Date: 2004-08-07
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Hiker's Paradise, Gorham
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: light rain

A night on a mattress in a bunk led to an early awakening. It was before 7am. That's ok. Checking for something that had slipped between the mattress and the wall led me to a little reward. It was a tiny Black Diamond LED headlamp and it worked. Woo hoo. Not that there was a need to carry more weight but this thing really didn't weight anything and it would make a good backup.After breakfast in the main hut and some more conversation with the caretakers the climb to the Carter Range began. In the first 1.2 miles the trail would climb nearly 1,500 feet up Carter Dome. Getting up that high that fast meant summiting by 9:30am. The views were exquisite. The undercast was rising out of the valleys and ravines and playing games with the sky and mountains once more. It was just so thrilling to watch.To the north were the Carter, Moriah and Mahoosuc ranges which the AT would follow to the Mahoosucs which led into Maine. The sights to the west included views across Pinkham Notch of the shear rock faced Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington. Further to the west were the Green Mountains of Vermont and last weeks treks. The next mile stone came in Zeta Pass. Remember way back when, on May 19th when the 1/7th mark was passed. Well this is the 6/7ths mark. That's right just 1/7th or 310.5 miles to go to Mount Katahdin. I celebrated with a photo, a fun size Snickers bar (thanks Wilsons) and a Special Dark Hershey Nugget. There was another hiker who helped take the photo. That was handy.It was just a beautiful day hiking these last northern ridges of the White Mountains. The amazing thing was that since that stormy night on Kinsman Ridge hiking into Eliza Brook Shelter there had been no rain on my hike through the Whites. That was a miracle. At Rattle River Shelter at 4:30pm I stop to talk with some of the folks there. Some one finds a tube of Shoe Goo left in the shelter. The toe of my boot has started to peel off so the Goo seems like a good idea. Of course there is no good way to hold things together while it dries but it's worth a try.My plan today was to meet a friend where the trail crosses US-2 a relatively flat 1.9 miles from here at around 6pm. This would be a town night and resupply stop. There really was no hurry. I made an entry in the shelter journal and leafed back looking for entries of friends. Cool, there was an entry by Buick on 8/2 five days ago. That figures considering my illness and doctor and friend visits. He's going to make his deadline. His entry was great, ¢Wow! Either these mountains are harder or I'm getting weak! Gonna stop in town tonight to rest before the Mahoosucs.¢ No Buick. You are not weak. These mountains are harder.It started to sprinkle and that seemed like a good enough reason to move on. Leaving the shelter would be tough in an all out rain. The trail was an easy walk along an old abandoned logging road. By the time it reached US-2, it was a downpour. It was way too early to meet my friend and his schedule had not sounded too firm anyway. Hanging out at the trail head in the pouring rain was definitely a bad idea. It was time to try to hitch into Gorham. Hitching in the rain is usually a tough sell. My mode was to walk while hitching mostly to help stay warm but also to get to town even if no one stopped. Who wants a drowned rat in their car. Surprisingly it wasn't that long before a van pulled over. I climbed in. If it is possible in the year 2004, this was a hippy van or at least the next closest thing. The guy was apparently a tattoo artist. That didn't really matter until the guy reached for the cigarette lighter. I asked him to hold off till he dropped me off or he could just drop me off now. He got angry and started lecturing me that it was his van. I repeated that he could let me off now. Instead he said he'd drop me at the intersection of route 16 but wouldn't take me any further. OK. We were just talking about 5 minutes at best.He dropped me off at the gas station at the intersection of US-2 and NH-16. The rain had let up and stopped completely a few minutes after getting to the gas station. There was a pay phone on the outside of the convenience store where I places a call to my friend Pat's cell phone but just left a message to meet me at the Shaw's grocery store just a half mile north on the other end of town. My thumb was once more extended. For the north country, this was a busy intersection. That always brings up the question, is this a good place to hitch because of all the traffic or to dangerous a place for people to be willing to stop.It hadn't been long at all when someone stopped. The driver obviously knew all about thru-hikers and hiking because he asked such intelligent questions. He also had well informed opinions regarding the Forest Service and the AMC. It turned out this was Reuben R. For years he was the guy in charge of trails at the AMC. I had read his writings and of him for years. This was a fascinating conversation but then we got to the store. What a small world or fortunate hitch.Shopping here in Gorham felt right at home. The store nearest my home is a Shaw's and so was this one. The resupply went just fine. Pat showed up and we went to a restaurant for some Pizza. Pat had been a co-leader with me at Voyageurs for 2 and a half summers. He had also worked at camp for many years prior to that in lots of different positions. He had recently graduated a program in environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire and was now gainfully employed in that field. Needless to say we had plenty to talk about.Pat was heading back to a UNH Outdoor Club cabin for the night. He had been the guy in charge of coordinating trips while a student and was helping to do some major improvements to the cabin this weekend. He offered a bunk there but the thought of spending the night with a bunch of partying college students didn't sound like a good idea for a trail weary thru-hiker in need of real sleep. Still running scared from my ¢disease¢, rest was paramount. We pulled into the Colonial Comfort Inn which the Handbook said was the location of Hiker's Paradise hostel. There was a no vacancy sign by the door to the Inn and no evidence of a hostel. Pat felt bad for me and was asking where we should try next. My thought was to knock. The knock was answered by a man, the proprietor, and he welcomed us in and asked if we needed lodgings. I said yes and asked about the no vacancy sign. He replied, ¢Oh, that's for the tourists.¢ That was great. He collected the $15 and went over the basic do's and don'ts. He directed me to the stairs around the back of the building and to the 3rd floor. Pat and I said our fare wells.The apartment on the 3rd floor made for a very nice hostel. The stairs led up to a deck and into a nice fully equipped kitchen with dishes, pots, pans, utensils, stove, oven, fridge and phone. The next room was a comfortable little living room with a TV couch and chairs. Off the living room were doors to bed rooms and a bathroom. There were a fair number of folks here but some of the beds were still empty. I slept in the front room but had to go through another small bedroom to get there. After taking a shower and repackaging my food I went to sleep. Unfortunately this place is on the corner of US-2 westbound and NH-16 northbound and there was a traffic light. This meant, all night long, tractor trailers would have to stop and then grind through their gears to get moving again. That makes for a bad nights sleep for a guy used to sleeping in the silence of the trees. Grrr.Covering 15.2 miles on a town day in the whites felt pretty good.