Gorham to Pinkham Notch??

[sojo]

Where do most hikers camp on this portion of the trail?? Can it be done in one long day with lightened pack? What if you can't be one of the work-for-stay hikers at Carter Notch Hut?? Appreciate all comments. sojo

[jbwood5]

Where do most hikers camp on this portion of the trail?? Can it be done in one long day with lightened pack? What if you can't be one of the work-for-stay hikers at Carter Notch Hut?? Appreciate all comments. sojo

I'm assuming you are going South from Route 2. Imp is a nice site but costs $8. If you stay there, you might make it to Pinkham Notch the next day, depending on your conditioning. Once you climb out of Carter Notch and get on the Ridge before the big drop (down the Wildcats), you might find a stealth site near the gondolla. I'm not sure what kind of activity occurs there after dark. There is no water once you are up on the ridge.

If you are in great shape, Imp to Pinkham is doable. In fact, when I was going N bound a few weeks ago, we met a NOBO who did a work for stay at Madison Springs Hut, left after breakfast cleanup, and was headed to IMP. He was a young NOBO (name was Sprout) who started in March and was easily past the Whites in early July.

I understand that Carter was a little more liberal with their thru hikers (work for stay number) than most of the other huts, but that info was from some thru hikers I met and might only be when they are not full or it might be descretionary depending on needs or who is working there. Don't count on anything.

Enjoy the tough hike and plan on fording the Rattle River twice.

[Kerosene]

The 'trail northern' 15 miles is 'relatively' easy, but the southern 12 miles can be very slow, especially in wet conditions.

A lot of thru-hikers slackpack this section in a day. I ran into 4 of them at White Mountains Hostel/Lodge at US-2. They were finishing up between 6 and 7:30 pm and I think they started before 9 am. They were obviously in trail shape.

Outside of Imp and Carter Hut, there is supposedly a stealth site near Zeta Pass (I couldn't see it for the life of me). It appears that you could do a dry camp atop Carter Dome, and there are 4-5 small tent sites at the junction of the side trail to Carter Hut that supposedly aren't legal but they were all occupied when I got there about 5:30 on a weekday in September 2012. Outside of that, there isn't much.

My first day of this section (Pinkham Notch to Rangeley) started at noon, and I decided to stay at Carter Hut despite the cost. The 15 miles to US-2 were comparatively easy.

[joshuasdad]

Just did Imp Shelter to Pinkham in a day...barely. It is a very difficult 12 miles, and an absolutely horrifying descent into Pinkham Notch. If you are heading SOBO (which I do not suggest), there are a number of stealth sites in the Carters prior to Zeta Pass -- based on my 6 am departure from Imp Shelter, the several people I passed in the early AM must have camped there.

[magneto]

I camped at Carter Notch Hut and Imp when I did that section last year. Carter was nice - they have new bunk houses.

[garlic08]

Some NOBO thrus hike it in one day. I stopped for a very generous lunch at Carter Notch (don't count on that, they happened to have lots of leftovers from paying guests) but got caught in a flash flood a couple of miles from Hwy 2 and had to camp literally in the middle of the trail just below a good water bar. It was a memorable day.