It was forecast to be a cool and windy day with a 30% chance of showers. We decided to take our chance on the showers and do a one day south to north traverse of the Wildcats, Carters and Moriah. The weather was with us, and we didn’t have a single sprinkle all day.
We spotted a car at the end of our journey, the Rattle River trailhead and backtracked to Pinkham’s where we would begin our trip. We followed the Lost Pond trail to meet up with the Wildcat Ridge trail where the steep climb begins up to the Wildcats. Some gnarly little sections with plenty of uphill and soon we had hit Wildcat D and the A. It was cool and breezy but great conditions for the uphills.
We dropped down into Carter Notch where we had lunch at the Carter Notch hut and chatted with Danno, the cook of the day. After we had our fill of lunch and filling our water bottles, we saddled up for the climb up Carter Dome.
Reaching the first large cairn on the summit of the Dome and pausing to catch our breath, June cries out, “Is that a mean girl I see? Is that two mean girls I see?” It was MEB and Little Sister! They were doing a Carters and Wildcats day. We chatted a bit and then off we all went.
Over Hight, South and Middle Carters we were commenting on the great weather day we were having and the lack of people on the trails. We hadn’t seen many people at all today.
We cruised over to North Carter and then had the great pleasure of descending it. This part of the Carter-Moriah trail is very steep and rough and very reminiscent of the Wamsutta trail in the Great Gulf. We were very glad we had a dry day.
After the steep descent from North Carter, we passed through a very wild and beautiful section, lush and green with many bog bridges. Here we enjoyed an immense feeling of solitude as we passed rock ledges, mossy ground and many small streams. We soon reached the Imp Shelter spur where we encountered our first people since Mt Hight.
Trucked up Moriah where we looked back and could see our day’s journey. The Wildcats were out of view but we could see Carter Dome, South and Middle Carters, the steep side of North Carter and at our feet, Moriah.
The hour was getting late and we still had many miles to hike, so off we went. Descending the Kenduskeag and Rattle River trails, we watched the sun set through the trees before day slipped into darkness and we donned our headlamps.
We likely startled the night’s occupants of the Rattle River shelter as they probably never expected to see any hikers passing by at 10:00 at night. Soon after arriving at the car, we experienced the exquisite pleasure of exchanging boots for crocs--a great luxury after a 22 mile day.
This was a long, tiring, arduous hike--no doubt about it. But we had excellent weather conditions, a perfect temperature and breezy conditions to cool us down and keep the bugs away.
Let’s do it again sometime!!
Pictures HERE
We spotted a car at the end of our journey, the Rattle River trailhead and backtracked to Pinkham’s where we would begin our trip. We followed the Lost Pond trail to meet up with the Wildcat Ridge trail where the steep climb begins up to the Wildcats. Some gnarly little sections with plenty of uphill and soon we had hit Wildcat D and the A. It was cool and breezy but great conditions for the uphills.
We dropped down into Carter Notch where we had lunch at the Carter Notch hut and chatted with Danno, the cook of the day. After we had our fill of lunch and filling our water bottles, we saddled up for the climb up Carter Dome.
Reaching the first large cairn on the summit of the Dome and pausing to catch our breath, June cries out, “Is that a mean girl I see? Is that two mean girls I see?” It was MEB and Little Sister! They were doing a Carters and Wildcats day. We chatted a bit and then off we all went.
Over Hight, South and Middle Carters we were commenting on the great weather day we were having and the lack of people on the trails. We hadn’t seen many people at all today.
We cruised over to North Carter and then had the great pleasure of descending it. This part of the Carter-Moriah trail is very steep and rough and very reminiscent of the Wamsutta trail in the Great Gulf. We were very glad we had a dry day.
After the steep descent from North Carter, we passed through a very wild and beautiful section, lush and green with many bog bridges. Here we enjoyed an immense feeling of solitude as we passed rock ledges, mossy ground and many small streams. We soon reached the Imp Shelter spur where we encountered our first people since Mt Hight.
Trucked up Moriah where we looked back and could see our day’s journey. The Wildcats were out of view but we could see Carter Dome, South and Middle Carters, the steep side of North Carter and at our feet, Moriah.
The hour was getting late and we still had many miles to hike, so off we went. Descending the Kenduskeag and Rattle River trails, we watched the sun set through the trees before day slipped into darkness and we donned our headlamps.
We likely startled the night’s occupants of the Rattle River shelter as they probably never expected to see any hikers passing by at 10:00 at night. Soon after arriving at the car, we experienced the exquisite pleasure of exchanging boots for crocs--a great luxury after a 22 mile day.
This was a long, tiring, arduous hike--no doubt about it. But we had excellent weather conditions, a perfect temperature and breezy conditions to cool us down and keep the bugs away.
Let’s do it again sometime!!
Pictures HERE
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