Date: 2009-08-24
From: Hanover, NH

To: Lyme Dorchester Rd. - Hanover, NH
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: broken clouds

We had a good warm-up today to the trail. 17.6 mile slack pack north. We figured it would give us a good chance to break in my shoes. I didn't have too much of a problem with them. My feet were a little tender at the end of the day but it was no big deal. It was our first full day of hiking in NH and I managed to keep myself upright. I've got two chances to make it through a state without a fall, I'm hoping NH is the one- only time will tell!We started out our morning walking with Michelle and Dixie (the dog) for the first 1+ mile of trail. It was great getting to talk with Michelle and move slowly at a conversation pace. We said goodbye and kicked it into gear about 10am. We would meet them later in the afternoon as they were going to pick us up for one last night in Hanover with a hot shower and comfy bed.It was difficult getting moving today. We felt like it was hard finding the groove and it usually is coming out of a town. Hanover is one of the longest stops we've had. A slack pack was a great way to graft ourselves back onto the trail. Even though our feet were feeling heavy we were excited to be on the trail and are even more excited to be moving forward. I got stung by some kinda wasp or something today. Currently my right thigh is a half cantalope size swollen and it hurts pretty good. While hiking up Moose Mtn I felt a sharp sting in the leg and looked down to see something black. I didn't take much time to study the creature, but quickly swatted it away. The little sucker stung me through my shorts! I was a little nervous for the next hour or so during our hike and hoping it wouldn't come back. So I'm on some benedryl right now and I hope that this journal will turn out coherent. Hopefully the swelling will go down soon and tomorrow there will be no pain.Today's hike was easy. One tough climb, Holts Mtn. While resting at an overlook on Holts Mtn team Stickcakes came by. We met the couple at the Green Mtn House two weeks ago. It was nice to see them again and we decided to walk together. Not long after, a torrent of rain got us. Today we had several spurts of heavy rainfall. It came so suddenly we were unprepared. We didn't worry about it too much being that we would be indoors and clean in the evening. We walked with team Stickcakes to the same road crossing that Steve was going to pick us up at. Stickcakes were slacking too and they were meeting their ride at the same location. It was quite funny, the 4 of us standing out in the middle of a fork in the road- not moving an inch because of the cold downpour of rain- hardly a moment we'll forget! The circumstances and conversation were fun too. What an experience.Finally Steve did pick us up in his door-less, back-less jeep and it was a cold ride back to Hanover. After returning to our friends house we discovered that our camera was broken (not due to the rain, we always keep it dry). This put us in a pretty limited situation because we need a camera for obvious reasons- their are few towns coming up that offer even a Walmart. Thankfully, Steve and Michelle let us use their vehicle to drive 20 minutes to a Best Buy to get a replacement. Not planned- but that is lifeThe rest of our evening we spent visiting with Steve and Michelle and made arrangements for getting to the trail tomorrow. All is good. We are very eager to get to the Whites and we'll be there on Thursday! Time for bed now, feeling very tired.