The alarm went off at 4:30am. I mumbled something and hit the snooze button. This was repeated a couple of times before I realized that I had to get up and on the road to meet Poison Ivy up at our car spot, 3-1/2 hours away. Fortunately, I was finally smart enough to pack everything the night before, so after quickly feeding the cats I was driving up I-93.
Around Manchester I recognized Ivy's car go flying past me, and so strove to catch up. This proved to be quite difficult, and I'm glad for both of our sakes that the state trooper didn't notice us. Just past the tolls, I put on my blinker to make my usual stop, and Ivy kept going. I was a bit confused, since she couldn't start hiking without me ... could she?
My fears were alleviated when I arrived exactly at 9am at the end of the Rattle River Trail. We loaded up my car and went over to Pinkham Notch, parked, threw on our packs, and at 9:45 started on the Lost Pond Trail.
Lost Pond is an attractive location, remarkably isolated both from the Notch and from the peaks above. However, on the edges of its beauty lie a nasty jumble of boulders interspersed with mud. Combined with my extraordinarily heavy pack (I was carrying fresh food for dinner), it made for quite the annoying first mile. However, it was nothing like what was to come. At 10:20am on Saturday, September 4, 2004, we turned onto the Wildcat Ridge Trail and started straight up.
I was somewhat prepared for the climb - I had seen HikerBob's pictures. The ledges, however, did not unnerve me as I'd expected. The footing and the handholds were very good. Numerous drill holes indicate where large sections of rock have been removed to make the trail, and the remains of these excavations make for secure grips. The problem was that the trail is very close to the uphill vertical face of the next ledge, and in trying to navigate up it, my pack was snagging and bumping off the rock. At times, it felt almost like it wanted to push me. This made me uncomfortable but it was more than made up for by the incredible views across Pinkham Notch. There is no equal in the Whites to that panoramic look to Mt. Washington, from Huntington Ravine all the way to Slide Peak.
The trail winds it way into the trees, and we followed it. Soon our views turned from behind us to ahead as we looked at the steep backside ledges of Wildcat E. It was still a good distance away - this was turning into a long two miles. We had a snack and continued up. Unfortunately, we never did locate the stick-figure "E" that HikerBob found, because shortly after what we assumed to be the summit of E, we dropped out of the trees and into the open col at the Wildcat Gondola summit station. We talked briefly with some tourists, snapped a few photos, and continued up the trail. Before I knew what had happened, we were at the observation platform atop Wildcat D. That was the shortest, easiest col I ever traversed. It was 1:30, and the platform, in spite of the missing railings, decrepitness, and gaping hole in the floor, made for a fine lunch stop. Ivy's avocado hummus really hit the spot, and I enjoyed lightening my pack by eating half a bunch of grapes. This was #44 for me, #41 for Ivy.
It was time to continue on our way, and we soon discovered for ourselves the joys of the ups and downs. We weren't sure of what lumps were Wildcat C and B, but one of them managed to cause me to slip when stepping down a steep section. Thankfully, I was able to twist left into the trees as I fell, and slid harmlessly down on my stomach until I could snare a limb. Apparently it looked really funny; I was just glad to have not fallen forward on the rocks. At 3:40 we crested Wildcat A, swinging over to the lookout for the incredible views of Carter Notch and the Wild River Valley.
The way down from Wildcat A was as I remembered - a lot of elevation in a short distance, but not bad at all, with fine footing and a reasonable number of switchbacks. Considerable work has been done at the crossing of the landslide since I was last there in the summer of 2000. At that time, the trail was just a "dented" path in the loose soil. There are now boulders reinforcing the route and no longer a stream of water running down the center, making for a much less nerve-wracking traverse of the slide.
We came down into the Notch and for the seventh time I experienced the magnificence of the towering rock ledges over the upper lake, the beauty of the Rampart against the lower lake, and the joy of arriving at Cozy Carter. This is my favorite hut; however, since the caretaker was out and didn't return until almost 5:30, we were unable to get a bunkroom assignment and unpack, which kind of left us in limbo when we should have been able to kick out and relax. But no worries, after finally getting established in our bunkroom (one of the 6-person rooms, and none of us snored!), I went to make dinner. I improvised a "veggie piccata" over fresh pasta and was very pleased with the results. Carter is always a joy to cook at, with the full kitchen, huge stove, running water, and every implement known. Sure, you can save the weight and bring dry noodles, but the people around you will be having gourmet meals so suck up the weight and enjoy a feast.
The evening was topped off by a few games of cribbage with Ivy then several rounds of Hearts with our bunkmates Kevin and Katie. That night I slept like a log - it was the best night's sleep I've ever had while on a hike. I'm pretty sure it was from having a real pillow.
The drawback to sleeping soundly is that there's the chance of oversleeping, which I did - I didn't wake up until 6:45. By the time we had breakfast and packed up, it was just before 8:00. This was a lot later than I'm used to, and I was just a bit nervous about getting to our destination, Imp Shelter, early enough to get space on the holiday weekend. I need to learn to relax.
We went right up the Dome, up the incredibly steep Carter-Moriah trail. It's a tough way to start the morning. Ivy prefers to not end the day on a trail like that, and I agree; however, starting right out like that isn't much better. Fortunately, the trail does have excellent footing and after only 0.3 miles opens up to an amazing view back down into and across the Notch. Someone had left a t-shirt here, dirt-covered and spread out over a rock, weighted down to not blow away, reading "Determination and the will to win are measured internally". Inspiring words for the moment, which in an ethical quandry I chose to leave for someone of greater authority than I to remove.
The rest of the way up the Dome was far easier than I remembered it - I must be in better shape than I was in past years. We were on the summit of the Dome by 9:20, bathed in a misty gray. The clouds filled me with despair as I looked vainly for the summit of Mt Hight. I didn't want to be on the peak with the best views in the range if it was going to be socked in. Well, as we arrived on Mt Hight a mere half-hour later, though the sky had not cleared the clouds had at least lifted, and we stopped for a snack in the presence of the magnificent views of the Wild River Valley. At this point, Kevin and Katie caught up to us; we would leap-frog for the next several miles.
Of course, soon after descending from Mt Hight the sun did fully come out - Zeta Pass glowed a bright green as the bog bridges wound through numerous mossy areas. We would be in and out of wisps of cloud for the rest of the day, all of which emphasized the green moments even more. There was plentiful water both at the Pass and in a few locations just north of it. The trail leading to South Carter was very enjoyable and relatively easy. I celebrated #45 on South Carter, and #46 on Middle Carter at noon. I'd already climbed the Dome, Wildcat A, and Mt. Moriah, so this was the end of my peakbagging, with still another day and a half to hike. Ivy, however, was picking up peaks left and right - Middle Carter was #45 for her.
Over Mt Lethe there were some great views to the ledges of Mt. Moriah, but the clouds had dropped again and we couldn't see much. After topping out on North Carter at 1:00pm, the descent began. The trail down from North Carter is nasty. There are numerous steep ledges that we had to climb down, and with large packs often had to turn and go down backwards. These ledges were almost all wet, the worst, tallest, most vertical one had a stream of water pouring right down it. I was not having fun anymore. This could have been an enjoyable scramble up, but as a descent it was torture. For me, anyway. Ivy loved it.
At 2pm we got to Imp Shelter. I was surprised but impressed that we'd managed to do the Carter-to-Imp traverse in only six hours. Plus, this meant we'd have a nice, relaxing afternoon just hanging around, and for that I was pleased. We easily got room in the shelter and met two guys from Michigan who were out for the week doing the AT from Rte 2 down to Crawford Notch. They generously loaned us their water bag, which made filtering a lot easier, and after throwing on an extra layer of warm clothing (it was getting quite chilly) we relaxed on the funky bench with the great view out across the Kilkenny.
A school group was camping on the tent platforms; the caretaker (Matt, visiting from his usual rounds in the Mahoosucs) set them up on the group platform where their creative tarp placement was impressive. They were all well-behaved and welcome guests. Katie and Kevin also found themselves a tent platform, along with a gentleman I later learned was Bandanas4me here on VFTT.
Continued in next post...
Around Manchester I recognized Ivy's car go flying past me, and so strove to catch up. This proved to be quite difficult, and I'm glad for both of our sakes that the state trooper didn't notice us. Just past the tolls, I put on my blinker to make my usual stop, and Ivy kept going. I was a bit confused, since she couldn't start hiking without me ... could she?
My fears were alleviated when I arrived exactly at 9am at the end of the Rattle River Trail. We loaded up my car and went over to Pinkham Notch, parked, threw on our packs, and at 9:45 started on the Lost Pond Trail.
Lost Pond is an attractive location, remarkably isolated both from the Notch and from the peaks above. However, on the edges of its beauty lie a nasty jumble of boulders interspersed with mud. Combined with my extraordinarily heavy pack (I was carrying fresh food for dinner), it made for quite the annoying first mile. However, it was nothing like what was to come. At 10:20am on Saturday, September 4, 2004, we turned onto the Wildcat Ridge Trail and started straight up.
I was somewhat prepared for the climb - I had seen HikerBob's pictures. The ledges, however, did not unnerve me as I'd expected. The footing and the handholds were very good. Numerous drill holes indicate where large sections of rock have been removed to make the trail, and the remains of these excavations make for secure grips. The problem was that the trail is very close to the uphill vertical face of the next ledge, and in trying to navigate up it, my pack was snagging and bumping off the rock. At times, it felt almost like it wanted to push me. This made me uncomfortable but it was more than made up for by the incredible views across Pinkham Notch. There is no equal in the Whites to that panoramic look to Mt. Washington, from Huntington Ravine all the way to Slide Peak.
The trail winds it way into the trees, and we followed it. Soon our views turned from behind us to ahead as we looked at the steep backside ledges of Wildcat E. It was still a good distance away - this was turning into a long two miles. We had a snack and continued up. Unfortunately, we never did locate the stick-figure "E" that HikerBob found, because shortly after what we assumed to be the summit of E, we dropped out of the trees and into the open col at the Wildcat Gondola summit station. We talked briefly with some tourists, snapped a few photos, and continued up the trail. Before I knew what had happened, we were at the observation platform atop Wildcat D. That was the shortest, easiest col I ever traversed. It was 1:30, and the platform, in spite of the missing railings, decrepitness, and gaping hole in the floor, made for a fine lunch stop. Ivy's avocado hummus really hit the spot, and I enjoyed lightening my pack by eating half a bunch of grapes. This was #44 for me, #41 for Ivy.
It was time to continue on our way, and we soon discovered for ourselves the joys of the ups and downs. We weren't sure of what lumps were Wildcat C and B, but one of them managed to cause me to slip when stepping down a steep section. Thankfully, I was able to twist left into the trees as I fell, and slid harmlessly down on my stomach until I could snare a limb. Apparently it looked really funny; I was just glad to have not fallen forward on the rocks. At 3:40 we crested Wildcat A, swinging over to the lookout for the incredible views of Carter Notch and the Wild River Valley.
The way down from Wildcat A was as I remembered - a lot of elevation in a short distance, but not bad at all, with fine footing and a reasonable number of switchbacks. Considerable work has been done at the crossing of the landslide since I was last there in the summer of 2000. At that time, the trail was just a "dented" path in the loose soil. There are now boulders reinforcing the route and no longer a stream of water running down the center, making for a much less nerve-wracking traverse of the slide.
We came down into the Notch and for the seventh time I experienced the magnificence of the towering rock ledges over the upper lake, the beauty of the Rampart against the lower lake, and the joy of arriving at Cozy Carter. This is my favorite hut; however, since the caretaker was out and didn't return until almost 5:30, we were unable to get a bunkroom assignment and unpack, which kind of left us in limbo when we should have been able to kick out and relax. But no worries, after finally getting established in our bunkroom (one of the 6-person rooms, and none of us snored!), I went to make dinner. I improvised a "veggie piccata" over fresh pasta and was very pleased with the results. Carter is always a joy to cook at, with the full kitchen, huge stove, running water, and every implement known. Sure, you can save the weight and bring dry noodles, but the people around you will be having gourmet meals so suck up the weight and enjoy a feast.
The evening was topped off by a few games of cribbage with Ivy then several rounds of Hearts with our bunkmates Kevin and Katie. That night I slept like a log - it was the best night's sleep I've ever had while on a hike. I'm pretty sure it was from having a real pillow.
The drawback to sleeping soundly is that there's the chance of oversleeping, which I did - I didn't wake up until 6:45. By the time we had breakfast and packed up, it was just before 8:00. This was a lot later than I'm used to, and I was just a bit nervous about getting to our destination, Imp Shelter, early enough to get space on the holiday weekend. I need to learn to relax.
We went right up the Dome, up the incredibly steep Carter-Moriah trail. It's a tough way to start the morning. Ivy prefers to not end the day on a trail like that, and I agree; however, starting right out like that isn't much better. Fortunately, the trail does have excellent footing and after only 0.3 miles opens up to an amazing view back down into and across the Notch. Someone had left a t-shirt here, dirt-covered and spread out over a rock, weighted down to not blow away, reading "Determination and the will to win are measured internally". Inspiring words for the moment, which in an ethical quandry I chose to leave for someone of greater authority than I to remove.
The rest of the way up the Dome was far easier than I remembered it - I must be in better shape than I was in past years. We were on the summit of the Dome by 9:20, bathed in a misty gray. The clouds filled me with despair as I looked vainly for the summit of Mt Hight. I didn't want to be on the peak with the best views in the range if it was going to be socked in. Well, as we arrived on Mt Hight a mere half-hour later, though the sky had not cleared the clouds had at least lifted, and we stopped for a snack in the presence of the magnificent views of the Wild River Valley. At this point, Kevin and Katie caught up to us; we would leap-frog for the next several miles.
Of course, soon after descending from Mt Hight the sun did fully come out - Zeta Pass glowed a bright green as the bog bridges wound through numerous mossy areas. We would be in and out of wisps of cloud for the rest of the day, all of which emphasized the green moments even more. There was plentiful water both at the Pass and in a few locations just north of it. The trail leading to South Carter was very enjoyable and relatively easy. I celebrated #45 on South Carter, and #46 on Middle Carter at noon. I'd already climbed the Dome, Wildcat A, and Mt. Moriah, so this was the end of my peakbagging, with still another day and a half to hike. Ivy, however, was picking up peaks left and right - Middle Carter was #45 for her.
Over Mt Lethe there were some great views to the ledges of Mt. Moriah, but the clouds had dropped again and we couldn't see much. After topping out on North Carter at 1:00pm, the descent began. The trail down from North Carter is nasty. There are numerous steep ledges that we had to climb down, and with large packs often had to turn and go down backwards. These ledges were almost all wet, the worst, tallest, most vertical one had a stream of water pouring right down it. I was not having fun anymore. This could have been an enjoyable scramble up, but as a descent it was torture. For me, anyway. Ivy loved it.
At 2pm we got to Imp Shelter. I was surprised but impressed that we'd managed to do the Carter-to-Imp traverse in only six hours. Plus, this meant we'd have a nice, relaxing afternoon just hanging around, and for that I was pleased. We easily got room in the shelter and met two guys from Michigan who were out for the week doing the AT from Rte 2 down to Crawford Notch. They generously loaned us their water bag, which made filtering a lot easier, and after throwing on an extra layer of warm clothing (it was getting quite chilly) we relaxed on the funky bench with the great view out across the Kilkenny.
A school group was camping on the tent platforms; the caretaker (Matt, visiting from his usual rounds in the Mahoosucs) set them up on the group platform where their creative tarp placement was impressive. They were all well-behaved and welcome guests. Katie and Kevin also found themselves a tent platform, along with a gentleman I later learned was Bandanas4me here on VFTT.
Continued in next post...
