Date: 2013-07-09
From: Imp Shelter

To: Pinkham Notch Visitors Center
Miles today: 13.1

DAY 30MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 13.1MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 13.5"As difficult and maddening as the trail could be, there was hardly a day that passed that didn't offer up some form of what was called trail magic... the unexpected and sweet happenings that stand out in stark relief to the challenges of the trail." - Cheryl Strayed (Wild)Today was tough getting out of bed. Always is with the rain. As we were getting ready to leave the shelter the caretaker came up to me and handed me a note to give to the caretaker "thumb" at Ethan Pond Shelter. I decided to take it as a compliment that he was confident I would make it 45 miles or so to give it to the caretaker. I guess I looked like a real thru-hiker and responsible.... maybe. It rained for a bit in the beginning of our hike but wasn't too bad. We had some steep climbs over the Carter Mountains but nothing that lasted for too long. We were above 4,500 feet for a while but it didn't feel like it. Partially because we were fogged in and couldn't see anything. Mutt and Slips passed us at some point because they have a much faster pace but we caught up to them at Carter Notch Hut right around lunch time. This would be our first hut experience. There are 8 huts in the White Mountain hut system and there isn't really anything else around like them. They are run by the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) or as many refer to them, "Appalachian Money Club". It costs $100 to stay there for the night including breakfast and dinner but for thru-hikers you can sometimes get an envied "work-for-stay" where you can do a chore like cleaning dishes and they will allow you to stay and eat for free. It's first come first serve. They also will give you leftovers from breakfast and dinner if you ask or have soup available for lunch. For us, we were just stopping through for some lunch.The Carter Notch Hut was the first hut ever to be built but has been rebuilt since. This year marked the 125th anniversary for the hut systems through the Whites. Pretty amazing. When we got to Carter Notch Hut, the crew was very nice to us. We got some dill potato soup, coffee, and I had some pastries. As we ate and talked to the crew, one of them mentioned that this was a record year for rain in Vermont. I could vouch for that! I was ready for some sunshine already! I talked with one of the female crew members for a while about my trip as a solo female and then as we were discussing where we were hiking to that night, one of the male crew members chimed in. He mentioned that the trail maintenance crew had the week off down in Pinkham Notch and that they were looking for some thru-hikers to hang out with. Looked like that was our destination for the night. Coming out of the hut it was cold. Once moving again though we were fine. We had the Wildcats to get over which have about a million peaks. We met a NoBo named Sandman while hiking through them. After our 3rd peak on the Wildcats we came to the gondola. The weather was terrible and going down the 3 miles of steep rockfaces off the wildcats into Pinkham Notch just didn't sound fun after an already tough day. Nightwalker and I sat there having a snack and looking at the maps at the top of the gondola when I looked over and saw a thru-hiker sitting at a picnic table with his head down. He looked a bit discouraged. I walked over to talk to him. His name was Earl Grey. He was a NoBo and had just hiked up the descent we were about to go down and was waiting for another fellow thru-hiker. When we discussed the steep descent he said, "If I were you, I would take the gondola". That was enough for me. We were beat, the rocks were terribly slippery and steep, and we just wanted to get into Pinkham Notch at a reasonable time. For safety sake, we took the gondola. And after all, it ended up being free! We talked it over initially for a while because it would be my first "blue blazing" (taking a side trail not on the AT) and we would be skipping the 3 miles down into Pinkham Notch so I didn't know if I would feel guilty, but it ended up being a good decision. Plus it was fun! How often will I be able to take a gondola on the AT? I got to do as I would like to call it some "air blazing". On the way down the gondola we emerged through the clouds that socked in the mountains to beautiful weather down in the valley. It was a total 180. We hitched a ride a mile down the road to Pinkham Notch Visitors Center and there were Slips and Mutt who had just arrived before us. They took the hard way down though. They said it was the worst descent they've come down yet and that they should've taken the gondola so that made me feel better about our decision as well. Across the street from the visitors center on the trail was the first trail magic that we had come across in our entire hike. There was a cooler with cold sodas, fruit, and cookies. It was fantastic After snacking for a bit we hiked over to the Hutton Lodge where the trail maintenance crew stayed. When we knocked on the door, a trail crew member named Doobis came out. He was the only one there. Goofy but super nice guy. He said we were totally welcome to stay and to throw our packs in the garage and come on upstairs to hang out! We couldn't have asked for anything better on a rainy, cold day! The trail crew lodge was so cool. There were axes and large fungi and pictures of the TFC everywhere (Trail Fucking Crew). Doobis also had a massive hiker box for us so we got to pig out and chat with him. We ate cheese, crackers, pepperoni, precooked bacon, trail mix, bars, you name it. Free food AND a roof over our heads for the night! Sweet! Everything was working out in our favor up until Mutts decided he wanted to go down to the garage to change into his dry clothes. As he did, the TFC's RA saw him and questioned what he was doing. Apparently it was grounds for firing to let thru-hikers stay there without paying the ridiculous AMC fee so Doobis had to kick us out. Our stay was nice while it lasted. We would never let Mutts live that one down.I felt bad for Doobis just because you could tell he felt horrible but it wasn't his fault. We were thankful for all he had given us anyways and it was fun learning about the trail crew. It was already starting to get dark though and started to rain again. The 4 of us just said screw it and hiked right into the woods behind the visitors center. We found a flat area in between the AT and another trail to set up camp and just settled there. It was too wet and dark to look further. So we stealth camped in a probably illegal, no-so-stealthy spot.... but oh well. People literally could see us setting up camp haha. There were tons of wild strawberries around so I munched on those before we went to bed. The rain tapped on my tent a few feet above my head and even though I wasn't under a roof, I was thankful to at least have been able to set up before it poured and be dry.