We Can See Maine
Day 185
Sunday September 24, 2017
Miles: 1870.4 - 1876.3. Miles completed: 5.9
Time: 8:00am - 4:40pm
Weather: incredibly awesome and hot
Work for stay at Carter Hut
Batman scored big time finding us a room for last night. It wasn’t any run of the mill standard motel/hotel. It was some kind of condo/time share/resort. We had a three bedroom, two bath suite spread out on three levels. The only drawback was we didn’t have enough time to enjoy all the amenities. We did not have a zero day in our budget. We needed to get through New Hampshire and in order to do that we had to tackle the Wildcats. Most hikers talk smack about how hard the Presidentials are and you hear very little of the Wildcats. But they are way more aggressive then anything else on the AT in NH. I don’t know if it’s because we were tired from all the other miles or because they really are that difficult.
Bruce hiked across the feline named peaks with us from E through Wildcat A. The trail doesn’t traverse B. He needed to head back out to leap frog the car ahead. The tiny, hazy ridge line in the far back is Maine. About 4 or 5 days away. Woo Hoo!!!!
We had a 0.9 mile treacherous rocky decent to finish the day. Way down to the pond below.
We were lucky to be able to stay at Carter Hut tonight as a no-work work for stay. The Huts in New Hampshire are self sustained fully operated bunk houses with running water and electricity. The cost is pricey due to the nature of what it takes to operate them. It’s a hikers luxury to be able to stay at such a place while hiking in such remote areas. Each hut offers a few lucky hikers an opportunity to do a work for stay. We asked if there was a possibility for Shortcake and myself to do chores in exchange for sleeping on the floor. The caretaker said no work was needed but we could still sleep inside. We were thrilled. We found tasks to do any ways. It was easy, we did a few dishes and wiped down the tables.
It was the best nights sleep I had in quite some time.
Happy Hiking.