Date: 2013-08-24
From: Northern Peaks Inn

To: Rt 2
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: clear sky

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! We were told to do 10 miles a day in The Whites but we thought we could do 21 miles without packs. It turned into a real nightmare but luckily we kept our cool and made it out safely. Our day started at 6:15am and ended at midnight. We got up and walked to McDonald's where we could pound down 2000 calories each for under $20. We then got picked up by Trail Angels Shuttle (they do charge but very good) We were on the trail at 8am. Our hike began with a straight up climb to the summit of Wildcat. It consisted of 3 false summits until we reached the fourth one. I called my mom for her birthday. I couldn't believe I got service. It was so good to hear her voice. We had a sunny, perfect temperature hiking day. We set out happy and optimistic. We hiked to Carter Hut, set in perhaps one of the prettiest sceneries we've ever looked upon. We walked around a sparkling lake with the mt reflecting in it. The hut had bean soup, c c bread and other leftover food. We enjoyed the food and conversation with the young man working at the hut. We set off after an hour break, one we shouldn't have taken for so long. We set out again to climb and climb. We had huge climbs and were happy not to have our packs on. We climbed Mt Height for our last spectacular view of The Whites. We climbed Carter mt and mt Moriah. Mt Moriah was very tiring at the end of a long day. We thought we would never find the summit, there were so many false summits. We kept going up, finding an open rock area only to go back on the path and go up again. We wanted to scream with exasperation. We knew we had a 5 mile downhill once we summited Moriah. It was getting late and we kept going up. We'd seen such beautiful views so these climbs added nothing. Finally we got on the downhill path and the sun went down as well. We were in blinding darkness because of the tree cover. Fifty year old depth perception disappears in darkness. I truly appreciate how blind people negotiate the paths they must walk. It was darn near impossible. We usually pick up mileage on the downhills but now we slowed to a crawl, a virtual shuffle. At one point Cub's leg fell through the path into a hollow cave opening. She could have broken her leg, I'm sure I would have, but she calmly pulled it out. She was shaken up but didn't cry. Badonkadonk and I told her we would have. We continued to trip and stumble our way down. The noises of large animals crackling leaves were right next to us. Very scary and unnerving. In addition we stupidly forgot our headlamps! Never ever hike without a flashlight or headlamp!!! I held the cell phone up over the girls to light the way. Luckily I had plenty o power. Badonkadonk walked with the camera screen on. Thanks for such a versatile camera, Strangler. Crazily lit and calmly we proceeded downhill. I was so proud of the girls because try stayed calm, except when the animals crept by, then they fought to be in the middle. We put Cub in the middle since she was the one most likely to be eaten first, or so she said. I kept reassuring them that no matter how long it took we would make it, dad knew where we were, we were in touch with the shuttle guy and we had beds to go back to. I was inwardly worrying about it getting colder, that we'd lose the path and that at least one of us would trip and be badly hurt. To add to the drama we had to cross 4 rivers and several springs in the pitch black. Not fun, fully terrifying. Slippery rocks with roaring water going past our blind selves. We did not reach the bottom, Rt 2, until 10:30pm!!!! We called the shuttle, which took 1/2 hr to get to us because someone's car hit a moose and they has to clear it. It was freezing once we stopped hiking. But on the positive side we did enjoy the vibrant stars as we waited. We could see the Milky Way because it was so dark. A big animal walked near us for one last thrill. I laughed because we sleep in a tent every night, not exactly impenetrable to animals. These are the same girls that fell asleep when a bear circled us for an hour. We got dropped off at McDonald's and ate until midnight. Luckily my wonderful book club saved our lives! They'd sent a huge package of high fat, high protein foods. We packed many of them with us and ate every single one while we hiked. It gave us the energy we needed. Thanks friends! Truly you saved the day! I don't remember my head hitting the pillow. I high fived the girls and told them how incredibly proud of them I am. They are so wonderful and tough, nary a word of complaint! Love my chickadoodles. Keeping calm in a scary situation is the thing that saves you.