Carter Notch Hut Hike

Once a year, we do one AMC White Mountain Hut. We started doing these hikes six years ago with the goal of having Kenzie and her Grandpa Bob hike into all of the AMC huts. The plan was to start easy and work our way to the harder huts as Kenzie got older and more capable. In our fantasy world, Grandpa Bob would not really age - or if he did he would still be able to tackle any mountain we could possibly throw at him.

Last year, we saw the first signs that he may not be able to complete all the huts. We hiked up to Greenleaf Hut on the Bridle Path and it was a bitch. Grandpa Bob did great, but it was a struggle. I actually think he managed the hike better than I did.

This year, we talked Grandpa Bob into doing Carter Notch Hut. It is a longer hike than the Bridle Path, but is not as steep. He seemed excited, but a few weeks before we were to leave he called and canceled. His depth perception and balance are not what he would like it to be. He is 81 after all.

So it was a bittersweet trip this year.

The grandparents did meet us at the trailhead and hiked about a mile in with us. Once it started getting steep and rocky, they turned around.

The hike to the hut is all up, but it a fairly gradual incline through a nice pine forest. The trail goes along a brook with some nice places to stop. We had lunch on some rocks on a water fall. There was not much in the way of views though. The tree cover was too thick.

Cater Notch Hut has the oldest hut structure still in use. The main lodge was built in 1914 and is still the central point of the hut. The bunk house and bathrooms are in separate buildings a short walk away. The bunk houses are relatively new and spacious. The main lodge, on the other hand is quite cozy.

Somehow Kenzie always manages to find someone her age to play with on these trips. This time it was two girls who were doing a day hike to the hut. The girls did a bunch of rock climbing and cave exploration in a near by feature called the Ramparts. The Ramparts looks is a giant bolder field that looks sort of like a giant baby left its legos just laying around. Then the girls went for a swim in the vernal pools near the hut.

After the girls left, it was time for dinner, the naturalist presentation, and bed. Hut dinners are always simple, but hearty affairs. This year it was Thanksgiving in August. I am always amazed that the cru can make such great meals in the middle of the mountains.

Kenzie got up bright and early to fill out her junior naturalist book so she could get her sixth straight patch. Fortunately, she was pretty quiet and I got to sleep until like 6:30. I was up early enough to hear the cru sing the wake up song. The two girls singing were the best I heard at a hut. They had the harmonies down.

Breakfast was oatmeal, bacon, and pancakes; just what one needs to fuel up for a longish hike.

The hike out was pretty chill. Save for the short climb out of the notch, it was all down. We stopped for a quick swim near the trailhead to cool down. The water was cold.

After our hike, Heather wanted to show us the Joe Dodge Lodge, the new Pinkham Notch Lodge, which she visited often when she was a kid. The new lodge is pretty posh. You still have to share communal bathrooms, but the sleeping areas looked very comfortable. The old lodge had a nice cafe where we got lunch. The sandwiches were top notch.

We will finish our mission of visiting each of the Huts with Kenzie, but it looks like we will not be doing them as we had hoped. Grandpa Bob wants us to keep doing it, and I'm sure he would love to be able to do it as well. Hopefully, he will still come and start the trails with us and we know he will always be with us in our hearts.

The Hut Hike of Doom

When Bug was old enough to start doing longer hikes, we came up with a plan to hike to all of the AMC huts with H's Dad. He worked at the huts when he was in college and has spent 60 years hiking the whites.

The plan was to start easy and then work our way up in a smooth progression as Bug got older. It was a great plan except that we didn’t account for how aging works. Bug is speeding up way faster than we planned for and H’s Dad, while he can still kick my butt on the trail, is slowing down faster than we planned.

For this years hike we decided to skip a level and do Greenleaf Hut. H's dad said it was difficult but not too bad. When I looked at the trail description and saw that included a stretch called the three miseries, I should have doubted his recollection....

It had rained a lot in the days leading up to the hike, so that didn’t help trail conditions and eliminated  one of our routes up (I doubt that route would have been much easier).

The trail started out nice it was steep, but not too bad. It quickly transitioned into sections of fairly steep climbs with brief interludes less steep sections. We all, except Bug, realized that we may have bitten off more than we could chew. We trooped on though. I figured we were in the misery section and then things would level out; front loading the pain is always better than the opposite.

Then we got above tree line and H's Dad said we were entering the miseries.... They are steep rocky sections that involve climbing up chutes of smooth rock.

I'm not sure which was harder: the physical work of climbing or the mental energy required in managing an eight year old, an anxious wife, two older climbers, and my own sanity....

Everybody did a great job. Bug's only problem was her fear of dogs that caused her to panic when a dog showed up on the trail. Fortunately she is a strong enough climber that she could get herself out of the way without putting herself into too much danger. H's Dad and wife climbed like old pros. They were slow and steady. H did her best to just focus on getting up the mountain. I did the same.

The ridge line is beautiful. The day was clear and one could see for miles. It was also steep on the sides, so it required caution. By the time we hit the ridge we, except for Bug, were close to spent.

The hut itself is nice. It is a small clearing in a notch just below the peak of Lafayette. There is not much there except for the hut, but that is enough.

H was a little bummed that we were not going to hike to the peak because we were pooped. I told her I was game; we had already done the worst part. She stood her ground and we did not do the summit. The voice of reason may not be fun, but it is usually correct.

Amazingly, Bug found a playmate at the hut. There was a boy about her age that was as into gymnastics as she was. They spent the remainder of the afternoon doing tricks on any flat patch of grass they could find.

H spent a lot of time researching easier routes back to the parking lot. Her Dad spent some time napping. I spent the time just hanging out watching the child, reading, and chatting.

The huts are always great places to hangout.
Over dinner there was some half-joking talk about how this might be the last hut hike for the group. The exertion and climbing was a little much for H's Dad.

H's extensive research made it clear that the easiest way down, given the trail conditions, was the same way we had come up.

The next morning, with some trepidation, we headed back down. The trail seemed easier on the way down. Then came the rocky patches....
The patches were just as steep and slippery, but going down felt much more treacherous. Going with gravity adds to the sense that one can fall and crash into the rocks or other people or over the edge and into the abyss.
We all took it slowly and made it down to the forested patches of the trail that were more manageable.
By the time we got back to the cars were tired, but not exhausted. There was talk of which hut to try next summer....