Date: 2018-06-27
From: Osgood Campsite

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning we knew we had a short day and took it fairly easy. It was a four mile hike to Pinkham Notch and food! Pinkham sits on RT 16 which was cool to cross! At the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, I walked in and plugged in my phone as I paid $13 for all you can eat breakfast! The southbounders we met outside were unwilling to pay that money for breakfast but at this point I will pay anything for good food. They'll get to that point!We ate multiple plates each and hung around the center for a bit before moving on. It's funny how the outlets we can use are usually situated next to the little kids drawing table. Two Clicks and I were sitting on these tiny little chairs catching up on things with the wifi they gave us!The climb up from RT 16 brings you up the Wildcats. I've done this before and know how steep it is but it was rough once again. It went by fairly quickly though and I was up at the ski lifts in no time.After crossing over the multiple wildcat peaks (A-E) I began the descent to Carter Notch Hut. Right before then, I ran into two day hikers named Carole and Scott who gave me a banana! Thanks guys! It was a beautiful day for hiking.After the steep descent to the hut, I walked in and asked the hut croo chef for the day if I could use a pool floaty I had seen on the shore of the pond. She said it was another croo members so I instead asked if swimming was allowed. Cheerfully she said, yes! And then she asked if I could bring the floaty back to a secret alcove where they had all their croo equipment. I happily agreed and by the time I had gotten in the water and on the floaty, Two Clicks was coming down the trail. I sat on the floaty in the middle of the pond as he hiked the trail around it. We both laughed at the awesomeness of this.Once I got the floaty back, I swam across the pond back to my stuff and dried off. It was chilly but refreshing and made me smell at least a bit better! Two clicks had dropped his stuff and did the same. For the rest of the afternoon, we hung around the hut talking with the croo, playing some board games and eating. We walked over to a place called the ramparts where there are a bunch of rocks with views of the notch. We also called ahead to a hostel in Gorham where we are going to head to tomorrow. The weather forecast for the day called for buckets of rain so we were going to wimp out and stay there tomorrow. One more big climb up Carters and Moriah tomorrow then we are really close to crossing into Maine.I want to thank Virginia Harrington, one of Two Clicks' Instagram followers, for reserving spots for us at Carter Notch Hut. These hut stays are not cheap and Virginia went out of her way to purchase them for us after following Two Clicks and seeing his AT hike posts. I'm just the lucky squid who happened to be able to tag along. Thank you so much Virginia, this was an amazing opportunity!P.S: Hi David! It's been a crazy transition from Lord of the Rings to Stephen King but so far it's been great. We sat in the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center today and I got sketched out at all the people coughing after reading only a bit of the book. Looking forward to the rest.Hey Mark! Thanks again for the beers and conversation. Two Clicks and I were just talking about how cool that was once again. Hope to see you in the Whites again!