Date: 2006-08-02
From: Near North Carter Mountain, NH

To: Pinkham Notch, NH
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: fog

10.2 miles todayPinkham Notch, NHThere was high winds and some rain that blew through last night along with some thunder and lightening.I woke up at 4am and just layed there until 4:30 before I stuck my stove out the tent and started my coffee brewing.When the coffee was ready, I had a mystery Poptart that's been hanging around in my food bag for some time now.It turned out to be a frosted blueberry Poptart which wasn't as bad as I had figured it might be.It wasn't even too stale either!! :-)))I started my coffee earlier than normal because Mrs Gorp and I wanted to get an early start today.I was still packing up some of my stuff in my tent when I heard her say she was packed and leaving.It was still fairly dark out, but by the time I was packed and walking at 5:50am, it had gotten darker because of some rain clouds coming in.It was a mild morning, but when the rain started along with very gusty winds....sometimes as much as about 50 mph, it turned kind of chilly.I climbed to the summit of North Carter Mountain and found a dime laying in the trail.I didn't expect to make that much money today, but I'll take it. :-)))There was no views because along with the high winds and rain, I was in a thick cloud at the higher elevation.I was listening to a local radio station this morning while I was packing up and the weather forcast said there wouldn't be any rain until this afternoon....wrong...Ha!!!...fire that weatherman!!! :-)))I caught up to Mrs Gorp on the 1,200 foot downhill to Imp Campsite.It was a downhill that you really had to pay attention to what you were doing because it was so wet and windy....the rocks and roots were very slippery.I had gotten ahead of Mrs Gorp and found out later that she fell and hurt her hand a little. It was bruised by the joint of the thumb....ouch. :-(((We kept walking and made an 800 foot climb up Mt Moriah before starting a long 6 mile descent to the trailhead at Gorham.When we got to the lower elevation, the sun popped out a couple times and some gnats started buzzing around my face.We crossed Rattle River, then stopped at Rattle River Shelter and signed the register.Mrs Gorp pointed out a nickel, then started finding some pennies laying around, so I ended up making 24 cents on my walk today. :-)))We got to her car at the trailhead, then she drove me to my truck at the gondola.She had a few things to do in town, so I met her at the motel.I was looking forward to having the internet access there, but I guess the storm that came through last night put it out of order for now.I ended up driving up to an internet cafe and had a good cup of coffee while I loaded about 10 more photos and posted a journal entry.I haven't really paid much attention to an internet cafe before, but it was nice.I think maybe I'll try and spend a little more time at coffee shops from now on when I'm in town.We went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. I had a couple small plates of food, but it wasn't all that good.We decided to go to the grocery store later and buy a rotisserie chicken and some mixed greens for dinner and that was good.We have this motel room split into two sections with stuff drying out all over the place.Mrs Gorp has her half of the room with her stuff everywhere and I have my half of the room with my stuff and some of her stuff spread out....somehow, it just doesn't seem fair. :-)))Mrs Gorp was nice enough to leave and go shopping so I could call Shortcut, so I guess I won't complain that some of her crap is on my side of the room. Ha!!!