Middle Carter and South Carter

Today made me revise my opinion of the Carters completely!  I might even do Carter Dome and the Hut again, but with no snow. I did two 4000 footers, hiked 11 miles, and it was lovely! (mostly)

I went from work to my friends cabin in NH on Thursday after work - it took an extra 45 min to get there because of traffic, but it was well worth it!  My friend told me no one would be there, but I was welcomed to crash.  I got to the place and the ceiling fan was going and the water was on, which was weird. I was suspicious that someone else was there, and they were!  My friend's husband's parent's were staying - they are so much cooler than my parents. Anyhow, we chatted for a while, but I went to bed at 10 pm.  I woke up at my usual time, 6:30, and got to the trail head by 7:30. My plan was to do a loop, parking my car at 19 Mile Brook trailhead, walk to Camp Dodge, cut through, and take the trail there to the Imp trail. Then, take the Imp trail to North Carter trail, Carter Moriah trail over Middle and South Carter, and then turn down at the Zeta pass, taking Carter Dome Trail to 19 Mile Brook trail.  The advantage of doing the loop in this direction was that I knew I would be able to find Camp Dodge from this way, and wasn't sure I would be able to in the other direction, which would mean a long road walk, either at the start or end of the hike. Also, I knew that the trail down has switchbacks, and that it 19 Mile Brook is lovely, and I thought that would be good at the end. And, I would climb the taller mountain first, with stronger legs. The downside was that there aren't a ton of views on this hike, and they were earlier on going in this direction.

Well, I'm very sure I wouldn't have found the cut through from Camp Dodge from the woods, because I missed it the first time from Camp Dodge, and wound up bushwalking to where I thought the trail was. For 30 minutes before I decided I was being stupid, could get lost out there and die, and should go back. And then I tried again and found the trail.  So I started on the hike at 8:30.  The killer was that I was like 6 feet away.  Lesson for self: I am not a person who bushwhacks. This is something I already knew, but I am re-reminded. The first half hour or so up the trail I stewed at myself, before deciding that I had to let it go, I couldn't believe that I wasted so much time, when I was at the trail early!

Because of the bushwhack I'm not totally sure how long the hike was, but I think the uphill was about 3.5 miles or so. It was all a steady uphill, but none of it was super steep. I stopped a few times to breathe and let my heart slow dow, but for the most part it was fine.  I kind of like hikes where it's not directly uphill, but more a gradual thing. I stopped at a trail junction because I remembered I had coffee jelly beans, and to eat a cheese sandwich.  I don't remember when I stopped with the cheese sandwiches on egg bread and started taking healthy bread with peanut butter, but I was so glad I went back to cheese. It was so good!  I felt reenergized and headed up!  There where some nice views going up Middle Carter, the top was more one of those mountains where you are like, "ok, it's going down, that must have been it."  Maybe somewhere there's a cairn, but I could it if I walk over.

I particularly loved the fact that there was a 2.7 mile ridgeline!  It was so nice. There was some bog, and a nice view where I ate the rest of my cheese sandwiches. There are these birds called Grey Jays that will eat out of your hand - I'm not really into feeding the birds like that, but a couple of them came by to see if I would give them some treats. One puffed up his chest at me - I think he was flirting! After my rest, I headed on to South Carter, which wasn't that much elevation gain, and had one limited view. As I was walking, I thought about doing Mount Hight as well, just so I could get the view, and have a perfect hike - I was really feeling good, nothing hurt and I had a lot of energy!

I got to the Zeta Pass and there were several through hikers there!  The are so cool.  One of them told me it took him 30 minutes to get down from Hight, and I decided I should just finish so I could shower and head home.  It was still 3.8 miles down, even if there were switchback.  It was again a really nice hike down, a little buggy in parts, but not too bad. A lot of the hike was pretty overgrown, and I did extra scrubbing for ticks in my shower.

All in all, a good day!

Wildcats Redux

I don't know why, but I was bothered by Wildcat.  I really wanted to climb it. I've been thinking about it for two weeks! I did not have that problem with Cannon, or with Monadnock the time I twisted my ankle and decided to go down. But, it was bugging me.  So, today, off I went for my second attempt, and success!

I decided that since I already climbed the steep trail, I wasn't going to do it again. I would just go up and down the ski trail. Which was a very good idea. No walking on the road, and way easier on the way up. It was hot, I even wore a hat!  Wildcat ski resort has a gondola that takes people up to the top, so of course I hiked up there, and there were all these people sitting around, picnicking. In my head, I judged a little, and then judged myself for judging.

Looking at the map, going from Wildcat D to A looks like a nice ridgeline, with a little up and down. I can assure you, it is not. I got up Wildcat D again, and then from there it just went down down down.  I was scared, because I had to come up again at the end-ish of my hike. And then there was a lot of up. Because, of course, there's Wildcat B and C to go over. And A to climb. Once again, I had some Dark Trail Thoughts and thought about turning around because it was hot and humid and I was sweating like a pig, and I was a little nervous about the whole thing of walking away from my car still, when so tired.  I decided to get to the top of Wildcat C and assess.  On C, I ran into two nice women who said that it was easier from there.  I decided I should push on because #1 I never want to go on the Wildcats again and #2 I had already come down D, and was going to have to go back up.  I'm so glad that I went for it because the two women were right, it got easier, and before I knew it I was on top of Wildcat!

There's a really pretty view spot from the top of Wildcat, which probably gets crowded and not-view-y on some days, but I actually had the place to myself!  There was a tree with a nice curve to sit in and two nice spots in the rock that were almost like chairs.  With a sharp fall off them, because the view point was at the edge of a cliff.  The view of Carter Notch and the hut was gorgeous!  It's a long way down, and you definitely wouldn't want to step wrong from the view spot, that's for sure.  I sat and ate for a little, but there were a ton of black flies, so after a bit I had to leave.

The hike back was much easier - I realized just how uphill the hike there had been.  By the time I got back to the gondola it was closed for the night, and I had the top of the ski slope to myself.  There was a sign that said it took about 45 minutes to hike down, but I want to correct that - it took me over an hour, and I think I was making pretty good speed.  After I finished, I went to Joe Dodge Lodge and took a shower - I love that place!

Mystic River Kayak

I was thinking about going back up to the Wildcats today and hiking up the ski slope and to Wildcat A, and then back down. That's about 9.6 miles and 6 hours of driving (I saw someone recently say it took them 6 hrs and 15 min, which I guess would take me about 7 hours?) But, I got a bone to pick with that mountain! In the end, though, I decided I don't have to drive to NH every weekend. Also, I have some friends coming tomorrow, and I needed to do some food shopping and such. And, I didn't want to be exhausted.  So, I decided to go kayaking!

I was going to go for a short kayak, because it's really hot out!  But, on the Mystic River there was a breeze, and water, and it was really nice, even though it was the Mystic River.  I got going and just kept going. In the end, I went further on this route than before, about 4 and 2/3 miles I think, so around 9 and 1/3 miles in total!  It took me 3 hours, so I was not making record speeds.  It was nice, though, there were some bands playing music, for some reason, water birds, and I went through the pond at the end to the fish steps.  It was really hot!

For July 4, I went with a friend to a barbecue which was really nice. There were a lot of fruity drinks, a really really good burger, and all kinds of delicious salads. And, this one guy there is in the midst of hiking the AT!!  He had to get off because he was sick, and then hurt his leg, but he was headed back today.  He said that if you hike like 15 miles a day, with one rest day a week, then you can do it in 6 months..?  And, that the bugs haven't been that bad (like in NH).  Hmmm.  He started by doing like three miles a day, and worked up to 20, you don't have to be all gang buster on the first day.

I went home and was thinking about watching the fireworks on TV, but the Boston ones were only on Bloomberg TV, and you had to pay for more than 30 minutes.  The only ones that I could watch were the DC ones, and I refuse to be a part of the Trump Show.  So, I made a last minute decision and went.  I went a new way - I parked in the same parking lot as usual, but walked to a different spot so it was only a mile walk. After, though, the police wouldn't let me turn left, and so it took a while to get home, even with my close parking.  The fireworks were amazing, totally worth it, and I needed the walk after so much eating.