Mile 1,878.5
Elevation 4,783.0 feet
Miles Hiked 5.9
The original plan was to take the scenic tour gondolas up Wildcat mountain. I did the first several miles of the mountain last year and finished at the gondola run. However, for all the planning I did, I screwed up and came in four days too early. The Gondolas were not running until Saturday, so I had to rehike the first part of the mountain. This is not something I wanted to do since it is an extremely difficult climb. Nevertheless, there I was so I was on the way.
Just as I remembered, the climb up to Wildcat D summit where the Gondolas are was tough. It took me over 5 hours to go three miles and just over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. It didn’t get any easier after that. I continued on to Carter Notch Hut and arrived there at 6:30 PM. There were no campsites available anywhere up to this point, so I asked to do “work for stay.” The staff at the hut accepted me and there were three other southbound hikers with me. They first fed us a great meal of lasgna and brownies and then we stacked wood for them, which was the “work” part of the deal. Lights out for the hut is at 9:30 PM, which is when we got to lay out our sleeping bags and go to sleep
