Date: 2003-08-11
From: Pinkham Notch Camp Visitor Center (2040') 

To: Carter Notch (3390') 
Miles today: 6.0

Aloha! Bet you can't guess where I am right now. Wanna try? A hotel? Wrong! Better. I'm in my sixth and final hut. Yepper, it's a cushy life but someone has to live it!   Now before you give up on me completely, know that the Carter Notch Hut isn't anything like the previous five. The northernmost hut is located on the banks of two small lakes in Carter Notch and is the original hut built in 1914. The difference comes in with the food - there is none! To come to this one you need to be self-sufficient and bring your own food and gear. So you see, it's not all luxury. The fact that a propane stove, pots and pans, and all kitchenware is there for your use is totally beside the point. You do still have to cook your own food and clean your dishes. Bummer! But then again it was only $22 vice the $51 for the other huts. Can't complain too much.   I seem to have jumped the gun and begun by telling you about the ending. So let's rewind the clock half a day and fill you in on the getting here part. It won't be terribly long. The day was that.   Thanks to Old Corpus we were able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, stop by the post office and bank, and still get out of town at a decent hour. We were back at Pinkham Notch Visitors center in time for me to spend another $47 before leaving. {sigh}   Having sent my rain hat home after receiving my winter gear I've found that to be a stupid decision. I now own a new black Outdoor Research Sitka Sombero. (Wanted the blue but it just didn't match my pack or attire. And besides, black is slimming.) Thunderstorms are projected for the next several days and I don't want that head drenching cold feeling again, thus the hat. Now that I have it you know it won't rain. To jerk that credit charge up a little more I also finally purchased the whistle I should have carried the whole way through. Especially here in the Whites. A Wal-Mart whistle would have been fine but they were closed so now I have a pretty red aluminum lightweight one. Aren't I special!   From the moment Gutsy and I started hiking we knew it was going to be a long day. Gutsy says her legs felt like dead weights and I just knew there was a hell of an UP to start. I didn't feel bad but I sure wasn't overjoyed about going UP basically the whole day. A 2000' climb right out of the gate in only two miles. Ugh. For the most part it was all UP hill after that too. The maintainers did throw in a few short downs now and then to keep that irritating roller coaster feel but otherwise it was UP. The terrain, humidity and I all went UP. It was a long long day.   The UPs I'm talking about are over an area known as The Wildcats. Skiing seems to be the name of the game. When you do finally huff and puff your way up to the peak of Wildcat E, you find yourself smack dab on the peak with the Wildcat Mountain Chair Lift. A sky ride gondola to the summit. And we walked! What silly girls!   For having made the hard hike UP the huge boulders, tight squeezes and wet rocks, we were rewarded with numerous breathtaking views. We noted that those on Mt Washington at certain times throughout the day might also have gotten to die for views. We could also trace our hellacious route across the Osgood Trail from Madison and down to Pinkham Notch. At another viewpoint we had nerve wracking views from above of the cabins we now sit in. Off and on all day, in and out of the trees, we had views that made today's hard ascent worth every step of it. Or at least almost every step.   Along the way we met another section-hiking NOBO, Coffee. He surprised us at dinner when he stated his age as 52. I almost choked. I had placed him in the 40 range. Don't know where he gets his genes but I want to buy a pair - now!   Coffee joined us on our last mile down to the hut. It was a substantial down too with extremely steep knee-jarring steps at times. My knees are feeling it some but not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I guess my mantra of slow and steady is working after all. Yeah!   Between the two cabins with sleeping accommodations for about 40, there only seems to be 17 of us here. That's all right with us. The Huts have been great, and I still do recommend them to anyone considering hiking the Whites, but I'll admit that I'm ready for a lot less people and a lot quieter. Time to get back to the woods and silence. I'm tired.   Speaking of tired, I realized today when I became slightly agitated at my low mileage, long day and exhausted feeling that it was okay for me to be tired. After thinking long and hard about it I came to the conclusion that the average person will NEVER do the number of deep-knee squats and lunges in a lifetime that I did today. Especially if you add all of them through the Whites together, they won't do them in two lifetimes. So... it's okay to be tired. Better than that, it's okay to be tired from having done only a 5.9-mile day. I've earned it.   Speaking of tired, it's time for me to go to bed. Corpus retired hours ago and Gutsy is settled in too. (She just changed cabin rooms due to a horrendous snorer in our corner. He's unbelievable!) It's now my turn. Tomorrow is going to be another long day with a major UP to start. I'm going to need all the rest I can get to make it there before dark. How some of these folks are still doing 15 miles a day I'll never know. It's got to be age. Anyway, there's a pause in the snoring so I'm going to try to sneak in and get to sleep before he gets going again. Wish me luck.    Oh wait! Tonight is supposed to be the best viewing for the Perseids meteor shower. Gutsy found out the best viewing is between 1230 and 3:30a. She's set her watch (since mine went in the trash this morning) in hopes that we'll wake up to check it out. We're not holding our breath that there will be anything since there's thundering going on in the distance and not a star to be seen right now. Fingers are crossed though. Sure hope you get to see something spectacular. Enjoy and goodnight!BSandTs: same-sameAandPs: knees and ankles are tired. Left foot sometimes swells for a short and then goes back down. Don't know what that's all about but it doesn't hurt.MandGs: buying a $41 new rain hat and it doesn't rain!...waah!Critter count: 1x chipmunk, 2x red squirrels, 1x black and tan (2') garter snake.