gorham, nh to rattle river shelter

i slept well in the hotel. beds are pretty comfortable. who knew.

we got up at 05:00 via alarm and took showers. yesterday we were so vegetative we basically never left our respective beds. we just sat there eating, drinking, and watching tv in our filth. i had breakfast and we were out the door a little before 06:00.

we had a bit of a walk to get to rt 16, the road back to the pinkham notch visitor’s center. i threw out my thumb anyway figuring if people stopped and weren’t turning and heading up to the notch it wasn’t a big deal. within 10 minutes someone stopped, and it was another employee of the visitor’s center that picked us up.

we got to pinkham notch a little before 06:30. the center wasn’t even open yet. maestro and i sat down and waited. presently rocket showed up followed shortly by bugs and lyric.

bugs, lyric, and rocket got breakfast and we talked about the plan for the next few days. the general consensus was to do three big days, starting with a 19.2 with pretty massive elevation changes.

i decided to head out, since it was already getting late. maestro came with me. we hit the trail at around 07:45. the first climb of the day was up wildcat. it was a very steep and sustained climb, and once again the clean from my recent shower was short lived.

on the way up, i recorded a video for a friend, brian, who is getting married tomorrow. it was awkward, but heart felt, so i decided not to overanalyze it and redo it.

i passed the wildcat gondola on the way to the summit. the last time i was here i was skiing with my friend joe and his wife and sons. sadly joe was a casualty of the fentanyl epidemic.

i made it to the summit, which was pretty obscured, so i continued on. from there i descended into carter notch and made it to the last of the AMC huts where i cashed in on my last free baked good and a soup. i got rizzoto and a couple slices of bread. the croo here seemed really friendly and even took me into the employees area to show me their off-grid electrical system that i had been asking about. maestro showed up a little while later.

i do want to pause here however and jot down some thoughts about the AMC. i’ve donated to them in the past and asked people to donate to them on my behalf. (my christmas list for years has been a list of organizations i’d like folks to donate to.) i no longer think the AMC deserves a place on that list. it’s clear to me that the AMC doesn’t really give a shit about thru-hikers, and i believe it’s because thru-hikers don’t have enough money. as i’ve traversed the white mountain national forest i’ve been really dismayed at how the AMC is just raking in cash via absolutely exorbitant fees and prices. they like to say that the hut fees pay for other things like trail maintenance, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. the trails are not well maintained, especially outside the range of the huts where it’s mostly thru-hikers using them. what seems to be happening is they’re making hiking and backpacking an expensive hobby and inviting way too many people into sensitive landscapes. i’m no longer a fan.

anyway, rocket showed up at the hut just as i was leaving. apparently they hadn’t left pinkham notch for another 45 minutes after maestro and i had gone. it’s going to be a long late day for them. i passed lyric on the way to the trail.

the rest of the morning and afternoon were spent climbing carter dome, which again was a very steep climb, followed by mt. height, some more carters, and then mt. moriah. the views from each of washington and the presidentials were spectacular.

from there it was mostly a long long descent to rattle river shelter. when i got to camp my knees felt like they did back in georgia. i set up my tent, took a bath, ate dinner, and retired to my tent to journal. maestro showed up as i was just starting to make dinner.

some additional images from today: