Winter's No Quitter
- Jill McMahon
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
So why should we be? Here's one final snowy adventure.
My co-worker, Katy, gave me the go-ahead to share her most recent winter trip - an idea so full of fun, it’ll make you happy for snow in March after a long ass winter.
A couple weeks ago, Katy told us she was logging off and would soon be unreachable (Slack was not going where she was headed). Once we’d all returned to the office, I asked where she’d gone on vacation and her nonchalant reply was this, “Did I go somewhere?”
“Um, you mentioned being unreachable, so I assumed you were getting on an airplane or something.”
To this, she answered, “Oh right. We hiked up to Carter Notch Hut, spent the night, then sled back down to the trailhead.”
Uh huh. This is what adventurous people do on weekends. Katy is so adventurous, she’d forgotten about sledding down a mountain with her family. She did put a bell on her son, so as not to lose the kid or startle any hikers heading uphill (venturous and smart), but this idea - which was unheard of and really exciting to me - was no big whoop to her. I have miles to go in my journey to outdoor explorer.
Since I’ve yet to experience the thrill of sledding from an overnight hut, I have few details to share. But here is what I know:
The hike to AMC’s Carter Notch Hut is 3.8 miles from the Nineteen-Mile Brook Trailhead off of Route 16 in Gorham, NH (The White Mountain National Forest). The elevation gain is 2,000 feet and the hike is rated as moderate.
Year-round, you can reserve an overnight stay in one of two bunkhouses, which includes individual rooms for 4-6 people (love a little privacy). The hut is self-service in the winter, then full-service with meals from early June to late September (it’s June 4th this year). Learn more about the Carter Notch Hut on the AMC’s website here.
I plan to sign my family up for this next winter, but let me know if you get to it before me! Can’t think of a better way to cap off the season.
