Date: 2004-07-25
From: Thistle Hill Shelter, VT

To: Day 104: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Miles today: 14.6

On AT Day 104 I got up at 4:15 a.m. and hit the trail by 6:15 a.m. under overcast skies with temperatures in the upper 50¢s to low 60¢s. Within an hour or so, the weather deteriorated to mist and eventually a drizzly rain. I actually had to be concerned about staying warm, a strange fear for late July¢¦After descending from Thistle Hill, I crossed and then followed VT 14 for a half mile and along the way I passed a little store where I stopped for a 20 ounce sugared coke ¢ energy food! A little more than a mile further along, after I had re-entered the forest, I came upon a large tub filled with iced soft drinks and remembering my energy crisis on the day before, I did not hesitate in consuming two of the small 6.5 ounce cartons of fruit juice and I took another one along to have with my lunch. There were still lots of sodas and fruit drinks left for others.By the time I finished climbing the three miles and 1,000 feet in elevation to the Happy Hill Shelter, the rain had increased in intensity so I was glad for the cover as I ate my morning snack and put on my Gore Tex jacket. At the shelter I met a couple of day hikers who were also escaping the inclement weather. After exiting the shelter, I followed the AT on a 3.5-mile gentle descent, with a few minor hills, before reaching the outskirts of Norwich, VT where it joined Elm Street for a one-mile steep descent on hard pavement to junction with a small park. I was sure glad to get to the park where I could eat my lunch under the shelter of the bandstand and take the weight off my stoned bruised feet squishing around in my wet soggy boots.After this short break, I followed the AT east along US 5 for another mile of pavement walking until it crossed the Connecticut River and entered NH and the college town of Hanover. After another half mile or so of road walking the trail came to the campus of Dartmouth College where I was scheduled to meet my wife outside Robinson Hall, the entrance to the famed Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC).Strangely enough, despite the fact that I was at least an hour early (2:30 p.m.), just as I was approaching the intersection of the road bordering the DOC headquarters, up came Hot Chocolate walking toward, but not looking at me. In fact, she didn¢t even see me until I called out her name ¢ we were both amused by strangely pleasant timing. And then just as soon as my wife began to explain how the town was laid out, one of the locals (a well-dressed women in her 60¢s) stopped in her tracks and took it upon herself to explain how I should follow the AT through the town and where I could find the markets. She obviously didn¢t know that Hot Chocolate was my wife, but a very nice gesture nonetheless.After my wife and I deposited my pack in our truck, and I got out of my smelly clothes (except for my shorts as we were in public), we went to a very nice local eatery, Molly¢s, for a terrific sandwich lunch and then did our food shopping at the bulk food co-op recommended by our Hanover ¢greeter.¢ At lunch, my wife gave me some rather shocking news ¢ no she hadn¢t had another accident with either our truck or trailer, but she had run out of her prescription medications and had experienced a rather serious bout of withdrawal, complete with some wild auditory hallucinations. Be sure to check out Hot Chocolate¢s own explanations of this scary experience in own trail journal. An emergency supply of medicines was obtained so she was feeling much better now, what a relief! If the two of us can stay healthy, we might just finish the AT this year¢¦