5/28-29/07
Imp Shelter- North Carter 4530', Mount Lethe 4584', Middle Carter 4610', South Carter 4430'

8 miles RT from Imp Shelter

2350' Elevation gain

Kevin, Judy and Emma

We made a backpacking trip to Imp Shelter, climbing the Stony Brook Trail on a warm and muggy Monday, the 28th of May. The forest floor was littered with wildflowers: Red and Painted Trillium, Starflower, just opening Pink Lady Slippers, and the tiny Alpine Marsh Violets, to name a few. The now emerging black-flies were present, but not yet annoying enough to forego a trip in the woods. The early muggy weather made climbing with a heavy pack more laborious than it would be under more seasonable conditions, but a good breeze at higher elevations made even this unwelcome condition more bearable. We were pleased to find the shelter empty, and had it to ourselves this first night, causing me to bemoan the fact that I had packed in a tent, originally planning to use it at the nearby tentsites in the case of a crowded shelter. This was new ground for us, spending a night at a designated shelter/campsite, as we usually opt for a mountain top to pitch our tent. This being the case, we were not sure how a dog would be recieved at a shelter, or even if we really wanted to be sharing a shelter with strangers, so I packed in the tent so that we could enjoy some of the solitude we had come for. The wind blew a gale the first night and we were glad to have the shelter to ourselves, although it was loud and cold inside. On Tuesday the 29th, we climbed to North Carter, ticking this one off on our hundred highest list, then across Mount Lethe, which is really just a bump, then on to Middle and South Carter, and returning the same way. The climb up North Carter from the north is very steep, with lots of scrambling and we dreaded the return trip down, but it turned out to be not as bad as we had anticipated. The worst part of the trip was between the shelter and North Carter, as there was still lots of snow on the trail and there was some postholing along the way. Some sections of boardwalk were flooded and where there wasn't snow there was mud. Between summits we had many occasions to enjoy the views of the Wild River Wilderness to our east and the Northern Presidentials to our west. The sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds all day and it was seasonably warm, not muggy like the day before. The blackflies were a minor issue above treeline, a slight breeze keeping them down most of the time. When you are moving they are usually not an issue anyway, it's when you stop for lunch or a snack that they become annoying. As I said before they were not annoying enough yet to ruin the trip. After the hike we made hot supper with the chef (Boy ar Dee), and then our company arrived, greeted by Emma's fierce protective barking at their arrival while food was being consumed. She is very protective of food for reasons we don't quite understand, except that she was a stray when very young, and probably had to fight for what she got. She got over it quickly and soon made friends with everyone. After cleaning up, we moved our gear to a tentsite and were soon headed to the land of nod. The mountain air will do that to you. At this point we were glad I had packed the tent and we spent Tuesday night in the warmth of the tent instead of the crowded shelter. After sunset the wind died down to a dead still hush and the closeness of the tent kept us warmer than the night before, so we slept better than the previous night.