Day 141: Life Goal Achieved

Hiked 6.2 miles, staying in Carter Hut.

We got a late start today.  Because Nova, Why Not and I got off at Pinkham Notch we waited until it was convenient for the hostel owner to take us back.  This was perfectly fine with me.  It was still overcast this morning and it was nice to give it some time to clear up. 

White Mountain Hostel

The dining room

The living room

Marni the hostel owner made us a terrific breakfast.  It is impressive how well she is running the hostel having only bought it and started running it two weeks ago.  Her son is thru hiking this year and she came to visit him at Woods Hole Hostel.  She enjoyed it so much that she went home, googled hiker hostels for sale and bought the hostel.

Back at Pinkham Visitors Center

Wildcat Mountain, that's next

Walking along a river first thing this morning

By the time we got on the road it was almost noon and I was itching to get going.  Fireball, a southbounder, got a ride with us as well.  He bailed off of Wildcat due to the weather yesterday via the ski resort gondola and had to go back there and ride it back up to continue his hike.

It was like this the entire way up Wildcat E

Looking across at Washington in the clouds

Looking back down the notch from most of the way up Wildcat E

The hike up Wildcat was very steep and rocky, anyone seeing a theme here?  It climbed 2050 feet in 1.7 miles.  The weather was great though.  The trail was very poorly marked and in places damage to the trail made it very difficult to follow.  I had to make a few lucky guesses on which way to go.

On top of Wildcat E, looking at Washington and Madison

On top of Wildcat E

On top of Wildcat D

Wildcat has multiple peaks, A-E.  We started by climbing E and then walking along the ridge and successively climbing each peak, except for Wildcat B which the trail circles around.  At Wildcat D I arrived at the ski gondola.  They run it in the summer so people who don't want to hike to the top can still go up and see the views and wander around.  Since I was a little kid I've always wanted to ride a ski lift down the mountain, but I never did because I was always skiing.  Well today I lived out that life goal as I took the ski lift down to the base to get lunch at the lodge.

Looking at Washington from Wildcat D

The gondola top on Wildcat D

Riding the gondola down the mountain!

I had a close call at the bottom though.  One of the lodge workers very kindly informed me that if I wanted to get back up the mountain I had better do it soon, they were about to shut the lift down due to high winds.  I grabbed my pack and rushed out and managed to get on.  I would have been very bummed out to have to climb up the mountain twice.

Looking across Carter Notch at Carter Dome from Wildcat A,
you can just see the hut at the bottom

Left of the above photo

On top of Wildcat A

From this point I hiked along the ridge over the rest of the Wildcat peaks and then down to Carter Notch.  I thought about continuing over Carter Dome today but I got a work for stay at Carter Hut, the last of the White Mountain Huts, so I called it a short day.  Chainsaw and Why Not also got a spot here.  Humen, Hammer, Nova and Beyonce are all camping close by.  I spent the evening talking with the guests and playing cards.  Unfortunately my work for stay is happening in the morning so I won't be able to get the early start that I wanted.

I also had a small world moment at the hut tonight.  Long Gone just recently got a job working on a farm.  His boss is staying at the hut tonight.  Crazy.