Date: 2008-08-19
From: Carter Notch Hut, NH

To: Imp Campsite, NH
Miles today: 7.2

Woke to light showers, which started and stopped enough so we could get some chores done without getting soaked. We decided to pack up and go down to the hut, where we might be able to sit inside awhile, get the current weather report and decide accordingly how to plan today's hike. Carter Hut is an old stone building painted white inside to offset the gloom, furnished with a few picnic tables and benches and a kitchen at one end. As you hike down into the notch from the south you pass two small, gorgeous ponds - in the rain they had a little less charm, I suppose, but the waterlilies were lovely. It is all rocky and woodsy around the hut area, not easy to get around but very remote, out-in-the-mountains feeling. I had been up here once before, with Auntie Mame, on a day hike up the 19 Mile Brook trail, which is nothing like the trail we took yesterday. It just goes from Rt 16 up to the hut, not over all the peaks.So, the weather report says clearing in the afternoon, or at least rain stopping. We decided to carry on, after gobblimg down free pancakes the hut croo had left out, and we left the hut as the rain was letting up, a little after 9am. The cooler weather was coming in, along with big winds and general turbulence. The path up from the hut was steep, wet and rocky, so we took it slowly. Over Carter Dome, then to rocky, exposed Mt. Hight, where we thought we were suddenly in one of those cartoons where the wind blows people over - which it was actually doing. I'd heard of this, but never had been in it, despite many trips in the White Mountains. We simply emerged from the trees and started across the rocky summit, and, SLAM! BUFFET! WOW! My eyes instantly watered so much I could barely see, which was a serious issue in this case - we were each trying to stay upright and make our way over the rocks to the treecover on the other side, and it took everything I had to accomplish this. At least it wasn't raining! From Mt.Hight a very steep downhill, lots of butt-scooting and putting a hand down and grabbing trees and so forth (I'd loaned a pole to A.M. at the beginning of this hike because she had left hers in the other car accidentally, and it turned out to be the kind of section where you would stow one pole anyway in order to have one hand free for all this clinging and grabbing). Then we crossed South, Middle and North Carter, increasingly viewless and chilly, but we were very grateful for no more actual rain, and substantial tree cover on these summits. But the real treat of the day was descending North Carter- about a mile of the most precipitous and least improved trail I've hiked on yet. Totally eroded trail that was now just steeply slanted slabs of wet rock. I don't panic easily, but needed to keep telling myself to focus on the task, and remind myself that hundreds, no, thousands of people have hiked down this trail, so surely I could too. It was awful. None of the handy wood blocks like in the Kinsmans and the Mahoosucs. No rebar grab bars like on Katahdin. Just occasioanal puny spruce saplings (oh, I guess they're actually mature trees, just stunted by the severe weather and altitude). This gave me such renewed appreciation for trail clubs and maintainers - what incredibly useful work they do, which is so easy to take for granted until you see what trail is like without improvements. It's obvious that very steep trail is very susceptible to erosion, and is also hard to work on - vicious circle.At the bottom of this pitch we finally came, in silent, fatigued states, to the turnoff for Imp Campsite. We went down the quarter mile - always WAY longer than you would think - to see if it had nice sheltered spots for our tent and hammock, but it was built on a steep, thinly wooded hillside facing west, with the wind roaring into it as the Canadian high settled in to New England. So we said hello to the five guys from Atlanta, and got water and headed up the trail to find a site that was more protected. We could have stayed in the fully-enclosed leanto, except with 8 or more people it was bound to be tight, noisy and difficult in the dark to keep stuff sorted out - we weren't quite THAT desperate. Eventually we found space on an east facing slope that afforded some protection from this incredible wind. By now the sky was trying to clear and it promised a cold night. We set up, and cooked dinner together in commpanionable relief to have this very strenuous day come to an end.I was beyond grateful to have brought the warmer sleeping bag, and lost no time cleaning up, slinging the bear bag rope, hanging our food and getting myself into bed. I had cooled off a lot, puttering around camp, and it took a while to warm up, but I did eventually, and slept very well on the piney duff ground.