Date: 2010-09-03
From: Pinkham Notch, NH 16

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 5.9
Weather: broken clouds

Our shuttle picked the three of us up after breakfast and dropped us back at the Pinkham Notch trailhead. We planned on coming back into Gorham in 212 days and so our food bags were relatively light coming out of town. After a flat mile of mostly bog board walking, the serious 2,000' climb up the Wildcats began. That's plural because there are five peaks, creatively called A, B, C, D and E. More rock climbing and rock walls but the day was exquisite as only a high mountain summer can be: cool and warm at the same time, with a chilly breeze on one cheek and unfettered sunshine on the other.We made our way ever so slowly to the top of Peak E where the ski gondola is and stopped for lunch. Saw Cody, who I had met in Daleville, Stick Walker and Belle the Wonder Dog, a Weimaraner and trail dog extraordinaire. Also there were Peru and Radar¢all thru-hikers. Turns out Belle was the dog that was howling in the middle of the night when I stayed at Standing Bear Hostel back in Tennessee in April. We all stopped for lunch. I was jonesing really badly for a Coca-Cola but not badly enough to pay $12 to take the gondola down to the soda machine at the bottom.After lunch, we tamed the rest of the Wildcat peaks and then had a steep 1,000' boulder and rock wall descent to the hut in Carter Notch. We stood at the start of the downhill and could see the hut way, way down below us. So close, but oh so far away. It took us almost two hours to go one mile down that mountainside.Cody, Stick Walker and Belle camped near the intersection of the .2 mile blue blaze trail leading to the hut. (They don't allow dogs in the huts.) The three of us plus Peru and Radar went to the hut and got work for stay. One of the croo had been at Greenleaf Hut, and was pleased to see that "The Ladies" had made it through the Whites okay. Carter Notch hut is situated by two ponds and is a four-building complex. There's two bunkhouses, restroom facility, and a cozy dining room/kitchen/croo quarters building. It's the last hut in the Whites and the one that has the fewest guests. It was also my favorite hut. Go figure. There were only six paying guests staying the night and the awesome croo let us sleep in bunks in the second bunkhouse. We even had pillows! What a luxury! No dining room floors or tables for us tonight!Just one more side note on the huts. All of the food and supplies are back-packed in and all the trash is packed out by the croos. When we sought shelter from the storm back at Greenleaf Hut, they were running short of food and a croo member from Lonesome Lake hut literally ran 60 pounds of food six or so miles up the mountain in that terrible sleet storm¢and then ran back to Lonesome Lake. Needless to say, all of the croos are in superb physical condition.Our "chore" was cleaning all the ovenware from a season's worth of baking. It took a lot of steel wool and elbow grease, but we had a good time and lots of laughter. It started raining heavily as we were turning in for the night and were SO happy to be indoors. Just hope it clears up for tomorrow as we have more wicked mountains ahead. Climbing rocks is one thing, climbing and descending slippery rocks is a whole other thing.