Date: 2018-08-17
To: Up and Over Carter Mountain
Miles today: 7.2

Crazy BritHad a great breakfast at the Carter Notch Hut. This Hut is in the shadow of the Carter Dome and the more you look at it the more scary it looks, you can see parts of the Rock strewn trail from the comfort of the Hut, it sure looks daunting.Well we are all packed up time to say goodbye to the AMC Hut system they have been great with Coffee and baked goods, left over soup and bread, and the two we stayed at, full dinner and breakfast endless coffee and comfortable bunk beds, this one at Carters Notch was the best.There were another 4 thru hikers staying there last night and as we leave the other day hikers offer there Congratulations and best wishes for the next 300 miles, makes you feel good.We start down the trail past the twin lakes, then start up what seems like an endless climb. Boy this is steep right of the bat, my Arthritis in my toes had better warm up as they are hurting like hell, and the Ibuprofen hasn¢t kicked in yet. Stumpy my finger-stump has to have a glove for the chilly morning apart from the normal aches and pains, carrying a full pack, all is going good.We have to climb like this for a couple of miles, a couple of false summits, we are lucky that most of the rocks and the almost vertical slabs of granite are dry. This makes all the difference to the comfort level of climbing, it still leaves the big drops, but it is much safer to navigate when dry, we still have the mud pools in the low spots but even these are drying out.But we have a huge shadow over us, the weather, our report this morning was calling for rain early afternoon with Thunder and Lightning on Higher elevations ¢Guess where we are¢.So we have decided to call it a day at the Imp Shelter, on North Carter Mountain, this means that we have done all the Carter Range, and will only have a relatively short hike into Gorham Tomorrow Morning, with Tain but no thunder and lightning.There are some great views today none better than away in the distance the Majesty of Mt Washington, clear as a bell with no cloud cover surrounded by the whole Range standing clear and proud. We are making great time, but being very cautious, remembering what happened to one of the NOBO hikers the day before yesterday, one slip here and you are out of the game, foot and trekking pole placement is very important, ¢ Yes Janice I am being extra careful¢.The last mile to a shelter always feels like a long, long time at last we see a sign telling us that we are within a half mile of the shelter, still a long way over sloping granite slabs. At last the sign showing the way to the shelter , OH NO!!!! Another 600 yds of trail, we would normally not go to a shelter so far off trail but we are sleeping here out of the storm, so it¢s ok, still a long way.We book in with the Caretaker pay our $5.00 it¢s half price with our pass and go to the shelter, it¢s an older style shelter has two levels and at the moment we are the only occupants, hope it stays that way????We have had dinner and I am now sat on a log Throne overlooking the Mountains and I can feel the rain on the way, the wind has picked up and the temperature has fallen significantly so I have on my nice warm Puffy jacket, ¢Thank you Janice¢. I am completing my Journal, it¢s amazing how much time this takes, still it hopefully keeps you up to date with David and my Adventure on this Awesome trip it¢s been a Blast,With that I will say Goodnight to you all thanks for reading and commenting on this my Journal,Goodnight.Anyone can walk on the flat, there ain¢t no flat up here on this Mountain top , so we are walking on the Edge all day , OH we are also Sleeping on the Edge makes it better!!!!!!Only got 306.3 miles to go , Mt Katahdin is getting closer with every footstep.