September 6

This morning we woke up early to head the almost 4 miles to the Kennebec river, where a "Mainer" would paddle across the river in a canoe, pick two hikers and their packs up then head back across and drop us off. Easiest section of trail hands down. Hiking on we hit  sections of nice trail, then muddy trail, next rocky and rooty trail....Maine can not make its mind up what kind of trail it wants to be. The day seemed to drag by once again, its so hard to be in a good mood these days. You would think this close to the end we would all be "fired up" but most of us are just tired and hungry. Our new entertainment is bitching about everything to one another to pass the time. Tonight Jabberwalkie, skinny and I are camped out by a road, right before our first river ford...hopefully tomorrow is a happier day...if not I guess we will just walk more.

Aug 24-26

Saturday morning Riggs was up early and heading towards Pinkham knotch to catch the Early shuttle. I Left soon after him, nothing seemed to be as the guide said. I kept walking anyhow. After about 4 miles of walking I came out into a pay camp area...not on the AT. Turns out the night before we didn't take the turn we were supposed to at the Osgood campsite, probably due to the fact we were exhausted and it was nearly dark. I continued walking down a road till I hit Hwy 16 and hitched into Gorham NH to the post office. Later in the day we all reunited and got a hotel room. We had a great night, there were alot of our hiker friends in town. After everyone went there seperate way, Leaks, sunshine and I snuck into the hot tube area to relax.

Sunday we went to the grocery store and grabbed some food to cook on a fire. Bratwurst, corn on the cob and potatoes. We had decided to zero in the woods to save money. After saying bye to Riggs after a great week of hiking, the three of us found an awesome stealth site way off trail and across a river to take our zero. Leaks, sunshine and I sat around all day telling stories and jokes over a few semi cold beers.

Today Leaks left out early to hike back to the visitors center where a friend of his had left some mystery trail magic. Sunshine and I slept in way to late and we lost leaks. We began the 2800 ft climb up the first Wildcat mtn. It was long and steap, but to make it even more challenging all the rocks/boulders were slippery from last nights rain. We moved slow and explored the rock crevasses which were really cool. Towards the end of the day we decided to stay at the Carter knotch hut, and do some work for stay. This hut stay was the best of all, all the hut caretakers were really cool and gave us a ton of food. Once dinner and the work was done, sunshine and I went out to Couch rock with one of the caretakers. The three of us chilled on the rock overlooking the lake and played with laser pointers. Now back at the hut I sit on my sleeping pad on the floor and prepare for bed. Tomorrow we should finally be out of the whites.

Aug 27

Waking up in a hut was nice this morning. After the few guest ate their breakfast and left the hut, we got to eat! Bacon, pancakes and coffee are a great way to start the day especially when you have a 1500 foot climb to wake you up. It didnt take to long to hit the summit, the ascent was steep but we were fresh so it took little time.  After Carter dome we headed onwards to middle carter then onto North carter all of which are 4000ft peaks. The trail was very steep and wet with a ton of rock scrambles, the decents were very tedious and taxing. Once we descended off the high ridge line we stopped at Imp Campsite, the last pay site of the whites. Sunshine and I took a long second lunch and filled up on water considering the last water source was almost 8 miles back. Now to climb the 3991ft Mt. Mariah the last climb before we hit a huge decent down to Rt. 16 where sunshine and I have our resupply hanging way up in a tree. We hung the resupply so we didn't have to carry a ton of food over the Wild cats and the Carters. Almost halfway down the decent is where I am camped for the night, just 3.5 miles from our food!  I am camped on a Small island between two streams, the sound here is priceless.

Aug 23

Woke up early to the wind beating against the lake of the clouds hut. Looking outside I realized we were socked in and the temperature had dropped. We packed our gear, put on warm clothes and started the exposed 1200ft climb. The wind was Howelling gusting at 56mph. With a wind chill of 29 deg. Multiple times on the climb I had to use my poles to stay standing due to the winds. Once at the summit we took pictures and found shelter from the elements.

After an hour break we headed back out into the cold, the walk was beautiful once the clouds started to recess. The trail began to get more and more rocky. Six miles into the day my feet were killing me. Unfortunately I think my Super Feet insoles are wore out. Continuing through the Presidential range we made it to Madison Hutt where I washed some dishes for soup and coffee. Heading back on trail we began the climb up Mt. Madison, a mountain that consist solely of medium size boulders, it began taking a toll on my feet almost instantly. At the summit we had a snack and began the long decent towards Pinkham knotch. Osgood campsite was our planned destination but upon arrival we realized it was full. It would be dark soon so we continued down the trail, finally we gave up and camped in the middle of the trail. I didn't even bother putting up the tent I just layed out my ground cloth and sleeping bag and went to sleep. In the morning Riggs and I will leave out early to get to town so he can catch a shuttle to his van and I can make the post office before the close.

Aug 19-20

Still rolling up and down mountains strong, yesterday we stopped at grean leaf hut and Yogied some breakfast. While at the hut I started talking to the Florida flip floppers and realized that Camomdo went to high school with my mom. The trail may be 2000 miles long but its only 2ft wide. The day was really pretty lax. The Florida flip floppers got the work for stay at the Zealand hut so we moved on .3 miles and found a stealth site. After settling on a fine piece of realestate, leaks and I went back to the Hut to try to Yogie some food and it worked. Leaks and I made a deal that we would clean a part of the kitchen for food, it took us all of ten minutes. We had Chicken and rice with fresh baked bread woot.

Today we decided to head for Crawford Knotch 7.2 miles to resupply and stay in town for showers and laundry. I have not showered in almost two weeks. The 7.2 into town was probably the easiest part of the Whites. At the Knotch Jerry Rigg took a shuttle to the Van while we sat around and waited.  Waiting wasn't bad due to the fact Clever Girls mom was there with trail magic. A few hours later Jerry Rigg pulled up and we headed to town. In town we stopped at a gear Co-Op and got Jerry Rigg a new pack. Now we sit at the hotel taking showers while our clothes wash. Loving the Whites

Aug 16

I woke up before the sun this morning to try to catch Sunshine who was about 5 miles ahead of me. The first challenge of the day was a huge decent off of Moosilauke. Decending down the mountain I realized the south bounders were not lying, trail conditions were extremely wet due to the fact 90% of the trail paralleled a cascading water fall over 2000ft long. The rocks had 6×6 cut on 45 deg. angles anchored to them so that hikers could use them to walk down the steep slabs of wet rocks. After about an hour and a half of nerve racking hiking I made it to kinsman knotch, it was 7:45 am. While walking towards the road crossing I saw a red cooler full of trail magic and I was the first one to get to it.

After a short break I was heading north again. Opsticle #2 was Wolf mountain about a 1500 ft. climb through mud and rocks. I hit the summit and didn't look back, I was on a mission.  Now for opsticle #3 Kinsman Mtn. taking a short break I began the climb with only a half liter of water. Ascending the mountain was extremely technical,  one huge rock scramble after another.  I put my trekking poles away so I could us my hands to help climb. The trail was the steepest its ever been, much steeper and it would have been dangerous without a rope. I thought to myself, "I've climbed every tall mountain for 1800 miles south of here ill be damned if I don't conquer this one as well" With that as my driving force I put one hand in front of the other and made it to the southern summit in no time at all. Little did I know sunshine was just a half mile ahead on the northern summit. While going through the gap towards sunshine a day hiker stopped and said "you must be Carpenter" with a strange look I replied yes. He then proceeded to tell me that sunshine had been waiting on me but was out of water so she headed for the shelter/water source.  I high tailed it down the mountain to the shelter and there she was. We sat at the pond and got water, I hate pond water but I was thirsty.  After sitting around for a while we headed down to meet sunshines dad who is coming to hike with us for a few days. Once with him we all went out to eat. At dinner I had a burger smothered in pulled pork and onion rings along with a baked potato It was an amazing way to end a 19 mile day in the White Mountains. It almost killed me.

Aug 17

After a late night trying to find a place for the three of us to make camp, we slept in till about 9:30. At the camp we divided up the trail food sunshine's dad had brought and "shook down" his pack. About 11:30 we headed to the outfitter where Sunshine got a new stove and I got a new pair of the same shoes I've been wearing and some new socks. Thank you mom and dad for keeping me going out here I love you both. In the outfitter we ran into Leaks, he needed a ride back to the trail so we brought him along. Once we found a place to park the car for a couple days we headed back to the trail. Today would be a short one, the four of us decided to do the 3800ft climb and go to a stealth spot our secret thru hiker map told us about. Tomorrow we will cross Franconia ridge, the ridge line is totally exposed for two miles and is beautiful with a hint of deadly.