Date: 2019-08-31
From: Imp Shelter (NH)

To: Unofficial Campsite on Wildcat A (NH)
Miles today: 8.1

I slept okay last night. I stayed warm even though the wind blew straight into the shelter all night. It wasn¢t all that cold when I got up, but I got cold eating breakfast. There were lots of people around to talk to this morning and we got going a little later than usual. Our first challenge of the day was the Carters. We went up North Carter then across Middle Carter and South Carter before descending into Zeta Pass. Then we went up Mt. Hight and over to Carter Dome before going down to Carter Notch. Then we had one more big climb up Wildcat A.Basically today was a lot of going up and down. Occasionally there were spots like through Zeta Pass where there were a series of bog boards, but even those you have to be careful of because they can be slippery. It was also kinda flat in Carter Notch but the trail was strewn with 1¢-5¢ boulders which also slowed things down. Up on the Carters we had views of the Presidentials, but their summits were hidden in the clouds. Going down Carter Dome into Carter Notch was particularly difficult. There were rock steps which I usually prefer to randomly scattered boulders, but there were so many steps that were 2 or more feet down, my knees were protesting. There was also a place coming down where you could see Carter Notch Hut almost straight down and Wildcat rising nearly straight up on the other side of the notch. The scale of everything made me dizzy for a minute. After Imp, the next official campsite is Osgood, an 18-mile hike over lots of mountains. We were trying for Pinkham Notch, about 13 miles away and was rumored to have some unofficial places to camp nearby. We got to Carter Notch Hut about 3pm and still had 6 more miles to go.A thing about the White Mountain Huts. They are lodges with bunks that serve dinner and breakfast to guests. However, they are expensive (up to $150pp/night) and this being Labor Day Weekend, probably was booked. Thru-hikers can sometimes land a work for stay and get some food and a spot to sleep in the dining room floor in exchange for doing some work. I didn¢t want to ask at this hut when it was so early in the day and I wanted to go at least a little farther before calling it a day.I sat inside for a little while, filled my water bottles, and then went to leave but I couldn¢t find the AT. A croo member (don¢t ask me why they spell ¢crew¢ that way) was out front, and I asked her how to get to the AT. ¢Are you going north or south?¢¢South.¢¢Then you¢re going to go over the Wildcats and into Pinkham Notch.¢¢Yes, I know that. What I¢m trying to figure out is how to get from right here to the AT.¢¢Oh, you go that way about a quarter mile. You can¢t miss it.¢First of all, this kind of freaked me out. I¢m .25 miles from the AT?! Apparently I did miss it because I hadn¢t even realized I had gotten off the trail when I went to the hut. And it ended up being only .1 mile from the trail. Okay, so we climb the mile almost straight up Wildcat A. At the top there¢s this viewpoint looking out over Carter Notch. SC is there waiting for me. Just before the viewpoint was an unofficial tent site with a backpack sitting there. Apparently it had already been claimed.Anyway, I get to the viewpoint and sit down to get a drink and eat a snack. It¢s almost 5pm. I ask SC, ¢What if we hike until we find a place to pitch our tent?¢ She¢s agreeable to this, so we start hiking and just past the viewpoint I see a small path through the trees. I walk back there and find a spot with room for about 3 tents. We decide this is where we¢ll make our home for the night. We do our usual evening chores and get to bed at a reasonable hour. We are surrounded by a thick wall of trees, so we are mostly protected from the wind that is blowing so hard up on this mountaintop.