Date: 2017-07-14
From: Moosilauke Lake

To: Dartmouth Skiway
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: light rain

Not that long ago, we sobos used to pay close attention to our nobo counterparts' trail descriptions. Now I find myself paying attention again, but for the exact opposite reason.Back when the reputed toughest parts of the AT still lay ahead, we'd listen carefully about what they had to say. But then after repeatedly finding the reality fell short of the hype, we started downplaying or even ignoring them.I realised this process had reached full circle on the way down Smarts Mountain, when I encountered some nobos complaining earnestly about the "tough climb" on a section of trail that was waaaaaaaaay gentler and nicer than 90 per cent of what we'd encountered in the past month.I said nothing and just smiled to myself, knowing that the next few weeks would put this climb in context for them. What I really liked was that it hinted that the way ahead for us would be even easier than it had been since we left the Whites.It says something for our own benchmarking in the northern AT states that two climbs of around 2,000ft each could be deemed a relatively easy day.It helped that the trail was relatively easy walking, at least compared to the rocks, roots, mud and steep grades we're used to. On the second climb, to Smarts Mountain, the path was remarkably gentle for sobos.At the top, there was an old fire watchtower and associated fire warden's cabin, back from the days before these things were automated. The weather was still dry but clouds from yesterday's storm socked in the summit, rendering pointless climbing up to the tower for the view. In the cabin, I found Train and Obi Wan, along with an indeterminate nobo. It was near the bottom of the mountain that I started meeting a phalanx of nobos and hearing, in the midst of a steady but otherwise unremarkable ascent for them, what a "tough climb" it was. Just above them was more difficult terrain again, with wet sloping granite slabs and steep boulder staircases, but still a cruise compared to what we'd been through. Thanks to the previous day's slow start, I knew I wasn't going to get to Hanover today by trail. Having arranged to spend the weekend with friends from the Middle East now living outside Boston, it meant I'd have to hitch hike to Hanover from one of the roads the trail crossed today. It didn't take long to dismiss the idea of the road at 24 miles as too ambitious but the nobos I'd been meeting said the crossing at 20 miles, Goose Pond Road, had very little traffic. The idea of getting there sometime after 7pm and potentially getting stuck without a lift prompted me to stop hiking at Dartmouth Skiway, on a much better travelled road.The other information from the nobos was about how hiker-friendly Hanover is. This was quickly demonstrated when I reached the road at the skiway, saw a car approaching and fumbled for my phone to try and work out which way I was supposed to be hitching to get to Lyme and then Hanover. I didn't even need to put out my thumb because the driver stopped, unbidden, to offer a lift. On the few miles to Lyme, he explaining to his daughter about the long hike the smelly stranger in the car was doing. From Lyme, it only took about 10 more cars before someone stopped, a ski industry engineer who dropped me off in downtown Hanover even though it was out of his way. This was definitely a hiker friendly community!Life is good.AT fact of the day: On the insect mesh of my tent this morning, I found a large tick. It wasn't the tiny pinhead-sized deer ticks that are pernicious carriers of Lyme disease, but it's a reminder that as the terrain gets lower and easier, there will be other difficulties to take their place.