Date: 2009-09-13
From: Osgood Tentsite

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 17.9

If the darkest hour is just before the dawn then the coldest one would appear to be pretty close to 4:30am. 3 days ago I noted that I 'woke cold at 4:40', yesterday it was that I 'reached for my fleece at 4:40' and last night I was a 'little chilly at 4:30'. A pattern me thinks, an unwelcome one perhaps but then again nothing to complain about.It was an easy stroll down to Pinkham notch. Some ups and downs, following and crossing streams, and then some smooth flat stuff on to the visitors centre. Mix in a bright morning with a couple of stops and some great views back towards Mt Madison and you would have to be a right miserable git to find anything to complain about.The visitors centre was a bit of a disappointment though. A disappointment all of my own making. I 'd been banking on some decent resupply but the offering was not altogether what I might have hoped. I could have got off at various points over the last few days, and even here I could, if I so desired, head for Gorham, but I had decided to traverse the Whites undistracted by towns and their dubious joys. I reckoned all the joys I needed would be right here in the hills and so I had packed a lot of food, but even a lot does not last forever and now the cupboard was distinctly bare. I had been toying with taking three days to get to Gorham but, with only snacks and little of substance, I could see that I would have to do it in two. Easily doable - three would have been spinning it out but two might require me to push the odd mile. Such were my choices. Two days it would be.Time to roll then, round a lake and on up Wildcat. A steep climb and it was hot but there were plenty of opportunities to stop and the views to make it rewarding. Views back towards the north face of Mount Washington. Not perfect views, it was 10:30 and the clouds had started to gather over the higher slopes but I was happy.Those clouds were to be become my companion though. I climbed, they descended and we were soon sharing the same stretch of these high mountains. Over Wildcat and on to Carter the trail remained below treeline so I wasn't missing much and I horsed on to make some of the miles that would see my food stretch to Gorham.I had a chilly but peaceful and perfectly enjoyable lunch perched on a boulder overlooking one of the lakes near Carter Hut and then headed on up Carter Dome. Perhaps it was the mist, perhaps it was my schedule, but the climb seemed much longer and steeper than I had imagined. Climbing up and up I even started to hope that I might pop out above the clouds but I never did. Even in the miserable conditions I still could not bear myself to miss out the completely unnecessary and pointless loop to Mount Height. Following the white blazes when the blue ones would have made much more sense. Maybe there would be something to see. Maybe I was delusional.Zeta Pass, South Carter, Middle Carter and North Carter all came and went and sitting below the clouds on the cold northern flank of North Carter I paused for diner. The campsite wasn't far and even being this chilly it was a good place: the play of sun and shadow across the wild expanse, a warm jacket, a bit of scran. Sure a few more degrees of heat or maybe some of that tantalising sunlight falling on this particular weary dogs behind would not have gone amiss but as I said earlier you would need to be a miserable old so and so to be too uncharitable.