Date: 2014-07-21
From: Osgood Campground, NH

To: Carter Notch Hut, NH
Miles today: 10.6

I started the day a little later than usual allowing a little more rest after yesterday's strenuous day. I packed up and was hiking toward Pinkam Notch around 8 am. Almost all of the hikers at the campsite had left already, except for Caribou. He was also slow to rise and pack up. He planned to hit Pinkam Notch and get a hitch into town for a resupply. Since he was only a few miles away from the notch he was in no hurry. The trail immediately out of the campsite was confusing. I came out to the trail intersection turning down the trail, essentially continuing the downward progress on the same trail I was on last night when I approached the campsite. However about 100 yards down the trail I saw a blue blaze on a tree..... Oh no... Any blaze other than white means you are on the wrong trail. Blazes are 1.5 inch wide by 4 inch tall markers usually on trees indicating what trail you are on. For the AT it is always the white blaze. Anything else and you are heading off the trail. When you trek through towns the white blazes are on telephone poles. You look for them obsessionally. You get so conditioned to the white blazes I fear if they ran off the side of a bridge I would probably follow them unconsciously to my doom... So I headed back to the trail intersection and reviewed the signs and my guide book. Ok it appears I should travel on another "cutoff" trail for about a mile before the trail turns back down toward Pinkham Notch. My guide book also indicated that for some reason there are no white blazes on the "cutoff" trail. Well I hope I get it correct because there is nothing worse than having to back track.... Well I got it correct picking up white blazes again after completing the cutoff trail. I continued down to Pinkham Notch arriving around 10 am. I was surprised by the visitors center and associated amenities. They had hot showers which I used to the fullest and a deli which I also availed myself. I ran into Outback loitering about the center when I arrived. He was looking for his hiking buddy, "Big Mac". I told him when I left the campsite he had already gone and I did not pass him along the way. I told him about my potential blunder going down the wrong trail when leaving the campsite. He was afraid Big Mac may have done the same and not realized he was on the wrong trail. However, he decided to continue to wait for him hoping he would eventually show up.   I hung out there for over 2 hours just soaking in some well deserved civilization. When I was about to head out, Big Mac rolled in and Outback was wondering what happened to him. As we feared, he had taken the wrong trail, trekking almost 3 miles before figuring out his mistake. However, he was grinning at us even though he got lost because during his misadventures he had come upon a moose mother and calf on the trail and he had photos and video of his sighting.   Nether Outback or I have seen a moose so we were a bit envious. One of these days I will sight a moose but not today as luck would have it. I headed out early afternoon toward Wildcat Ridge. This is the last White Mountain ridge on the AT. I headed up the very steep rocky slope which had many sections of hand and foot climbing (see photos). About midway up the climb I came upon a mother and her two young daughters on one of the rocky sections. She said I should go on passed them since I was climbing much faster. I asked if they were ok and whether they might need some assistance. She said they were ok and I continued my climb. However as I worked my way up the mountain there were a couple of tricky sections I came across requiring hand and foot climbing and I was concerned this may prove difficult for them.   I reached the mountain top, dropped my pack and headed back the way I came. 10 minutes or so back down the slope I could hear their voices through the trees. I did not want to be a pest but I could not push on further without confirming they were ok. So I hollered out asking them how they were doing and confirming they did not need any assistance. The mother said thanks but they were doing ok. I let them know they were close to the summit. She thanked me for coming back to check on them and I made my way back my pack. At the summit there is a gondola that takes people up and down the mountain... the less strenuous method.... I took off my pack and hung around until I saw them emerge from the trail. They arrived about 20 minutes later and gave me a thumbs up. I talked to them a little and come to find out her daughters were 7 and 13. I was really impressed the 7 year old made it. I am not sure how my 13 year old daughter would have done on some of those sections.   Well the key thing was everyone was safe and I headed on northbound along the Wildcat ridge. A few miles down the ridge was the Carter Notch Hut. The trail comes upon the hut from 1500 feet above where there is a rock overlook (see photo). A half an hour later I was walking passed the small ponds beside the hut. I thought that I would check to see if they might have space available to stay and if not I would tank up with water continuing north looking for campsites. To my surprise, they had one last bunk available so I decided to stay the night. Finishing up the day at the hut meant it was a short day (only about 10 miles) and a bit of a long day tomorrow (about 17 miles) to reach Gorham, NH which will be the completion of the White Mountains and my resupply pull off point. However this would be my last chance to stay at a hut before I complete the white mountains and I wanted to experience it, particularly the dinner and breakfast that was served with a stay. So I paid my fee, set up at my bunk and headed down to the ponds to clean up. As you can probably guess the huts are no hotel stay. You stay in a bunk house (although very nicely set up), eat family style in a large common hall (large quantity of good hot food), have access to a privy and some running water but there are no showers, TV or other comforts. I would say the experience was more like being at camp when I was in my youth. It was all good and I enjoyed the atmosphere at the hut. I met a number of section and day hikers over dinner, and we swapped stories and information about the trail. After dinner I ended up retiring early to my bunk and calling it a day.