Date: 2005-07-27
From: Gorham, NH

To: Near Peak E, Carter Range, NH
Miles today: 18.5

18.5 miles todayNear Peak E, Carter Range, NH I woke up at 5am and packed my backpack, took a shower and got ready to leave. I headed up to Birches at 6:45 and got there just as they opened at 7am. I figured I could handle their breakfast buffet since I'm not sure what the food situation is going to be like in the Whites. I'm only packing 2 dinners, 1 breakfast, some nuts, 2 Milky Ways and 2 cheese crackers for the whole way through the Whites. I'll find out if it's a mistake or not as I hike through. It's 100 miles, tough miles from Gorham to Glencliff, but there are a few options in between for food and sometimes you can get a little food from the huts. I ate a good breakfast and then headed up towards The Barn. I stopped at a few places checking on denatured alchohol, but no one had it, not even The Barn. Oh well, I hope I can get some at Pinkham Notch. I talked to Doc there and a section hiker named Rattle. He got his name because he was doing a thru hike in '99 and he was near Delaware Water Gap and found a rattle snake, picked it up and got bit on the hand. It ended his through hike that year. Hey Goldilocks, I got your message you left for me at The Barn....thanks. :-))) I started hitching a ride out in front of The Barn and a hiker I knew from last year stopped and gave me a ride. Her name is Ameoba and I met her at The Cabin last year. It was good to see her again...I got a great hug. :-))) She dropped me off at the trailhead and told me to call her when I got near where she lives and she'd come out and take me home for a day...Thanks Ameoba!! I started hiking at about 8:30. It felt great to get back on the trail and my legs felt full of energy. It wasn't hot, but it was humid and I stayed wet from the beginning of the walk today. There was miles and miles of up hill. I got to Rattle River Shelter and met Slackjaw. He's a sobo that I've seen entries from in the registers ever since I left Katahdin. He said he started on the 30th of June. I kept going up and eventually hiked into a cloud, but that's ok because sometimes it's nice to walk around in a cloud. ;-))) There were quite a few summits today. I started at about 700 foot elevation and played around above 4000 feet most of the day. I got as high as 4700 feet. I saw Smiling Joe right on the summit of Carter Dome. I know I've seen him before, but don't know where. At 4pm, a cold rain came through. I wasn't going to get my raingear out, but it was windy and a very cold rain. I got my rain jacket on, but the rain only lasted about 15 minutes. I saw an older nobo coming up the hill. I don't remember his name...something like Snort, but I do remember that he was breathing like he had just run a race. I don't think I've ever seen another hiker breathing so hard. I went down a long ways to Carter Notch Hut. I wasn't going to stop, but I wanted to waste some time, so I went in and cooked dinner. I had split pea soup that Mrs Moosie and I made and dehydrated a while back. It tasted very good. There was a father and son taking care of the place temporarily. Their names were Josh and David. We talked for a while and they remembered playing Blackjack there with Itchyfoot, a friend of Liteshoe's in '03. There was only one thru hiker there. A nobo by the name of Buckwheat. I got water and packed up again and headed out. It was a long steep climb back up out of the notch. About half way up it started raining again. The rain was even colder, but because I was climbing, I stayed warm enough without the rain jacket. I met one more nobo by the name of Skeeter Feeder. He wasn't having a good day because he spent about half of the day lost. He said he got off on the wrong trail. That's pretty easy to do here in the Whites if you're not careful. I kept on going up and down a bunch of smaller climbs and got to within about 3 miles of Pinkham Notch when I found a suitable stealth site for my tent. My plan is to get up early and be at Pinkham Notch in time for their breakfast. They even have homemade bread!!  Sure hope it works out. The winds on the peaks I was crossing was probably blowing about 50 mph. I didn't stay on the peaks long. :-))) I got in my tent and dried off and crawled in my nice warm sleeping bag for the night.