Day: 122
Date: Thursday, 24 August 2023
Start: Pinkham Notch (AT Mile 1878.8)
Finish: Imp Campsite (AT Mile 1892.2)
Daily Kilometres: 21.8 (Ascent 5787', Descent 4590')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 3095.0
Weather: Mild and sunny most of the day with cloud building later.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Full buffet breakfast
Lunch: Soup, roll/sandwich, cake
Dinner: Trail mix
Aches: Dave - left knee sore; Julie - nothing reported
Highlight: From the open summit of Mt Hight (4665'), in mid-afternoon, we had superb views of the Presidential Range and back along the Wildcat Ridge from where we just came. We shared the view with three thru-hikers we have got to know over the past month and had some fun. I think we were all happy that our journey through the White Mountains was almost over and that we had been fortunate with great weather for much of it.
Lowlight: None really.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We went down to the buffet breakfast that came with our lodge room at 6:30am, just behind a tour group of about twenty late-teens who were very well-behaved but big eaters. The staff were run off their feet replenishing food items and slow to get out some of the more attractive hot food. It meant we took longer over breakfast than planned, but certainly ate our fill.
It was a little after 8:00am by the time we checked out and began hiking. We had read the comments on our navigation app and knew that the climb up to Wildcat Ridge along the AT included a very sketchy rock face ascent rated one of the toughest on the trail. Dave was not keen to be climbing more rockfaces with a 40lb pack, hanging on by his fingernails, than necessary and, on this occasion, there was an alternative route via a ski resort service road up to the Wildcat D Peak (4050') and the AT. We chose the service road even though it was a longer route.
The climb went on for 3.5 miles and was tough enough. At the top we took a break at a picnic table adjacent to the ski lift top station and admired excellent views across the valley to Mt Washington. From there we followed the Wildcat Ridge northward through mossy fairytale forest and up and down steep rocky knolls until summitting Wildcat Mountain (4422').
There followed a very steep descent to Carter Notch, with its lovely ponds and an AMC Hut to which we detoured. They were offering soup and cake to registered thru-hikers and we added that to the packed lunch we had carried from Pinkham Notch. Our second big meal for the day. Quite a few thru-hikers were there, or arrived while we were there, all seemingly headed for the same shelter/campsite as us, there being few other options on the rugged mountain range.
It didn't seem that far, a little over seven miles, but it was already 2:00pm by the time we left and we knew the terrain would be challenging. We also didn't know how easy it would be to get a tentsite there and wondered about staying in the shelter, if there was room, given the forecast for rain overnight and tomorrow.
The climb out of Carter Notch up to Carter Dome (4832') was very steep and long and we got no views at the summit. But, the next peak, Mt Hight, was treeless and we got spectacular views (see above).
Ahead, we could see the Carter Range, which we had to negotiate before dropping down to our planned campsite. We continued on, going as quickly as we could on the less technical trail and taking it carefully on the more dangerous stuff. The descent from North Carter Mountain (4530') was very challenging and slowed us up, but we eventually reached our target, the Imp Campsite, in gathering gloom around 7:40pm.
Given we will be staying at a motel in Gorham tomorrow night, giving us a chance to dry out our tent, we decided to take a nice secluded tentsite rather than stay in a crowded shelter, despite the forecast. Other hikers were arriving after darkness fell, and we were happy to have got our spot. Having eaten well at breakfast and lunch, we just climbed into our tent once set up and ate a few snacks for dinner. It started to rain at 9:00pm, as forecast.
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