Date: 2014-08-17
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 7.0

one of the very few expectations I had about the AT before I set foot on it was that I'd be sleeping about 10+ hours most of the time. I assumed I would be sleeping before the sun went down and getting up at sunrise. What tended to happen was hanging out with hikers until at least hiker midnight and then waking up early on my own accord. That usually meant before sunrise. Now that the end is near and I have totally lapsed into whateverness, I have isolated myself into my very own groove regardless of what bubble I'm in. And I guess now I am catching up on deep sleep. Last night was the third day in a row I have slept for 11 hours. Except last night was my very first encounter with a moose I think. Vermont is particularly dark because of the trees and the constant clouds overhead. Nighttime was pitch black last night with the thick leaves above - it was totally dark by 7:30pm. The first time I woke up was because something was jumping up and down near my head outside my tent. Think it was a raccoon because I tend to hang my pack on a tree and whatever critter was making the commotion was going for my pack. It must have climbed up a tree to ninja the pack from above but slipped off the tarp I wrap around it. Thudding into the ground with fatness maximus impactation on the soft pine needles must have worked me up in between the jumping around. I scared it away and got up to take a piss. An hour later I slowly woke up to the sound of a very big animal with hooves. It was walking towards me and it got very close by the time I became well aware of it in from my sleep. I sat up quickly and heard it change course abruptly going away. Other than those encounters I slept hard with the rain sporadically coming down throughout the night. It stopped by the time I woke up and luckily the trail wasn't bad. Really was a nice walk - I'm happy about getting back into the routine of up and down on forever repeat. We'll see how I feel about it for the Whites. When I got to Norwich my mood was lifted further because the trail takes you through residential streets. People were out walking their dogs waving hello and letting us sniff each other's butts. There was also fresh trail magic left in the streets by mailboxes which is where I scored some cut watermelon and banana bread. One mailbox had tape on it saying "Ent lives here, come say hi!" So I did. I recognized the name from Appalachian Trials because she had started a month before me.When I got to Hanover I was ecstatic because its a college town. Women everywhere. I didn't know what to do with myself. Brace and I kept our packs around and strolled around looking for trouble. I ended up playing a pool while charging my phone. Or to be more precise - hiding from a certain hiker instead of having to deal with his alcoholism and being associated with a creeper.Hackie sack then commenced in the open field on Dartmouth campus which led to "hey we should set up tent city by the trail edge of town" for more hackie. This turned into wrestling. And eventually party tent city like the A group at rainbow gathering. We had 3 party camps spread out by yelling distance in which we filled the woods with ape noises, bird screams, hiker calls, and drunken dance parties. Specifically to "What is love", "smell yo dick", "safety dance" and more. I believe a few tents got collateral damage in the form of going to pee without a headlamp.Well I'm glad I decided to Nero today because the laundromat isn't open on Sundays.