Need Advice Please - Carter Notch Hut to Gorham, NH in one day

[Skid.]

Glad to hear it went well. The reason there was no reply from me to your 7/9 post, I was on the AT in Maine.

[peakbagger]

For book time I added up the times listed for the trail segments from an old AMC guide (1997 ) I had laying around, I did it quick and probably made a mistake. I dont mind being wrong on the plus side as much as on the minus side. Many folks beat book time consistently once they are in shape. I am not sure how they calculate the elevation gain and loss an dif the method changed when they used GPS to plot the trail.

[jeffmeh]

For book time I added up the times listed for the trail segments from an old AMC guide (1997 ) I had laying around, I did it quick and probably made a mistake. I dont mind being wrong on the plus side as much as on the minus side. Many folks beat book time consistently once they are in shape. I am not sure how they calculate the elevation gain and loss an dif the method changed when they used GPS to plot the trail.

Many folks beat book time consistently even without being in great shape, but YMMV, lol.

[Humbuck]

For book time I added up the times listed for the trail segments from an old AMC guide (1997 ) I had laying around, I did it quick and probably made a mistake. I dont mind being wrong on the plus side as much as on the minus side. Many folks beat book time consistently once they are in shape. I am not sure how they calculate the elevation gain and loss an dif the method changed when they used GPS to plot the trail.

I just assumed you might have included book times for different directions as the elevation gains are pretty different. Who knows...

Seems like book times in the Whites are a bit misleading, but I do understand it probably averages out overall. In the southern states (GA, TN, NC) I would destroy book time, and up there I even beat book time going uphill, but the downhills are where book time gets me. Things like coming down North Carter throws it off a bit. Even some of the flat spots (like much of the AT between Lake of the Clouds and Madison Spring) slow me down due to the technical nature of the hike.

My conditioning didn't seem to be a factor in my 5 day hike of the Whites so much as my ability to negotiate each step across the rocks. I was actually surprised how fast I made it up the Webster Cliff, Wildcat Ridge, and other steep uphill trails, but in other areas that looked much easier on the profile map there were lots of places to turn ankles, break bones, etc. In fact, on the 15th a chopper had to rescue a fallen hiker on Mt Adams while were only 150 feet or so from the top. He took a pretty hard fall and had a head wound and compound fracture in his arm.

Still, I'll tell ya this much for sure... The views were absolutely astonishing!

[jakedatc]

Book time also skips any breaks. Even short ones add up a bit.. Downhill definitely slows me down more than up. Down Madison and down Washington were the hardest part of the presi traverse

[DavidNH]

You can go from carter Notch Hut to Gorham in one day. But it will be a long very hard very tiring day. Plan on leaving the hut before breakfast and getting to Gorham after Dinner. You won't have much time to just lounge around. Furthermore, you need to figure in that there's a hitch of several miles from the AT at route 2 into Gorham. You'll get a ride for sure.. but it may take some time.

From Pinkham up to the wildcats is very steep up, then very steep down to Carter Notch Hut. From here.. it's a long steep clime up to Carter Dome (4800 feet plus high) then you go over south carter, middle carter, north carter and Moriah. The terrain will slow you down. Expect a mile per hour. In places you have vertical ledge to lower yourself down from or heave your self up over.

If you could, I'd recommend a night at Imp Camp Site. That way, none of your days will be overly long.

Going from Pinkham back to Crawford will probably necessitate a shuttle or pre arranged ride.

David

[jakedatc]

You can go from carter Notch Hut to Gorham in one day. But it will be a long very hard very tiring day. Plan on leaving the hut before breakfast and getting to Gorham after Dinner. You won't have much time to just lounge around. Furthermore, you need to figure in that there's a hitch of several miles from the AT at route 2 into Gorham. You'll get a ride for sure.. but it may take some time.

From Pinkham up to the wildcats is very steep up, then very steep down to Carter Notch Hut. From here.. it's a long steep clime up to Carter Dome (4800 feet plus high) then you go over south carter, middle carter, north carter and Moriah. The terrain will slow you down. Expect a mile per hour. In places you have vertical ledge to lower yourself down from or heave your self up over.

If you could, I'd recommend a night at Imp Camp Site. That way, none of your days will be overly long.

Going from Pinkham back to Crawford will probably necessitate a shuttle or pre arranged ride.

David

Apparently you missed post 19 where he said he did it in 12hr with a lot of breaks.

it is not that hard if you are in decent shape. Wildcats to gorham/rattle in a day is a solid challenge. Carter to gorham is not that bad.

the white mountains are steep, you get used to it.

[Rain Man]

Just want to say THANKS to all for info in this thread. Past thru-hiker partner and I plan to do all of NH next month and I had some of these questions.

RainMan

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