Date: 2006-08-01
From: Wildcat Mtn to Pinkham Notch,NH

To: Near North Carter Mountain, NH
Miles today: 7.9

I didn't wake up until 6am.We had lots of rain last night. It was raining when I went to bed and it was still raining at midnight.I made a pot of coffee and had a bowl of cereal after I got up.Mrs Gorp and I talked about our options for today's walk.We decided to split the 18 miles into 2 days instead of trying to walk it all today.We couldn't take the gondola up Wildcat Mountain until 10am and that would have pushed us to get the 18 miles done through this kind of terrain before dark.Since we were only walking a short way today, we weren't in any hurry. :-)))I messed around on the computer for a while and posted my journal entry and loaded 3 more photos.I looked at the weather radar and it showed lots of rain, but it was just to the south of us and it looked like it was going to miss us.I got all my stuff packed up, then we took Mrs Gorp's car to the Gorham trailhead and left it.We went to the Subway and got sandwiches to pack in for dinner, then went to Burger King and got a couple hamburgers for lunch.We drove out towards the gondola, but stopped on the way to make sure we could leave a car on the summit of Mt Washington....just for future reference. :-)))We got to Wildcat Gondola and paid another 12 bucks for a round trip, but once again, we only took it up.We carried our packs and hiking poles and when we got to the summit at 11:30am, we headed north on the AT.There were clouds on the summit of Mt Washington, but we were in the clear and the wind was blowing nicely.We lost the breeze as soon as we entered the forest though.It's a very humid and warm day today and it's supposed to be like that for another 3 days.One of the deciding factors in why we are walking this section in two days was because of the hot, humid weather that's supposed to be around for a few days. There's also a good change of thunderstorms, so we are hoping to let that all pass before we get into the big mountains....not that the Carter's are big at 4,600 to 4,800 feet high.We climbed to Wildcat Peak C, then Peak B and finally Peak A before heading down about 1,100 feet to Carter Notch Hut.We stopped at a stream on the way down and got some nice, cold water.When we got to the side trail to the hut, we skipped that and started climbing the 1,500 foot climb up to Carter Dome.A sobo that we knew by the name of Don came by and we talked for a short while.There's a nice spring about 500 feet below the summit. Mrs Gorp went down and got water for both of us while I dug out my powdered Gatorade.When she got back, we sat there and took a break and ate a snack.I bought some gorp at Wal-Mart yesterday and I really like it. It's called Orchard Trail....a rich and fruity harvest of chocolate rasberry chips, yogurt raisins, apples, apricots, walnuts and cashews...at least that's the way it's described on the package. :-)))I ran into a 2 1/2 foot snake on top of Carter Dome. That's the largest snake I've seen since I got up to Maine and NH.I've seen lots of smaller snakes, but I don't think there are any poisonous snakes in Maine.We went down off Carter Dome, then up to the summit of Mt Hight.The wind was blowing nicely and it felt so good that we decided to take another break.I took off my shirt, shoes and socks and let them dry out some while I ate a snack.We descended to Zeta Pass and we both filled up our water bottles, then climbed up to South Carter Mountain.I saw a couple tent sites, but it was still too early to stop, so we walked on.It was so nice when we got to Middle Carter Mountain, that we stopped and ate dinner.I was able to dry out a little more, so my clothes won't be so wet in the morning.I did find a couple more tent sites after we crossed over Middle Carter Mountain.I got into my tent to get away from the bugs.The black flies had just started getting bad. I had about 20 inside my tent, but it sounded like rain drops on my tent with the little buggers buzzing around the fly of my tent. There must have been about 300 trying to get inside my tent.Sure is good to be inside my tent with the biting buggers outside. :-)))There wasn't any problems with bugs all day long, but I guess we got into a new hatch area.There wasn't even any deer flies out and that's a first since I got up here a month ago. Woohoo!!! :-)))This turned out to be a very nice day for a walk. Sure am glad I didn't listen to what they said on The Weather Channel.