Date: 2003-08-02
From: Hanover, NH - Panarchy Frat House

To: Goose Pond Road
Miles today: 14.2

We slept well and started the day with a continental breakfast. Muffins.. Yummmm¢¦.. We tried to get a taxi to Hanover, but they were all busy, there is a Huge ¢Shriners¢ parade and football game in Hanover today (everyone seems to need a ride there). So we checked out of the hotel and tried a few more taxi phone numbers (no luck). Wench started talking to a lady who works at the hotel about hiking, and the lady said she knew someone who would give us a ride. Cool! She walked away, talked to a woman in the parking lot and said, ¢OK, she¢ll give you a ride¢. She gave us a ride, and talked to us. She couldn¢t believe we had walked so far. She said, ¢On those legs?¢¢¦ LOL!! My legs must look like little chicken legs¢¦ She dropped us in town, and wouldn¢t take a penny for doing it. She just got out of college, and relocated to White River Junction VT, from Indiana, and she¢s looking for work. Good luck, and thanks! Now on to our errands, we have to resupply (at a gas station quick mart), mail post cards, and send home journal pages. Then we chatted with a few locals about hiking and hit the trail (sort of¢¦ The trail is a road here) at about 11AM. The trail follows the route of the Shriners parade that¢s being held today, so we walked along the parade route in the middle of the road, waving to the people sitting along the route like we were the parade (and except for a few hundred Shriners, we could have been). I never did figure out the Shriner thing¢¦ Why the foreign connection? How did they start? Why the fez¢s? My father and Grandfather were Shriners, but I was too young for them to tell me anything (back when they were alive, and really into it). I guess I¢ll check it out later (they were in the Salaam Temple). But back to the parade, lots of Shriners, bagpipes, drum and bugle corps, little shriner cars, clowns, Arabs, etc¢¦ Wow, it was like the circus came to town, and all for a high school football game (VT versus NH). Finally,we passed by all the parade preparations and headed into the woods. As we climbed up the mountain, we heard the drums start playing and the ¢real¢ parade began. I was operating at about 75-80% today, so I was getting fatigued sooner than normal, but I was still feeling better than I had recently (I had no time where quitting came into my head). The climb up Moose mopuntain wasn¢t particularly hard or long, but it seemed grueling today. Plus the sun came out and overheated me on occasion (but a good rest break was all I needed to continue up the mountain). Well, we have beem over 3 ¢Bear¢ mountains so far, and saw no bears¢¦ So of course we saw no Moose on ¢Moose¢ mountain. We saw some limited views from the summit, it was a cloudy, hazy day. We still haven¢t seen the White mountains yet (all summit views have been hazy), but soon¢¦ I¢m getting a bit worried about the White mountains, I was having so much trouble with all the hills and mountains in Vermont, plus now I¢m sick again, so I have myself psyched out, worried I might not make it over the Whites. I just need to not worry about it, and ¢just do it¢. Climbing out of Glencliff and doing a 3,500 foot climb right away (to go above tree line), and steep 2000 ¢ 300 foot drops¢¦ Phew¢¦. Un-nerving¢¦ Before I caught this cold, I didn¢t worry about it, but now I fatigue easier¢¦ Well, one step at a time, I¢ll get there if I take my time. But now we are camped by Goose pond road (14 miles hiked), we expected to do less, starting at 11AM. The food bags are hung, and ewe are in our tents journaling. Yesterday I was taking Advil, Vitamin C, Multivitamins, antihistamines, and Sudafed. Today, I took everything but the antihistamines. Something ought to work¢¦ I need to drink lots of water, so that maybe I can shake this and not get bronchitis like the last time (a funny thing to write in my journal, I DO have Bronchitis again, I just don¢t know it yet¢¦). Life is good!