Day 2: The Traverse

Sunrise was a few minutes after 5AM, but I was awake shortly before it. I was nervous...I was excited...but most of all, I was ready to tackle this hike. 

I played around with sock and shoe options the night before, but hadn’t settled on anything. Ultimately, I decided to go with the Smartwool/Cascadia combination that got me through the Presidential Traverse in 2015. 

The GPS on my Garmin Forerunner 25 would only be good for eight hours so I decided to use it on the first leg of my journey, up the Wildcats to the Carter Notch Hut. After a quick look at the map I was on my way. Ten minutes later I had the map out again, doubting myself. Did I go the wrong direction? Shouldn’t I have seen a sign by now? I kept walking and a few minutes later saw the sign for the Wildcat Ridge Trail. 

Here we go... 

The Challenge: The Wildcats are no joke! The trail was difficult and steep. There were sections where I was scrambling on my hands and knees. The best word to sum up this section of the trail would be “relentless.” 

Nearly three hours of solitude had passed before encountering my first set of humans, two older men traveling south. They asked where I was going and I told them I had started at Pinkham Notch this morning and was headed to Mount Moriah. Their response was “Wow, you are really moving!” Which put the wind back in my sail as I made the final push toward Carter Notch Hut. 

I had climbed over 3,100 feet in under six miles. I was ready for a sandwich.  

The View: After a brief stop at the hut I was ready to tackle the climb up to Carter Dome. It sucked, but the worst was over and it was time to enjoy the scenery. The Carters were a pleasant walk in the woods. Going slightly out of my way to access Mount Hight (Zeta Pass Trail) was well worth it. The views were AMAZING! 

The Battle: The signage on the AT isn’t too great which had me guessing how much longer it would be until I stumbled upon Mount Moriah. I could hear some voices in the distance so it had to be close, but then the voices faded and I sensed that something wasn’t right. A quick map check confirmed that I had missed the cut off for Moriah (thankfully not by much) so I backtracked and followed the voices. On my sixth peak of the day, I encountered someone to snap a photo...and of course, his little ankle biter of a dog photobombed me. 

I was 3.8 miles away from completing the traverse. I wanted to finish in under twelve hours...I wanted to eat a big piece of cake...but most of all, I didn’t want to fall descending slippery rock slabs. With half a mile left the bugs started to get BAD...like bad to the point where I used sunglasses to protect my face and a buff wrap to protect my ears and nose. I stashed my poles and began continuously waving my hands in an attempt to saw them away. I am thankful that this only happened on the end of my journey, otherwise it would have been a pretty miserable experience.

I popped out of the Carter Moriah Trail (in eleven and a half hours) and scared the shit out of an older woman who was sitting on her front step. She pointed me in the direction of the footbridge and I walked to my car. 

On the ride back to the lodge I contemplated what I wanted more, to eat or to shower. Surprisingly, the shower won, which means I must have been pretty skanky (or delirious). When I got to the dining hall I loaded up on roasted sweet potatoes, shepherd’s pie and salad (for good measure). Dessert was strawberry shortcake, which wasn’t nearly as good as the coconut cake that was served the night before. Thankfully, I grabbed an extra piece of that, but I still ate the shortcake. I think I earned a second dessert that night.