Don't be silly
Don't be silly, I did not actually walk 20 miles in the Whites, that's just the "official" AT miles between the start and end of the today. What I actually did will be detailed below.
I was awoken at 4:45AM this morning by my fellow hikers preparing for the day, so I naturally started preparing as well. I looked out the window of the hut and realized that the summit of Mount Washington was crystal clear, so Nate and I decided to eat breakfast on the summit. We were on our way to the summit at 5:30AM.
At 6:45AM we came to the emblazoned wooden sigh declaring: Mount Washington Summit, 6,288 feet. When Nate and I were here two years ago we were enshrouded in the cloud that so often lingers over the summit 60% of the year. Not today. Today I had a crystal clear view of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
On the climb up Washington and on the summit I noticed that Nate was not 100% with it, so I questioned him about it to determine if I thought he was fit for a fifteen mile day. Based on my Q&A session with him I determined I was not comfortable with marching him 15 miles through this terrain, so I decided to shorten the day. The AT takes a very scenic, and quite stunning, route to the Pinkham Notch visitor center, but there are several trails that go from the summit to the same exact location in about four to six miles as opposed to 13.4, the distance of the AT to the notch.
After looking at a map Nate suggested we take Davis Path and connect to the Boot Spur Trail, which would bring us to the notch. This route is 6-7 miles long. Off we went. Along the way Nate took several photos and inspected potential skiing locations for the following spring, the official ski season on Mount Washington. He went so far as to state:"Tuckerman's Ravine is flatter than a pancake". Please note the angle of the bowl of this ravine is said to be 50-55 degrees. That's one odd pancake.
Eventually the trail did lead us to Pinkham Notch. Along the descent we had good views of Washington and Tuck's Ravine. Nate, as always, beat me down and was relaxing on a bench when I slogged in.
I am going to be honest here, I am at my lowest point on the entire trail. My morale has been diminished and I rarely enjoy the hiking these days. I was having a hard time deciding if I wanted to hike on or go into town for 1-2 days. After arguing with myself I decided to hike in to Carter Notch Hut, six more miles. Nate decided to join me for the climb up Wildcat, which was steep and never ending.
Along the way there were several rock outcroppings that afforded views of Washington , Boots Spur, and the rest of the northern Presidential's. The ski summit was a haven for black flies, so we decided to hike .2 north to the official summit, which was also a haven for black flies.
This is where Nate and I went our separate ways. He was due to be picked up in Pinkham Notch, and I was due to continue walking home. It was nice to have a new face around to walk with and talk to. His departing words sunk into me quite a bit:"Make it to Katahdin and keep your morale high". I believe he saw the physical and mental grind a long distance hiker goes through, I was at my lowest point while he was around.
This was actually a good thing. He kept my mind focused on other things, like keeping up with him and talking about random things instead of thinking about how much I hate hiking right now.
I had 2.9 more miles to walk before I was due at the hut junction. Five minutes after leaving Nate I heard a loud rumble of thunder off in the distance, which kicked me into high gear. The closer I got to the junction, the louder the thunder became. That's because I was walking towards the storm. I decided to sprint the final downhill portion to the junction and rolled in at 4:10PM. Tonight I shall do work for stay. My job is to answer questions the guests may have for me about my thru hike. This has to the easiest WFS I've heard of. The croo is also letting me stay in one of the guest bunks because there are not that many people here. Yes!
Gorham tomorrow for a morale-boosting town stay.
And that's the way it was.
Addendum: Cookie is here as well, he was caught on the Wildcat ridge during most of the lightening storm that just rolled through.
Ga>ME 2008.
