Date: 2018-10-09
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Pinkham Notch Visitor Center 
Miles today: 5.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I was the first one in the main building this morning at 6:45am sharp. Kate was emptying her mouse traps. I held the doors open for her so she could dispose of two rodent cadavers.  Hot coffee was in the percolator. I remember my mom making coffee in a percolator when I was a kid. Happy times! I ate my tortilla with peanut butter. Kate had made pumpkin bread. I had a piece of that too.  With a much improved knee, I said my goodbyes and backtracked 0.3 miles by the pond I had passed last evening to get to the A.T.  Today feels like a heatwave! My journey started UP Wildcat Mountain 4442ft elevation. I was sweating very early, and wishing I had a short sleeved shirt again. It was a good while, but I reached the summit. I took a minute up there to eat the other half of my tuna. (leftover from yesterday)The amount of calories I burn while climbing is astronomical. I¢m ashamed to admit the amount of calories I actually take in when I¢m hiking. I literally nibble on candy all day. From there I had 1.6 miles of ridge hiking to Wildcat D peak. This terrain was dangerous. The whites are rugged anyway, but this wetness makes it dangerous. When I planned my hike I didn¢t really worry about losing my life because of terrain. I worried about bears or venomous snakes. It turns out terrain is far more likely to be what gets me. Especially WET terrain in the Whites.  So the time has come to start down the Wildcats southbound into Pinkham Notch. Every single day hiker, section hiker, and NOBO I met along the way warned me of the steepness...so did Kate.  I folded up my poles and put them away. Then I began climbing down. Sitting on my butt often then jumping to the boulder below. It¢s a time consuming tedious process. I was determined to have NO falls! Until I did. I was holding on to a boulder above me when my feet just couldn¢t find any security below me. I slid onto a large rock section with my right hip. HARD! Somehow I held on to the boulder above me so I didn¢t slide all the way down to the ledge below me. I just hung there from the boulder above me for a minute. Once I decided nothing was broken I continued a controlled butt scoot down to the ledge below.  The ledges got steeper and steeper. I was holding onto pine branches for security when I wasn¢t simply choosing to just scoot on my butt. Pine sap had my hands a sticky gooey mess. At one point I had to drop pack and throw it down ahead of me. This went on for hours before I finally reached decent terrain with a mile left to go. I fell to tears when I realized the time. Papa Big Swig needed me to be at Pinkham Notch by 2:30pm. He had a business call he couldn¢t miss. I knew he would have to leave and come back later. At 2:33pm I had 0.7 miles left to go. There were some great views along the way, but this day has been rough.  I made it to the road at 2:50pm and walked across to the visitor center. I couldn¢t believe my eyes. There was our SUV! It was locked so I left my pack right in front of it and hurried inside. Papa Big Swig had been able to connect to their WIFI and take his call right there. GOD is good! I¢m not sure how I would have handled waiting until 5pm. I have one more 27 mile section to fill in, and I¢m done with the Whites. They say the terrain gets tremendously better after Moosilauke... I pray it¢s so. Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018) Where¢s your faith?