Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / New Hampshire / Northern White Mountains

Appalachian Trail: Carter-Moriah and Wildcat Ridges (Route 2 to Pinkham Notch)

White Mountain National Forest (Gorham to Pinkham Notch)

East of Pinkham Notch, the Appalachian Trail follows a long, wooded ridge: the Carter-Moriah Range, then the five Wildcat peaks. SectionHiker’s 2018 section hike from Route 2 near Gorham to Pinkham Notch covered about 22 miles with roughly 8,000 feet of climbing, and its author planned it as two days.

The ridge has two places to sleep along the way: AMC’s Imp Campsite and AMC’s Carter Notch Hut, tucked in the deep notch between Carter Dome and Wildcat.

The hike

Southbound, the trip starts at the Rattle River trailhead on Route 2. SectionHiker says the Rattle River Shelter is about two miles up, and that the Rattle River Trail steepens with “two long sections of large rock steps.” The A.T. then climbs over Shelburne Moriah to Mt. Moriah. SectionHiker’s trip plan, which starts at the Carter-Moriah trailhead in Gorham instead, puts Moriah’s summit at mile 4.5 and warns of a short rock chimney that is easier to down-climb facing in, plus steep ledges south of the summit that can be hard to cross without sliding when wet.

The spur to Imp Shelter comes at 6.6 miles in the trip plan. It is the first reliable water on the ridge: “there’s a good stream along a short path behind the shelter.” AMC restored the 1980 log shelter, the last native-timber shelter built in the White Mountains, and reopened it in October 2021.

South of Imp, the trail crosses North, Middle, and South Carter to Zeta Pass (11.2 miles), then Mt. Hight and Carter Dome (12.6). Hight “has the best views in the Whites. Really,” the SectionHiker author wrote in 2018; he also found Zeta Pass dry and ended up dropping about 1,000 feet down the Carter Dome Trail for water. From Carter Dome the trail drops about 1,500 feet in 1.2 miles to Carter Notch and the hut at 13.9 miles.

The Wildcat Ridge Trail climbs about 1,100 feet in its first 0.7 mile to Wildcat A, then runs over the Wildcats to Wildcat E. The final descent drops about 2,000 feet in 2.1 miles on steep, open ledge; the trip plan says to “avoid it altogether in wet or rainy weather,” and the 2018 author called it “murder” to down-climb. The Lost Pond Trail finishes at AMC’s Pinkham Notch Visitor Center on Route 16.

The Wild River Wilderness lies just east of this ridge, and the Presidential Traverse is across the notch.

Tips

Camping

Imp Campsite is an AMC site with a shelter, four small tent platforms and one group platform, a brook for water, and a fee, according to AMC’s campsite list. AMC campsites are first come, first served and can’t be reserved; dogs are allowed on the platforms but not in the shelters. AMC asks groups of six or more to use its group notification system. SectionHiker says Imp has a caretaker in summer.

Carter Notch Hut sleeps 40 in two bunkhouses; full service (with meals) ran June 4 to Sept. 19 in 2026, according to AMC’s update to the Mount Washington Commission, and self-service runs from Sept. 23, 2026, to May 30, 2027, according to AMC. No dogs overnight. The Forest Service brochure bans camping within a quarter mile of huts, shelters, and tentsites, and also lists Zeta Pass as a quarter-mile Forest Protection Area. Fees are not listed here.

Inside Intel: SectionHiker’s trip plan calls Carter Notch Hut “an ideal place to spend the night during this traverse,” and notes that walk-ins can refill water there during the day. On its 2018 hike, the author skipped the hut and found a pre-existing site off the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Down-climbing Wildcat E to Pinkham Notch:

The final descent off Wildcat E drops about 2,000 feet in 2.1 miles on steep, open ledge, and one hiker called it murder to down-climb. Here's how to set and use your poles so steep drops hurt less.

Get the trekking pole tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.