Date: 2021-06-17
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Hanover New Hampshire
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

After sleeping like a log I got up and at ¢em at 4:40 this morning. I decided to practice a ¢rain pack-up¢, pretending I had to keep everything dry and under cover as I broke camp. I did pretty well (it helps when you hand out your own grades) and was back to the trail junction at 5:27. Iceberg had headed out a little before me and Quiksilver was drinking his coffee when I left. Had some more roller coaster trail for the first few miles before going down into West Hartford, Vt for a mile road walk. I caught up to Iceberg after an hour as he had stopped to shed some layers and add some bug spray. The trail itself was fairly benign and the weather was just about perfect again. Iceberg and I chatted about TV shows we had watched and this and that.  Iceberg was the one who spotted today¢s picture entry just off the trail: a mother raccoon and her three babies. They were chittering and chattering at one another until she convinced them to turn around and head away from us. I did not know that you can refer to a group of young raccoons as a ¢gaze¢ until today. And now you know, too!We came across some trail magic at the road into town, courtesy of Karen. So I ate some peanut butter crackers and drank a Coke until we came to the bridge over the White River. It is a tradition with some hikers to jump off the bridge into the water some 25 feet below. I deemed it too cold and me too old to do so. I passed the ¢if someone told you to jump off a bridge¢ test. This time. Just across the bridge is a home with a big ¢AT¢ sign on their barn and the owner Linda was on the porch. She invited us up for some more trail magic with hot coffee and hard boiled eggs for the asking (yes,l please and no thank you).  We took a 15 minute break before signing her hiker log book, thanking her, and getting back to the road walk. We had a 900 foot climb coming up with about seven miles to go to reach Norwich, Vt.  Iceberg stopped at the bottom of the trail after leaving the road to organize his pack and I started the climb. Felt really good today and having agreeable weather and a soft trail sure helped me along. The next section just flew by and despite a short and awkward encounter with an 8 month old Labrador pup that should have been on a leash, had no trouble moving along. Helped by my early start I got in 10 miles by 10 am for the first time on my hike. I exited the woods onto the road into Norwich and got a third helping of trail magic in the form of a cold bottled water from a cooler provided by Hanover Adventure Tours. What a great day!  20 minutes later I was sitting in the gazebo on the town Green having done 13 miles by 10:45. I wandered a bit up the road to a convenience store and treated myself to a chocolate milk and waited for Iceberg and Quiksilver.Many weeks back I had talked to a husband and wife who were day hiking who had lived in Norwich and told me I really needed to go to the King Arthur Bakery and Deli in town and have a cinnamon roll. I said I would. Iceberg and Quiksilver came with me as it was in the way to Hanover, about .4 miles off the trail. Sadly (for them) I literally got the last cinnamon roll for sale in the place. Kinda weird that they¢d run out of a signature item, but they did. Thirty minutes later we were on the bridge crossing the Connecticut River into  Hanover, New Hampshire. First stop there was at Lou¢s bakery for our free (to hikers) muffin or scone. We stayed for lunch and had the EBA chicken sandwich a Hanover classic from a now closed restaurant, but now served by Lou¢s. This they hadn¢t run out of so all three of us had one and it didn¢t disappoint. My friend Jason delivered countless EBA sandwiches (restaurant was named Everything But Anchovies) when he was a student at Dartmouth back in the late 80¢s and he steered me true in recommending I have one.Continued on the trail through town to the Hanover food co-op to poke around and buy a few things. Parted company with Iceberg and Quiksilver here as they were heading to a hostel and I was being picked up later by my Trail Angel hosts. I headed back into town, as there was a pizza place that gives a free slice to they hikers, which I paired with a libation before going into the Dartmouth campus to my pick up appointment.  We may try to hook up in a few days for the hike over Mt Moosilauke, which is suppose to be a humdinger.I relaxed in an Adirondack chair in front of the Dartmouth library, just across from the Dartmouth Green and enjoyed more of a great afternoon. Patricia and Michael arrived and drove to their home in Canaan, NH about 20 miles away. They have a beautiful home here on roughly 30 acres where I¢ll be staying for a few days. Had some great conversation and Shepard¢s pie for dinner.  They¢ve already showered me with hospitality and showed exceedingly good manners in refraining from comments about my trail odor. Good upbringing always shows. Tomorrow Michael is dropping me off up-trail about 5:30am for an 18 mile hike back into Hanover. My sister, Laura, should be arriving in the afternoon and I¢m looking forward to seeing her (weird to actually see that in writing, but there you go).  She¢s going to slack pack me for a few additional days into next week before I head into the Presidential Range and the real meat of the Appalachian Trail. This is all absolutely fine!