Date: 2014-07-03
From: Stony Brook shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 36.1
Weather: light rain

Day 113: Thursday, 3 July 2014 Hanover, NH (Mile 1742.0)Well, Buffalo wasn¢t physically in Hanover, NH, but did make it across the Connecticut River into New Hampshire until they found a cooler of food from Trail Angels who took them back to Norwich to stay at their place, especially since it¢s supposed to storm tonight. But the Magic didn¢t start there¢¦¢This morning, I was crossing the bridge and heard a guy yelling at me. (Mum thinks this bridge may be over the White River, near West Hartford.) I thought I heard the word ¢breakfast¢, so I turned. Randy and Linda prepared an awesome breakfast for us in West Hartford, Vermont. They told us to make sure this makes it in Trail Journals because West Hartford never gets mentioned in Trail Journals!¢Here you are, Randy and Linda. Guy on a Buffalo said it was one of the best breakfasts he¢d had on the trail, and just what he needed! He also said that Vermont has been great! Loves Vermont! (If FAHthur and I moved back East after Baby Buffalo was born, Vermont was a serious candidate!) ¢Then someone suggested we do the 30-ft bridge jump! So if one AT thru-hiker suggests jumping off a bridge, do all the thru-hikers follow? Yup! Sounds like it¢s the thing to do, and it was a blast!¢The Mum/Transcriber isn¢t real sure what ¢bridges¢ were crossed and jumped from. The obvious one is across the Connecticut River, which creates the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. But there¢s also the White River that, I believe the Trail crosses near West Hartford, before heading north and east across the Connecticut, near Hanover, NH.Sounded like yesterday was a pretty blah day for Buffalo. He called it his ¢lowest point¢. He had to camp just off the trail, pushing himself to try to do 23 miles to get to the shelter, but only dragged himself 18 miles. He was feeling really miserable and figured that Shy Bear, Thirsty, and Boot Burner were probably at the shelter, wondering where he was. He is back to normal today, and said he was doing really well! And, I think he said that he had caught up with them.(Really great Trail Magic helps ¢Thanks, West Hartford and the Trail Angels Randy & Linda, for breakfast, and Norwich Trail Angels, who put out the cooler of food and picked him up. Sounds like they know how to bait a Buffalo!)Buffalo said that he met his first South Bounders! If you¢re starting from Katahdin, you have to wait to start later in the season ¢ there¢s still snow in them there mountains! But you got a good long hiking season heading south.¢I might Nero for the 4th tomorrow, for some of the festivities, like a parade. I met a section hiker Jenny who is going to the same med. school as Moxie. I called him and let the two of them talk so now they know somebody else!¢FAHthur asked, ¢So you haven¢t met up with the Herd yet?¢¢I think the Herd is 2 12 - 3 days ahead of me. But who knows, they may take a zero and I could put in miles to catch up with them.¢This then led to a discussion about when he expects to get to Katahdin. He said he took the miles he had left, about 450, and divided by 30 days (one month), which he thought would put him there by the 3rd. But I pointed out that that is at 15 miles per day, plus July has 31 days, so he¢d get there on the 2nd. I took a more laborious approach, looking at the shelters/huts/towns/mail drops and calculated DAILY miles to Katahdin! Never doing more than 22 mpd, with an average of 17 mpd, I got him there by July 29th. Add in a couple Zeros or Neros; he has 2-3 days of cushion. Let me say though, that it is difficult for Buffalo to set an ¢expectation¢ on the trail, but I let him know that people need to make plans based on his arrival. He did say, however, that he ran into Raven¢s mom at one of the shelters, waiting for Raven, and she commented that Baxter State Park camp sites can fill up fast. Yet another reason to set a target date!Just two states to go, although the last state has the second longest trail section and maybe the most wilderness!Thanks for following.The Mum and¢¦