Date: 2015-07-19
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Gorham, NH 
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Today Paul from "The Barn Hostel" picked us up at 7 am. We ended up staying here because he allowed Sullivan to stay and would slack pack us for free. We dropped our gear off at the hostel, picked up Six Strings and Paul dropped us off at Pinkham Notch. We set out for what we knew would be a long and challenging hike. The first mile wasn't bad but then we started the steep rock climb up Wild Cat Mountain. The next six miles are supposed to be the hardest six mile section of the AT according to my notes from Warren. So we knew it would take longer than usual. We climbed rock face Spider-Man style. The view of Mt Washington and its neighboring peaks was beautiful. Of course the peak of Mt Washington was hidden by clouds. It started raining. Wookie and I hiked on and passed by the Wild Cat Mountain gondola and the the Peak Tower which was really a low deck wih not much of a view since the trees blocked most of the sight lines. On the ridge, we met Camo, a local day hiker. He gave us trail magic Snickers bars. We chatted and he took our photo. Crafty then caught up to us and Camo gave her a granola bar since we had eaten his last Snickers. She said poor Sullivan's paw was bleeding so Sugar Magnolia took him down the mountain in the Wild Cat Gondola. We felt bad for Sullivan. My shoes had ripped yesterday from the Mt Madison rugged rock crossing. So I could only imagine how Sullivan's paws felt. He is an impressive hiker. Wildcat Mountain has several Peaks named E, D, C and A. We hiked on and met Southbounder at Geo at a Vista. We finally descended and arrived at the Carter Notch Hut hiking 5.9 miles in 4.5 hours. It was already noon and we still had 15.2 miles to go! We took a half hour break at the hut and ate a snack. We moved on and started climbing up to Carter Dome, our highest peak of the day at 4832 ft. I took a side trail for the view of the Wildcat ridge we had traversed before we reached the top. The sun came out and it was looking beautiful. At the top it clouded over again. We had several beautiful views including Mt Hight. At 2:30 pm we still had 13 miles to go. It was turning into a long day as the pace was slow due to the slick steep wet rocks. Crafty sped off around 4 pm and Wookie and I kept moving. We still had 11 long miles to go and didn't think we could move any faster than we were. Though Wookie said lightning might make him move faster. I wasn't sure it would move me any faster. A half hour later, it started pouring just after we passed the 8 miles to go mark. We put on our rain jackets and I discovered very close thunder did make me hike faster as I summitted the 2.5 miles steep rock face climbs of Mt Moriah in an hour. I think speed actually helped climbing since I didn't slip on the wet rock. I questioned whether or not I should keep climbing a mountain in a thunderstorm but it was the only way to get off the trail and any stopping would make my hike end later and later. I was already worried I might finish at 9 pm and didn't want to night hike any more than I had to. I kept moving but had lost Wookie in the climb. It was a long wet descent. It kept getting foggy and dark making it harder to see. Then I would reach a lighter area. It started raining again a couple times. Thunder clapped pretty closely a few times. It would get better then worse then better again. Finally the weather calmed down as I finally reached a flatter section of trail and so I jogged whenever I could the last 3 miles which helped. My shoes were muddy so I just walked straight through all the streams trying to flush out some mud. I finally reached the trail head parking lot around 8:10 and was happy to see Crafty was still there. She had arrived a half hour before and was waiting for Paul to pick her up. I ran down the road to the White Mountain Hostel to pick up my care package from Side Kick, Amanda and Ann Marie. I was originally planning to stay there but they do not allow dogs so we had changed to the Barn. I saw Spartacus whom I had met at Galehead Hut. He was with Focus and they too had slack packed 21 miles. I got my packages and jumped in Paul's car with Crafty. We drove back to the Barn where we took showed and did laundry. It was a full house with 15 hikers. Wolverine and Wild Thing were also hanging out. A couple NOBOs but mostly SOBOs. It started raining again so it was nice to not be in a tent.Anyone planning to slack pack this section should be prepared for a long day. I was told you could hike it in 8-10 hours but I was dubious since I knew the Wildcat Mountain miles would take longer. Even Uphill and Six Strings our super fast hikers took 10-11 hours. It took me almost 13 hours. It's doable but start early and know that any bad weather could make it a longer day though it actually sped me up. Thanks for the resupply Side Kick, Ann Marie and Amanda!! I ate the nutty bar as soon as I saw it! My first one since the South!!