Wildcat D & E 11/9/2008

Well it’s been a while since I hiked last. I haven’t hiked since Shelby and I went up to Carrigain with Van and Jessie in August. The forecasts are mixed for the day depending on which place you look. The Mount Washington Observatory says that there will be a mix of sun and clouds with light winds at 10 miles per hour, and falling termperatures into the low 20’s by sundown. Also, snow is possible up high. Weather.com says the rain will stop at 8am with a 10% chance of showers throughout the day. Today I was going to try to tackle the Wildcats. I know that the Wildcat Ridge Trail is extremely steep and there is some exposure, but I figured if it was too bad, I could bail out down the Ski slopes and walk the road the .9 miles back to Pinkham.

I decided to gear up try to cross the Ellis River from the Glen-Ellis Falls parking area, but the parking area was closed for some reason. The map shows it as open all winter, but maybe things have changed since the map was printed. I continued on up to Pinkham and found the Lost Pond Trail. I would be taking the lost pond trail over to the Wildcat Ridge Trail to begin my Ascent. The Lost Pond Trail and the Wildcat Ridge Trail are both part of the Appalachian Trail

The lost pond trail was extremely wet and leads me to believe that crossing the Ellis River would have been difficult if not impossible and extremely dangerous. The bog Bridges were almost all very slippery and some were completely submerged. Clearly I would need to watch my step today. I do a lot of Solo hiking and when soloing even in wet weather although not obvoiusly dangerous, It always makes me really concentrate on every little thing to try to make the day a safe one.

After about a half mile, I reached the lost pond which was relatively calm today. The trail itself was quite difficult with the wet conditions, and the footing was not ideal. I did happen to lose my way for a minute as the Blazes were seldom, but I eventually found my way to the Wildcat Ridge Trail.

Immediately upon starting up the Wildcat Ridge Trail, the Ascent begins and it’s a steep one. I took off my fleece at the junction and opted to just wear my t-shirt. I kept my hat on, but I was still building up a sweat on the steeps. Being so long since my last hike, I was a bit out of shape and found the going slow. Partly due to the wet and rugged trail, partly due to my conditioning. I got to the point where the trail was so steep, that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it as it was wet, and I figured that if I did make it, I would have no choice but to bail out at the ski slopes. Going down this trail would not be pleasant with the slick conditions. Believe it or not, the picture to the left is of the trail. A few minutes after passing this section, the rain began to fall, only lightly, but enough rain fell to make me put on my rainshell. I decided to press on and I came to a unique set of steps. Someone has put a lot of work in on this trail. I continued on, and notice that the rain had turned to snow. Huge flakes of snow were falling all around, and this made the going easier as I wasn’t collecting rain anymore, just small amounts of snow.

I figured that I must be coming close to the summit of Wildcat E and soon realized I was wrong, there were a few PUDS (Pointless Up and Downs ) and I figured that now I might be close. Soon I crested the hill and found that there didn’t seem to be anything higher than me. I looked around and found a rock in the woods about 10’ off the trail to the north. According to the book, this should be the summit.

I continued on and went down hill a bit until I reached the Wildcat Ski Area. The gondola would be a much faster way down today, but it doesn’t appear to be open.

I started up the ascent to Wildcat D and felt a twinge in my left quad. It seemed to occur every time I stepped up hill. I stretched it a little and kept moving and it seemed to go away. In no time, I was on the top of D peak, but didn’t realize it. I kept walking and noticed that I had gone down quite a ways. I had gone what I felt to be a tenth of a mile or so too far.

I turned around and started up, and the pain in my quads started again. I stretched again, and started up hill and it never really went away until I hit the summit of D peak. The summit has an observation tower on it, but it is boarded off so you can’t actually go up the tower. Looking in the book after I got home, this is the summit of D peak. I took the parallel trail back to the ski slopes and started my way back down to the car.

About 10 minutes after taking the gondola picture, I took this picture. It appears it was beginning to clear.

The original intent today was to hike over to Wildcat A, but with my quad hurting and the going slow with the weather, I figured it was best to bail now rather than hike to A peak and not be able to walk back down. Starting down the slopes, the weather started to clear. I looked for a place to get out of the wind and found a rock near the trees. Behind the rock was a geocache. This is the second geocache I’ve found by accident while hiking. I signed my name and put it back. I then bundled up because the wind was whipping pretty good and there’s not much to stop the wind on the ski slopes. I ate my tuna sandwitch and then kept moving.

I believe that this picture is of the Great Gulf Wilderness, but I'm not 100% sure. The sky never completely cleared for me to be able to see anything 100% recognizable.

There was a lot of water on the slopes, but I was pretty well soaked anyway. My boots held up surprisingly well, and in about an hour and a half, I was back on the road. I never realized that hiking the slopes down would be so quick. It was however, quite painful on the knees and I found myself walking down in a zig zag pattern just as the skiiers do to try to avoid excessively steep grades.

I also figured that taking the green and blue trails down would be a better idea than taking the black diamonds. Once home, I tried to figure out how long the hike down the slopes was, and I figure that it was about 2 miles or so from the top of the gondola to the road. The road walk was another 9 tenths of a mile or so.

Once down the slopes and on the road, I began my road walk. I soon passed a historical Marker marking where Darby Field started his original Ascent of Mount Washington.

The walk to Pinkham wasn’t that bad, and overall this trip was ok.

***Note to self*** Never ever hike the Wildcat Ridge in the rain again.

I’ll have to make sure that the weather is perfectly clear if I ever want to hike this again. The hike was worth it however, and Wildcat D marks #17 on the 4000’ list for me of New Hampshire.

With every new hike comes new knowledge. Today I learned that I should never fear bailing out on a mountain when it just isn't my day.