Date: 2014-07-17
From: Norwich Inn

To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 16.6

Lots of weird movements today - involved duplicating sections I already covered and even going SOBO for a bit! An all around interesting day of hiking.The bed at the Norwich Inn allowed me to get an excellent sleep and I was able to get up and out to catch the 7:20 bus in front of Dan and Whit's. While going to check out there was an issue with the payment and it turns out the card used for the reservation did not get charged so my card was used instead. Figured that all out before 7:20 but the bus had arrived at the stop early and was leaving as I walked out...guess I will be walking that same walk into Hanover again!Been there, done that. But this time in NH for good! Made it through town and a quick pit stop at the Co-Op to pick up some food - a great setup in the store, very nice merchandise! After the Co-Op I followed the trail out of town - back to the woods!Lots of pine trail walking today - super nice to walk on the pine needles instead of mud! The section right after town gets used a lot so some of the trail was not well distinguished or marked from the other trails and it caused a little bit of confusion. This and some slipping added to the rough start I had this morning so I threw on some music to help calm the soul - soft music plus nature plus walking did the trick!I did run into a few really muddy spots - I knew the mud wasn't going to stop when I left Vermont but at one point the trail goes right by a beaver dam pond and it had flooded onto the trail. Just a little clever trail design here could avoid that issue! But much less muddy than Vermont. Before starting the climb up Moose Mountain I saw Iron Chef and his mom walking into Etna for food - I waved to them as they walked away. With music playing softly and energy from a snack, the climb up Moose Mountain was not bad at all - and there was a nice view from the peak! Ran into Shinbone (SOBO) at the top of the south peak and asked him questions about his trip and the Whites - a knowledgeable young fellow who seems to have had good weather in the Whites. Maybe Big Dawg and I will get that weather when we get to the Whites!Stopped at the Moose Mountain Shelter for lunch and met Dreamer (SOBO) eating his lunch as well. An older gentleman it turns out he is also hiking with his son but his son hurt his foot and was starting tomorrow from Franconia Notch to catch his dad - almost the opposite situation of Big Dawg and myself but cool to see another father-son duo! I asked him some more questions about the Whites and I am super pumped to be so close to them - it is going to be EPIC!I was looking for the Swiss all day and I did not know if they were ahead or behind me - I kept asking hikers if they had run into a Swiss couple but I did not get solid yes or no answers. I hiked on expecting to run into them up ahead of me and made good time climbing up to Holts Ledge - it got pretty darn steep near the top of the hill! But once again the effort was worth it and I enjoyed a nice view at the top while taking a break.Walked down to the Trapper John Shelter but still did not see the Swiss - I still thought they were ahead of me so I decided to go to Bill Ackerly's to get ice cream and see if they had signed the log there - they did not have any entries in the shelter logs. A nice walk down to the road and I talked to Big Dawg - he is coming back on Saturday and he is feeling much better!At the road I ran into Iron Chef hitching into Lyme to get dinner - chatted with him about the Swiss and Big Dawg before I followed the trail to Bill's house. Turns out he was not around when I arrived but the ice cream is in a freezer on his back porch so I took one and ate it - delicious! Also paid for two sodas and signed his log book - no Swiss entry so they were behind me all day! Too bad Bill was not there I would have liked to meet him.Went SOBO back up to Trapper John Shelter and ran into Sharp Knife and Hiccup going down the hill. They had been hiking around the Swiss all day and said they were close. So I walked back to the shelter and finally found them! We all got set up and enjoyed dinner and a nice fire in honor of Big Dawg and his return!Walking with the Swiss tomorrow!