After our past week in the Whites, Blue and I were ready for a Zero. This is the only way we will make it to Maine. We took the day off in Gorham, New Hampshire. It’s a small town with all the conveniences that a hiker needs. Dollar General, Restaurants nearby, laundry and our first, indoor pool and jacuzzi. We took advantage of all of the above. It was a well needed day of rest.

Our neighbors were up late last night. They are from the Netherlands and building a massive Greenhouse. It’s eight acres in size, three stories tall and made from steel and glass. They hired a few laborers from California and plan to be in NH for 8-10 weeks. The crew are all staying in the same hotel as Blue and I, The Rodeway Inn. After talking till hiker midnight which equates to 9pm, I went to bed. The guys were up till 2am, laughing and talking until the wee hours of the morning. At 6:15 Blue woke up and woke me. Oh my gosh, our ride will be here in 45 minutes. Luckily we were already packed. I just needed to grab something to eat, Blue made her coffee and Rob whisked us away to the trailhead promptly at 7am.

Mary Poppins was waiting for us and we all hit the Wild Cats at 7:30am. This section of the AT is deemed the steepest of the entire Appalachian. Oh boy, here we go. It’s a short mile day but we will be lucky to move at one mile per hour. It started like most days, a bit of off-trail roundabouts, going over large boulders and through water crossings. And then the fun began. The rock climbing was a bit more aggressive today. It was a definite no poles kind of climb. You needed your hands to be free to move up the rock face. Quite exposed and a bit unnerving.

As we continued up the 3000’ climb which was only two miles long, I was quickly reminded of how fast things can go wrong. All three of us were attached to the rocks like Spider-Man and there was no mistakes made. We did exactly what we needed to do and that was climb!

Before noon, we arrived at the top of Wildcat Ski Area’s gondola station. There was a clearing with several picnic tables and clear views to the Presidential Range. There is also a cleared view to the south, looking toward the Doublehead Mountains, Mount Kearsarge, and others in the North Conway area. On a crystal clear day, you can see the Atlantic Ocean. It was clear with just enough haze that the ocean was not visible, but we could see quite a few of the mountain ranges. The only issue was, why did we just climb this crazy rocks when we could’ve taken the gondola? That’s the hundred dollar question. We sat and had lunch, talked about the remainder of our day and resumed our rock climbing.

The fourth summit of Wildcat Mountain is fully wooded, but is marked by a large wooden observation platform. It had nice views that we took in for a moment or two and carried on to the next summit of Wildcat Mountain. It also is a wooded peak at the east end of the Wildcat Ridge. A short spur trail from the peak leads to a cliff with stunning views to the east. Directly below, about 1200 feet down, is Carter Notch with two ponds and the Carter Notch AMC huts, which we have reservations.

We stopped and took in the view from the ledge and marveled over the fact that number 1, we are hiking down to the bottom of this, and number 2, we will be hiking straight back up tomorrow. It will be a lot of steep climbing and descending in these White Mountains. We met up with another thru-hiker who planned to stop at the hut for his customary bowl of soup and bread. Then planned to hike out and over to IMP Campsite. That’s a lot more hiking, and we are saving that for tomorrow. Hence the difference between youth and not-so-youth. We are three times his age so we’ll just do what we do. Be ever so kind to our bodies!

We descended the boulder steps and rock slides, which are best negotiated on your butt. No point of walking down them as they are pretty much vertical and you are going to land on your butt one way or another. We slid down!

Close to 3:30, some eight hours after we started, we arrived at Carter Notch Hut. This Hut is the easternmost of the AMC White Mountain Huts, is one of the smallest and most remote. It is located in the deep notch between the Wildcat and Carter Ranges, next to a pair of mountain ponds and accommodates up to 40 guests. It is the oldest hut that is still in commission and was built in 1914. This is the first hut we actually made reservations at ahead of time. And I’m so glad we did.

We checked in and got our bunkhouse which has six beds that the three of us are the only occupants for the night. Such a deal. We offloaded our gear, changed and received our gratis bowl of soup, Tomato Bisque with homemade bread. We ate that and proceeded to finish all our daily snacks and bars. Blue and I are consuming quantities of food that we would never attempt at home. And still hungry! It’s unreal.

We unpacked, got our beds made the way we like and headed for dinner at 6pm. The Croo made Lentil Soup, Poppyseed Rolls, Salad, Stuffed Cheesy Shells and Peas. It was good eats and the huge chocolate buttered chip cookies with coffee topped it off. After dinner, we headed to our bunks and hit the sack. Until our neighbors started playing Bongos. You’ve got to be kidding me??? Not tonight. I need to sleep.