Date: 2019-09-14
From: Mink Brook Unofficial Campsite (NH)

To: Elm & Main, Norwich, VT
Miles today: 10.0

I didn¢t sleep well. I woke up at 12midnight and couldn¢t get back to sleep so I posted journal entries. I went back to bed around 3:30 and dreamed I was trying to take a bath but the water would get dirty quickly and I couldn¢t get clean. I haven¢t showered or done laundry in 6 days, so it seems pretty accurate. I woke up at 5:45 and again took about 2 hours to get going. The sky was dark as I was packing up and it even sprinkled for a few seconds as I was packing. The weather said it was supposed to rain around 11am, so I hoped I could make it to town before then.I hiked with my packcover on my backpack much to Spike¢s dismay because the sky looked like it was about to open up at any minute.A couple of day hikers/trail runners passed me as I was doing my morning chores. Once I was on the trail, a trail runner passed me from behind and said I was hiking nearly as fast as he was running. When I saw my first thru-hiker of the day, I knew him! We had hiked with him in Pennsylvania. He had been hiking with his best friend for longer than SC and I had been hiking together, and then his best friend broke his foot in New York and had to get off the trail.After seeing the trail today, I wish I had pressed on yesterday. There was a lot of wide open woods that would have worked to camp in. Today¢s trail had a lot of up and down with many rocks or roots. I kept up a good pace and got to Hanover around noon. It had sprinkled a little but never really rained. I walked by the co-op where I was going to resupply and then to the community center. I had heard the community center was only open Monday-Friday but the nobo I talked to said it was ¢like a Y.¢ In the guides it is listed as a ¢recreation center¢ which makes it sound like a Y. Anyway, I walked by there and it was closed for the weekend. It¢s a community center, a place for local organizations to meet. They do offer showers and laundry to hikers for a fee. He had also told me the local hostel didn¢t have running water. It¢s a bummer I was here on a Saturday because otherwise I could have showered and done laundry and just gotten back on the trail.My first stop was the Indian restaurant for lunch. I ordered coconut soup, rogan josh, and chai and then proceeded to clean my plates. The waitress was impressed with how much I ate. If she hadn¢t brought the check, though, I probably would have also ordered dessert. Next I went to the public library. There was a list of trail angels that would provide rides or a place to stay. I needed a place to shower and do laundry but the thought of calling a bunch of strangers was stressful. I had run into a couple when I first got into town who told me to not bother calling the first 4 on the list because they were ¢out of town.¢ There was a guy at the library though telling me to call the first 2 because they were friends of his. I said that they were out of town, but he was saying that it meant they lived in Norwich, not that they were on vacation. I¢m going toward Norwich, so that isn¢t a problem. I do wish the list indicated who was in Hanover and who was in Norwich. Anyway, now I¢m stressed out and confused. I decide to just call the hostel and ask if they have water because the nobo I passed earlier said that last he heard, they didn¢t. They do, so I decide to go there after I resupply. I walk back to the co-op and pick up food. There¢s a guy sitting outside charging his phone and smoking who has a million questions about the Whites. He has Guthook on his phone and nominally looks like a thru-hiker, but some of his questions seem strange. For example he doesn¢t know what nobo, sobo, or flip-flop mean.Once I have my resupply food packed up, I follow the trail through Hanover and towards Norwich. I remember that I need to pick up something at CVS, so I take a slight detour. While I¢m there I check out food prices and they are higher than the convenience stores I¢ve been to lately. I¢m glad I stopped at the co-op because it was more expensive than a regular grocery store but less than a convenience store.Hanover is home to Dartmouth. The trail skirted around the school, so I didn¢t get a sense of campus. It does appear that classes haven¢t started yet. I saw a lot of students moving into apartments. An Episcopal church advertised a ¢Blessing of laptops and backpacks¢ for tomorrow.Next it was downhill and across the Connecticut River. The river is the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, so we¢ve completed another state! The road walk between Hanover and Norwich was boring, and then once I got into Norwich, it was a super cute town. I sat on a bench in a park where an antiques market was being held and called the hostel. 15 minutes later I was riding to the hostel. I had hiked 10 miles, had lunch, and resupplied by 3:30. Maybe it¢s okay that I didn¢t hike farther yesterday. There were 3 hikers at the hostel when I arrived. I think they are all nobo, although it also seems like they might have been here for a few days already. I¢m staying in a room upstairs with a section hiker who arrived after me. I took a shower and then started laundry. While laundry was going, I took advantage of the $1 pints of Ben & Jerry¢s by having some Cherry Garcia.Eventually laundry was done and I went upstairs and got ready for bed. My roommate came in shortly after. We are both in bed, looking at our phones in the dark.