Wildcat D (but not A)

The plan for today was the Wildcats. I was going to get up super early, drive to NH, climb the Wildcats, and stay with my friends in North Conway. Well, I did drive to NH and summit one of the Wildcats, so part of my day went correctly.  But, also there was weather and black flies. And the hike up Wildcat D was a killer!  Oh, and I left at 6:30 am instead of earlier, like I hoped...

I did some research on the Wildcats, and learned that the hike up is super steep (it is). Which I think in some ways is harder for going down.  I learned that you can hike down the ski slope on a trail there, and it's less steep, so that's what I decided to do!  Taking that route made it a longer hike - it's supposed to be 8.4 miles out and back to Wildcat (you get to Wildcat D on the way), but with the ski route you have to walk 1.75 miles from the ski resort to the trail up, and the trail down is .7 miles longer.  I thought it would be worth it, and I was right!

I parked at the ski resort because #1 I wanted to make sure I could hike down, since the trail isn't on maps and #2 I had to walk .75 mile on the road, and then 1 mile on a pretty flat trail, and I thought that would be awful at the end of the hike (absolutely correct. The walk at the start was fine. I would have cried at the end.)  The trail up was just steep!  At one point, there were actually wood steps attached to the rocks so you could get up:

Some of the hike was pretty rock climb-y, which was fun, but then some was just exhausting.  And, there are still black flies out! Why? (Global warming? Probably...) So, it was hard to sit and breathe for a few minutes in the times when I really wanted to.  I was doing pretty well, taking my time and taking it slow, but after about an hour, I could feel my energy starting to drain.  I wound up taking some breaks, eating, and looking at the view.  Fortunately it was windy out, so any exposed area was not bad with the flies.  The views were amazing!

That's the road that I walked down!  And, in the other direction there are more mountains!

Anyhow, it was also (I later learned) 97% humidity (think Sea World): I was sucking down water!  I was pretty happy when I saw the top of the ski resort gondola - that's between peaks D and E.  I sat and at pretty much an entire container of pringles and a power bar, and then climbed to the top of D.  There's a lookout at the top, and of course there were other people up there (even though I'd seen about 10 people all day). It turned out that the other hikers were thru hiking the AT, going south!  Cool. We chatted for a few and the went on their way.

I'd decided that I would make a final decision about hiking the 4 miles (2 out, 2 back) to wildcat A when I got to D, but I was so tired, I knew I should go down.  I also had gone through over 1.5 liters of water.  It was a bummer, because I'd done the hard part already, but I know it was the right choice. I hiked down the trail on the ski slope (which I was happy was dirt, so hopefully no ticks like in grass), got into my car, and drove to the Joe Dodge Lodge where I drank a gatorade and took a shower.  My friends wound up not coming up for the weekend, and I decided to just drive home, even though it's 3 hours. I'm glad I did, I'm on the couch with my cats now!

I think for Wildcat A I will go from the other direction, stay at the Carter Hut, and that will hopefully be nice - and I won't have to do that first uphill!