Date: 2016-07-19
From: White Mountain Hostel, Gorham NH

To: NH 16 - Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: light rain

Today I'm slacking the Wildcats, but in reverse. Will get a shuttle to Pinkham Notch and hike back to the hostel. Breakfast is at 7 am of hash browns, breakfast burrito, sausage, a muffin and coffee. The shuttle left at 7:30 and started hiking back to the hostel by 8:15. The trail starts level past Lost Pond then starts to climb steeply for 1000' levels off some for 500' and finished with another 500' is steep acent. It was windy with low cloud cover on the ridge with darker clouds blowing in, but it wasn't clear how far into the Wildcat Mtns the rain clouds would blow. For now they were brushing the south edge of the mountain chain. There is a wearied of 5 Wildcat peaks, A through E. I had climbed E and was rolling up and over the chain in reverse. At D I met a brother and sister Nobo pair from Scotland. Since I was carrying a daypack I was moving a bit quicker than them and left them behind. As I rolled up and over the remaining peaks, the day seemed to be clearing with sun breaking through the trees. It was still nice and cool. The trail had decent footing, but was sloppy with a lot of muddy patches. Somewhere along this tract I met Mickey and Minnie, a Sobo couple in there late 20s early 30's. After Wildcat A there was a steep descent of 1000' to Carter Notch Hut where I stopped for water and a pancake that the had leftover from breakfast. The setting for the hut is beautiful. Nestled between two shear cliffs and sitting beside a pair of picturesque Lilly ponds - really a nice spot. Couldn't linger too long and started the 1500' ascent up Carter Dome. I met Bright Eyes, on my way up Carter Dome, a cute retired Air Force blond with brilliant grey/blue eyes. Talked for a few more minutes and was off again. The Carter's roll down Zeta Pass, up South Carter, Middle Carter and then North Carter. Took a lunch break along the way and met 4-5 other Sobos on a rocky ledge with a beautiful view. From the smell of it they had toked up pretty well and had melted into the sunny ledge. Standing there I said "this is a beautiful view". A guy to my left responded by pushing out a ten second fart into the rocks which amplified and modified the tone. I said "nice reverberation on that one". His response was to push out anther five second blast. My response " on that note I'll be off, happy trails". I had 8 miles left now and it was about 4:30 at this point. Took off to climb the last climb up Mt Moriah and strarted to feel tired. I stuffed some nuts and mango down my gullet and washed it down with some Nuun. 3 other Sobos caught up to me and we hiked down the steepest section together. They took a break with 3 miles left and I kept on moving. The last 3-4 miles was fast easy trail and I went into a hiker gallop moving at a 3 1/2 mile pace and got to the hostel at 7:30. I was done with the Wildcat slack in just over 11 hours. I put my sweaty clothes in the laundry, made Thai curry for dinner along with a can of sardines, showered and was done. Sunny Daz had come into the hostel that day and I talked to him for a little while. He was taking a zero coming up the next day. In the shower I noticed that the day pack rubbed against a section of my back just above my pant line and rubbed a strip of skin raw. Before I called it a day, I started to research light weight packs thinking that my 20 year old backpack was the wrong pack for the AT. It was worn out and I found that I had to constantly readjust the straps, especially after a downhill. Not sure if I mentioned it in the previous note, but I weighed in at the hostel. I lost 18 lbs in 20 days, gained back three by eating enough for 2-3 people over the duration of my stay at the hostel. I lost most of my belly fat and do look thinner but still have a few more pounds to go.