We are on the cusp of attaining our long-held goal of hiking all of the White Mountain 4000 Footers thanks to the weekend’s propitious trip to the Carter Notch Hut, when we bagged 4 of the remaining 5 peaks. Now, only one 4000 Footer remains: The rugged, beautiful, elusive Bondcliff, which, barring a freakish heat wave, will have to wait until the spring. Our gear has reached the limit of its effectiveness in the wintry elements; hiking season has ended.
We made the reservation at Carter Notch Hut last month, a crap-shot in terms of the weather, but the huts are popular this time of year because they are “self-service,” meaning that you must pack in all of your food and bedding. Not fun, but the cost is only $30/night. Mr. P has vacation days to burn, and my Fridays off may shortly come to an end, so we left for New Hampshire on Friday morning to allow plenty of time to summit Wildcat Mountain that afternoon.
We took the Nineteen Mile Brook trail to Carter Notch Hut, an easy 3.7 jaunt with some patchy ice and snow. No one was at the hut, not even the caretaker, which was sort of worrisome, but we claimed our bunks in the unheated bunkhouse, ditched our food and stuff, and set off to summit Wildcat Mountain. It was a 1-hour near-vertical hike to the summit.
Summit of Wildcat Mountain
View of Carter Notch Hut from Wildcat Mountain
We returned to the hut. Still, no one else was there. We ventured into the kitchen and fiddled around with the stove to boil water for tea.
Carter Notch Hut Kitchen
The sun was setting and the cold was beginning to permeate the unheated hut. Finally a young man burst in, out of breath. It was the caretaker, full of apologies. It turned out that we had arrived in the window between caretakers’ weeklong shifts. He told us that we were the only guests on Friday night, but a full house of 40 was expected on Saturday night. I had a hard time picturing 40 people in the main hut; no wonder it was nicknamed “Cozy Carter.”
Cozy Carter
The caretaker made his dinner, then Mr. P and I heated up the stew that we brought. Perhaps because there were only two guests, the caretaker didn’t light a fire, so we were already pretty chilly when we headed to the bunkhouse. It was about 20 degrees when we jumped into our sleeping bags. I was so cold that I opened a pair of handwarmers to restore feeling to my appendages.
“Mr. P, did you hear about how those people died in a sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona last week?” I ask as I pressed the hand warmers into my numb feet.
“No,” he answers. “What’s a sweat lodge?”
“It’s like a really intense sauna,” I say. “The Native Americans did sweat lodges as a ritual, and now New Age people seeking spiritual and physical health pay thousands of dollars to sit in a cramped, hot, steamy room and sweat profusely.” Pause. “Doesn’t that sound heavenly?”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” Mr. P says.
“I’d rather be in a sweat lodge than a shiver hut,” I add.
We woke up the next morning at 7:15, alive. After breakfasting with the caretaker, we set out on our 9.4 mile trek across the Carter range.
First up, Carter Dome. The air was crisp and cold, but we warmed up quickly on the steep climb out of Carter Notch.
View of Carter Notch Hut and Wildcat Mountain
Summit of Carter Dome
There was a smattering of past-peak foliage in the lower altitudes. The contrast between the autumny copper and the wintry white was beguiling.
View from Carter Dome
Next up was the minor peak of Mount Hight, which is touted as having the best views in the Carter Range because of its unobstructed view of Mount Washington and the Presidential Range. Lovely Alpine Zone scenery, too.
Mount Hight
Mount Hight’s Alpine Zone
View of the Carters from Mount Hight
We continued onto South Carter. We had a hard time finding the summit, but then Mr. P spotted a tiny wooden sign on a tree.
Summit Mark for South Carter
The day before, when we were driving towards the White Mountains, the snow-covered peaks loomed above the leaf-covered trees like ghosts. We couldn’t stop marveling over the beauty of the day.
The Presidental Range
Near Middle Carter Summit
Summit of Middle Carter
We were making incredible time on our hike. The snow and ice was a little cumbersome, but we wore microspikes on our shoes, and the snow actually helped us walk easily on rocky paths. We made it back to the hut at 4pm and decided to hike back to our car and drive home. After the previous night of sleepless cold, we needed a good night’s sleep.
Before we left, we stopped in the hut for a hot tea and a nip of whiskey, and promptly fell into conversation with a group of eight 50-something hikers who brought up ten bottles of wine and wanted to share. They were hilarious and outgoing, and we had to tear ourselves away from them. But we had our warm beds on our minds…
