Date: 2007-07-15
From: Osgood Tentsite

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 17.9

This was definitely top 5 on my "toughest days on the AT" list. 3 reasons.1. TERRAIN. Wildcat peaks a,b, and c. and the Carter peaks. I don't have the guide in front of me, but I'm guessing all told, today had around 8000 ft elevation change. This may be an exaggeration, but it was horribly brutal. I think what will contribute to my post-AT-traumatic-stress-disorder the most was the straight up climb from Carter notch hut. 1700 ft in under a mile And this was after already clambering 12 or so miles in the mud and muck... **(editor's note: the previous few sentences are yet another example of Gopher's famous "Whine-Brag", where he complains about how painfully difficult something was, but in the process is reminding you of how hard-core tough he is for doing it. please, do not fall for this sad and blatant "fishing for compliments and sympathies" ploy.)**2. WEATHER. I sat in the Pinkham notch (5 miles after Osgood tentsite) gift store for a good 2 hours. Talked to Lost, who just got a new backpack in her mail drop--a Golite Quest I think, and too much food so she gave me a package of bagels. thanks Lost. Also, ran into Butch Cassidy and Autumn Joy again. Yay, Butch finally caught up with AJ..(I'm not sure if she was as excited about this as Butch, but hey, none of my bizz.) They were trying to hitch into Gorham without much luck. >>>Where was I? Oh yeah, the weather..At the Pinkham notch visitor center, they said the forecast called for rain in the early morning and then clear by 10am. But it was already 10 - no rain - and relatively clear skies. Hmmm...I ate a few snickers bars and started the hike up Wildcats. Of course, as if planned by the big man himself, as soon as I got to the steep rocky part, the rain came. and didn't stop until I am on top. Thanks for that. And then started again when I was on the way down the dangerous part again. I felt like that little dude in the cartoon with a raincloud over just his head, but nowhere else. 3. MY STUPIDITY. A. Getting late in the day, I was somewhere in the Carter peaks and missed a white blaze, kept going on a side trail, saw a white blaze leading two directions, one north and the other up the mountain, followed it up the mountain since that is what I've been conditioned to do, came to the top, saw a blaze leading a weird direction (south), but hey, it's a blaze, followed it, and found myself back where I started. Like Groundhog day. But I wasn't sure what had happened. It turns out the trail I originally took was a blueblaze skirting the white blaze peak trail. But at the time, in my weakened end-of-the-day mental condition, I didn't realize this and just went back up the white blaze trail to the peak for a second time, this time continuing on the right direction..or so I hoped.    B. Eventually, just before dark, I made it to the Imp campsite. The camp host seemed way too cheerful as she collected my $8 and directed me to the water source (creek) and tent platform. I was plum exhausted. set up the tent, cooked and ate my lipton side, and crawled into the bag. Of course there were signs everywhere to beware of bears and hang your foodbag. blah, blah, blah...I preferred to keep my food in my tent with me, next to my head, and dare the bears to fight me for it. In my sloppy arrogance, I left out some trail mix wrappers, which I assume are far more odorous when left out than when tucked inside zip-lock trashsack. But it wasn't a bear who came for me, it was a mouse. at 3 AM the little f*&^%ker gnawed through the mesh in the misquito netting and had his way exploring the inside of my tent. I probably would have slept through it had the mouse not run right over my face, thus scaring the living shit out me. It must have been a funny sight looking at me thrash around with my headlamp trying to rid my home of this dangerous beast. ***Obviously, not having any hiking partners for a while was having a serious deteriorating effect on my sanity.