August 3, 2013

August 3, 2013 - Day 5

Start: Wildcat Peak D
End: Carter Notch Hut
Daily Mileage: 3.0
Total Mileage: 19.4

We woke up and took our time this morning. The gondola doesn't start running until 10am, so we were not in a rush. Our plan was to drive to the White Mountain Hiker Hostel on Rt. 2, just off the AT, leave our car there, and get a ride from them to the gondola. On our way there, we drove past and who do we see?? Tallboy and Grandpa! We gave them a ride to Wildcat 2 days ago when we saw them at McDonalds. Now, we ran into them again. This time, they needed a ride to Walmart, so we became their "trail angels." After we dropped them off, we went to the hostel and shortly after that, we found ourselves at the Wildcat gondola. We rode to the top and just like that we were back on the AT. I'm thinking they should consider making the gondola the official AT route!! We started up (the AT always seems to go up) and climbed over wet rocks and ledges. Sometimes, I was pulling myself up using all four limbs. It was tons of fun except for the 35 pound monster that decided to jump on my back today! The last two days we hiked, we slack packed so my pack weighed no more than 8 lbs. The down side of slack packing is that your pack feels ten times heavier when you put it back on after you slack. It also doesn't help that we are just starting out again so the pack always feels heavy and my legs always feel tired. By the time we reached the summit of Wildcat A, we started to descend into Carter Notch. I was really excited because we were on our way to the only AMC hut that we haven't seen. The way down was steep (about 1000 ft in 1 mile), rocky, wet, and muddy. Mentally, I was enjoying it. Physically, I was a bit worried about my knee. It didn't hurt anywhere near the way it hurt the other day, but coming down on it with an additional 35 lbs. was no "walk in the park." Haha. Just before the hut, we walked along a pond for about .2 of a mile. It was covered in lily pads. Have you ever actually seen a frog sitting on a lily pad??? I have... I saw the frog just long enough for it to jump into the water with a "plop" sound. Once we arrived at Carter Notch, we talked to the awesome hut master, Justin. We asked about camping options since we didn't think we would get to Imp Campsite as planned. The campsite was 7 miles away and it was already 2:30. With my knee and the rough terrain, I was doing about one mile per hour. He told us about 2 stealth campsites in the area, but both were right near the hut. He then offered us the one bunk they had left in the hut for $40! They are usually about $100. Deal! We decided to stay at the hut so I can rest my knee and tackle some more rough terrain tomorrow.

Peace Be The Journey
~Flicka