Date: 2005-09-01
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Imp Campsite Area
Miles today: 13.9

Kat's hospitality continued in the morning. We were able to whip up some omelets, cereal, and toast. After breakfast we packed up, but not to quickly. We don't seem to move quickly anymore. To us, time doesn't seem to be an issue anymore. We walk when we walk and stop when we stop. Skirt and I talked about that a little yesterday. I was teasing her because she was in the real world, where time is an issue. She had laughed and agreed. She says she really sees a difference when she spends time with some thru-hikers. We did get to the trailhead and by 10:30 I was walking. Today was going to be a bear! We were going to go over Wildcat Mtn. Wildcat has five different peaks and we had heard stories about how tough it was. The stories were true! Another long, grueling, 2000 foot climb, up and down the peaks. At the top of of Peak E there is a chairlift that brings the tourists up. I was sitting at a picnic table resting and eating a bit of lunch but I was getting hit with these lines a lot. "Did you hike up the mountain?" "You walked up the mountain?", all said with incredulous voices. It was pretty funny. After a lot of effort and sweat I made it to Carter Notch Hut. Here Is where I began to wonder to myself. In the back of my mind I was figuring the rest of the group would hold up here instead of going to Imp, which was the original plan. Heck, I even thought about it but I like sort days when I am heading into town. If I went to Imp, I would only have an eight mile jaunt to get to Gorham. I decided to push on. Longhaul was there so I asked him to tell the others that if I didn't see them tonight then I would meet them in Gorham tomorrow. I left there quickly. I still had 7 miles to go and it wasn't going to be easy, especially since it took 5 hours to do the previous 6 miles. I pushed over Carter Dome, another 1600 foot climb, then over Mt. Hight and then over South, Middle, and North Carter Mtn. By time I began the descent of Carter I knew that I was not going to be to Imp before nightfall so night hiking became part of the plan. The descent down Carter was, for lack a lack of better words, a pain in the ass! Very steep in parts and lots of wet rocks to scramble down. I took a great fall here. It was so good I even impressed myself. I would have collected a lot of style of points if it had been judged. A complete 360, a right leg kick followed by a left leg kick and then down! Now I was hoping the group had not pushed on because they probably would have had to make the descent in the dark. Not a good idea! I was two miles from Imp after the descent. It was getting dark and just before I broke out the headlamp I ran into Buffet and Goat. I hadn't seen them for awhile and they had already set up camp. If I wasn't low on water I would have stayed where they were but I had just enough to get me to Imp. Shortly after 8:00 I rolled into Imp Campsite. This is one of the fee sites so all I did was get water and then I headed north on the trail again, looking for a stealth site. I found one on the peak, on some rocks, with a great view of the stars. I ate and got into the sleeping bag. A long hard day but I was set up perfectly for an easy walk into town.