wildcat a

Today's hike: 8.5 mi | 6.5 h | 1.3 mph

I hiked up to Wildcat A with Maggie's boy today. This was my 24th 4000-footer, so I'm halfway done!

I decided to be clever. We would take two cars, and do an end-to-end hike, starting at the Glen Ellis Falls trailhead and ending at the Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead. We'd bag the two peaks, A and D, and not have to retrace our steps.

This was to be another "fasting hike", which seems to suit me pretty well. We both had coffee when we got up.  We had purchased four Vermont Smoke & Cure "meat sticks" which went in my backpack, and that was all the food we took along with us. I had a quart of water, and the boy carried a couple quarts (he gets more thirsty than I do).

The parking lot at Pinkham Notch was looking pretty full when we arrived before 8 AM. That's Labor Day for you! However, we were parking one vehicle at Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead, and there were plenty of spots there. Then we drove back down about a mile south of Pinkham Notch to the Glen Ellis Falls trailhead.

At the trailhead, I was distracted by someone asking for change for a ten-dollar bill (the parking fee at most areas in the Whites is five dollars if you don't have a season sticker - which I do). I want to say that this distraction is the reason that I made a crucial mistake at this point. I'll come to that at the end of my story.

Crossing the Glen Ellis River was doable, but dicey. I don't know how much rain they've been getting in Pinkham Notch. I expected the river to be shallow enough to cross easily, but I was wrong! In the end, rather than spending a lot of time searching for the right way to rock-hop across, we both removed our boots and crossed barefoot through the water. Then we spent just a little bit of time drying off our feet. I think this was probably the most efficient way to cross. You do have to be careful: cross where the water is below your knees, and move so you don't fall on the slippery stuff that grows on rocks under the water!

The hike up to Wildcat D was uneventful. Conditions were similar to those of last week at Wildcat D. Not much wind, and a bit too humid, but more overcast. Despite that, it was a fine day, and the sky cleared as we approached the top of the Wildcat Ski Area. This is where we sat down to break our fast by eating one of our meat sticks. It was here that we discovered we'd purchased "turkey pepperoni" sticks, much to our dismay. They had the right amount of salt, but lacked the grease which we had been eagerly awaiting. To add insult to injury, one of the tourists who had been ferried up on the gondola was strolling about with a lit cigarette. The fumes wafted our way constantly. Nothing to do but get up and move on.

We were now entering unknown territory, since I'd only gotten this far last week. It turns out that the hike between Wildcat D and A is a series of up-and-down hill hikes. The trail is similar to the approach to Wildcat D - pretty rocky, but never as steep. It was a surprise when we reached Wildcat A; the hike took less time than expected. Someone was just leaving the summit as we approached, and we had the small outlook all to ourselves and the juncos as we ate our second pseudo-pepperoni sticks. We had a beautiful view of Carter Notch to the north. I think we were looking at Carter Dome to the east, and we could see a small number of buildings which must be where Carter Notch hut is located, below us.

Carter Notch

Carter Notch hut and Carter Dome in the distance (I think)

After enjoying the view and our far-too-dry snacks, we hiked on. The trail goes down steeply for about 0.7 miles, where it becomes more gradual and finally meets the intersection of the Carter-Moriah trail and the Nineteen Mile Brook trail. The Nineteen Mile Brook trail is not very exciting. It goes downhill at a very gentle grade, crossing little trickles of water that may give you more trouble at the beginning of the season, but were easily crossed now. The trickles of water did get wider as we got further down the trail, and eventually became so big that the trail maintainers felt they merited a footbridge.

first footbridge along the Nineteen Mile Brook trail

beautiful slabby brook with a cascade

The brook becomes pretty active and wide, to your left, once you pass the first footbridge. It's dotted with interesting slabby and blocky features.

Eventually, you come to a mysterious dam (who put the dam here, and why?), which creates a deep pool of water. The water is crystal clear, and on a day like today, it was tempting to take a dip. But we didn't have time. Around this point, a lightbulb went off over my head. I asked Maggie's boy: "Where are the keys to your car?" and he responded, "They're in your car, of course!" (he's in the habit of throwing the keys to the car in the cupholder). Oops!

I gave him my keys and urged him to hustle down the trail in the hopes of meeting the AMC shuttle. I was in no shape to hustle, as my right knee was bothering me, but he still felt fine. The Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead is a stop for the shuttle, but we had no idea what the schedule was. Foolishly, I had hopes that a bus pulled up every 30 minutes or so. It turned out that the shuttle stops at this trailhead 4 times a day... and he arrived at the trailhead about 20 minutes after the last stop, which happens to be 2:55 PM.

While he waited for me to arrive at the trailhead, he asked a couple of people in their cars for a lift to Pinkham Notch and was met with lukewarm refusals. No one was going that way, or they claimed they didn't know where Pinkham Notch was (it's about 5 miles down the road). If a strange man approached you for a ride, would you let them in your car? No! But when I arrived, seeing that he wasn't just a lone kook but was accompanied by a woman hiker, one driver relented, and Maggie's boy got a lift back to Pinkham Notch. For reasons that remain obscure, he felt he couldn't ask for a lift to Glen Ellis Falls, which is only one mile further. He ran down to Glen Ellis Falls, and then drove the car back to me, where our adventure ended.

Let this be a warning to you, people. If you are doing an end-to-end hike, do something to remind yourself to keep that second car key on your person. Literally attach it to your pack with a sling, if that's what it takes!