast is at 7:00AM, and dinner is at 6:00PM. If you are late, they will try to scrounge some leftovers for you but no guarantees.||||Good||- Very friendly staff who have fun with their duties (lunch/ breakfast/ tips for hikers)||- Very tasty food, plenty of it, and such a treat considering where you are||- They provide free earplugs (you will definitely need them) and free hot drinks to overnight guests||- Free potable water to everyone||- Since we were expecting rough hole in the floor toilets, the toilets here were incredibly surprising and civilized. Clean (with toilet paper), no smell, regular toilet seat, very nice for being in the middle of the woods!||- Free soap AND hand sanitizer in the bathrooms||||Challenges/ Improvements/ Considerations||- While the morning skit after breakfast was fun, it also held everyone captive when we wanted to be hitting the trail (can this be done after dinner instead?). The real point of the skit in general was a fun reminder that they work for tips, it wasn't obnoxious and I didn't mind since they didn't mention it all otherwise. They don't force anyone to tip and just have a container at the front door - we left $5-$10 per night for 2 of us.||- They offered a naturalist talk/ walk after dinner, pretty brief and more children oriented||- Definitely be prepared for lots of families/ children - we were really surprised how many kids - made a little more "busy" but also thrilled they are outside and not on their devices.||||Well, we left Lakes of the Clouds at 7:30AM sharp and had a LONG hike all day (over Washington, Clay, Jefferson, & Adams), only making it here at 6:30PM (when they were serving dessert but did have leftovers of everything for us except for the garden salad). This was without a doubt our hardest day – all along we had been saying that the Webster/ Jackson trails had been our hardest (lots of scrambling up steep rocky faces), but the duration and large boulders of this stretch took the cake. And Adams, that darned Adams, was a beast and IMO (perhaps tackling at the end of a long day affects our opinion) the hardest of our hike. This is probably a good point to stress to people that you really need to plan this hike, it is not something you just roll out of bed and decide to do unless you are a 24 year-old daily hiker/ runner. Particularly this leg which was 6+ miles over lots of elevation (each peak is an up and down again). We were surprised by how many people we ran into late in the day who were only a mile or two into their hike in the late afternoon but still heading to Lakes of the Clouds at the end of the day. My review is more on this hut – but some key things – at least 3L of water (we brought powdered Gatorade), hiking boots, hiking poles (these White Mountains, in particular the tops of these 4K peaks, are almost exclusively HUGE slippery boulders), hat, sunblock, bug spray (if in June consider a bug net, seriously), flashlight, sunglasses, first aid kit, rain gear, layered clothing, maps, etc. ||||Anyhow, we really liked Madison, it is open and airy, small and intimate, clean, and at a great location near some lakes. We arrived late and were initially worried about our inevitable worst bunk assignment, BUT they have some cool top bunks here that are designed for couples and put the two upper bunks next 2 each other with shared storage and TONS of hooks – we probably liked these beds best of all our stays, in spite of having to climb a ladder! Next morning – a quick one hour r/t to knock out Madison and then back to our car...

In hiking Mt. Madison, it is so great to come upon this hut prior to climbing the summit.||(I took the Valley Way Trail).||We were staying the night so we checked in and got out bunks. Then we summited the rock pile that Madison is, and again it was a nice respite to reach the hut again.||This place is all pine so it is cool looking.||There are bunk rooms that fit many people. But, everyone has been hiking, and hiking different trails and different lengths of hikes. Everyone has a story and conversation is fun.||You are give a bunk with a pillow and wool blankets. The blankets were much needed in mid September!!! I did bring my own pillowcase and sleep sack. I also brought ear plugs because there were people who snored, including my hiking companion. But it was all part of the adventure.||The croo were friendly and helpful. The food was amazing!!! I have to eat Gluten Free and they were able to accommodate that dietary need, including amazing GF pancakes made by Melissa!!! I saw other people getting what they needed dietary wise, also. I ate so well for both dinner and breakfast. Which helped with the continued hiking. ||Waking up on a mountain is an experience that...

Joel and Hope are our savors! My husband and I spoke with Joel and he helped us plan our trails over the next few days with our goals in mind. With high winds near the top of Mt. Adams, we turned around instead of going over. I twisted my ankle on the way down, and because of our egos, we did not want to explain to Joel that we didnt make it over. Last minute, we decided to go another route to another tent spot. We took the Madison Gulf Trail (aka Mad Gulf) as it was a direct route. Little did we realize the elevation change in such a short distance. With my bummed ankle and horribly steep terrain, we called for help. Then came Joel & Hope to our rescue! Because they were extremely positive with such a whimsical attidudes, we knew we were in great hands. Joel tapped up my ankle and even carried my heavy pack for me. Hope was a great trail leader, looking ahead to the next obstacles. We couldnt have done it without their help. We cannot be more greatful to come across two amazing souls in the mountains. THANK YOU...