Date: 2015-07-08
From: Gorham

To: Imp Shelter
Miles today: 13.1

Woke up at 6am. Didn't have breakfast and went with Not Yet back to Pinkham Notch at 7.30ish. I had the overpriced breakfast buffet there. I watched the weather outside as it rained and the trees blew about in the wind. Then I went to meet Brightside's sister, who works at Pinkham, and stalled until about 10 when the weather finally cleared up. She kindly gave me some much needed painkillers and a ziplock. Will I ever get over how superior American ziplocks are in every way? No, no I won't. I went into the woods a bit reluctantly. My knees felt bad and my ankle felt worse, and I knew the day ahead was going to be a hard one. I was very right. The climb out from Pinkham was at times literally a climb, where I had to somehow scale these giant slabs of rock. Plenty of times I was using my hands and feet.A couple of times I had a wobbly split second where I nearly felt backwards. It certainly would have been the end if I had. It's a pretty unforgiving trail at the moment.So the morning started with a climb up from 2,000 to 4,000 ft. It didn't get any easier once I was on the ridgeline, except for a few brief moments. It seemed like I spent a lot of time just climbing up and down rocks. The weather cleared up quickly, thankfully, I had blue skies and hot sun for the rest of the day. I put on plenty of sunscreen this time. I eventually got to Carters Hut at about 2.30. I had walked/climbed only 6 miles in four and a half hours. Unbelievable. I stopped there for lunch and then made my way up from the notch, another incredibly steep and rocky climb back to the ridge. I would like to note that my lunch today was grape jam in small squashed hamburger buns, because there were no tortillas or chocolate spread. And I'm pretty sick of them anyway. On the climb out of Carter I pushed a bit, to the extent that I was dripping sweat and passing other hikers by. It wasn't until about an hour after lunch that I was able to brush my teeth, since the trail had been too challenging before then to stop using my trekking poles for even a moment. Speaking of- my TrekMates pole has been completely destroyed by the Whites. It has basically no tip to speak of, and the plastic basket has been torn completely off. This is definitely a "one thru hike only" use item.The second part of the day was a bit easier, with smaller climbs and descents. There was a moment where a day hiker convinced me that I was no longer on the AT, but I was. I decided that whatever trail I was on, I would probably end up somewhere. Towards the end of the day, the descents got really challenging. Instead of climbing up giant slabs, I was now sliding down them. It was pretty risky, as I was terrified of breaking my ankles. At times I was clinging to trees around the edges of the slabs and lowering myself down. I got stuck in trees twice this way. I was also having a lot of pain in my knees, so I had to sit down on ledges and lower my entire body down instead of just jumping. All this really dragged out the time it took just to move a few feet. By about 4pm, my left swollen ankle felt like jelly. As if it were actually wobbling about inside my sock. I don't know why it felt like that, but my foot didn't fall off yet so I'm not too worried. Mostly my knees and ankles are just so painful. If I stop walking for any reason, it really hurts to start again. I just have to keep moving. I got to the shelter at 6.30, which was pretty good time. Not Yet and a bunch of other section hikers were already here, but there was plenty of space in the shelter. I felt a little bit conned about having to pay $8 for a shelter when I've not had to do so ever before on the trail. But I was tired and hungry, so by that point I was just relieved that there was any shelter at all. For dinner I had my first Mountain House meal of the trail (so far as I can remember). It was chicken and rice and it was delicious. The packet said it contained 3 servings but I ate it all in one go. The hardest part was having to wait for the food to cook inside the bag for 10 minutes. It had so much flavour compared to the spaghetti or instant mash. I can see why so many hikers like them, though I don't know if it would justify the usual price tag. It's now 8.30 and I'm almost all ready for bed. I just took some more painkillers because of how sore I am even just laying here. The Whites are really doing a number on my body and my gear. Tomorrow I'm supposed to do 20 miles, but I honestly don't know if that is even possible for this section. My guide book isn't good for telling if the terrain will just be miles of rock climbing. If the weather is really bad, or if I hurt too much, I can head into Gorham again instead.