White Mountains--been there, hiked that.

We rolled back into Gorham yesterday afternoon after knocking out the last 22 miles of the Whites, including a tough climb up the numerous, unending slopes of Wildcat. Though it's a rather unheralded section of the Whites, not being on the way to Mt. Washington, there were still the White Mountain hallmarks--steep ascents and treacherous descents. Fortunately, by the time we reached the last, nasty downhill into Imp campsite, we had perfected our sit-and-scoot technique for descending sheer rock faces. Otherwise, we were going down like second-rate Tarzan impersonators, desperately clinging to the scrawny pines clinging just as desperately to the mountainside. After a frigid, windy night at Imp, we headed back toward town, finishing off with a refreshingly benign hike along the beautiful Rattle River. We spent another delightful evening at the bar at the Saalt Pub here in Gorham and now we're back at McDonald's, availing ourselves of the Wifi.

Pond approaching Carter Notch Hut.

Looking back down on Carter Notch Hut,
a small assembly of buildings near the lower left.

View from Mt. Moriah.

16 miles to the Maine border, and the last state in the northbound leg of our hike. It's actually a bit odd and anticlimatic, for us, at least. Now, when we chat with folks on the trail and say that we're northbound thru-hikers, they congratulate us and say how exciting it is to be this close. And of course, most of the other hikers we know are almost done. Their last state, counting down the miles to that big moment on top of Katahdin. It will be awesome to witness and share that experience with some of our new friends, even though we'll have several hundred more miles to complete our own journey. Yet, as one of our buddies pointed out, we'll have two summit experiences, and one of them will be at home.