Date: 2008-06-24
From: Tenting in Hanover, New Hampshire

To: Velvet Rocks Shelter
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: clear sky

Hanover, NH seems to have a bad reputation on trail, and I'm not exactly sure why. My spirits were quite high all day today, the first time in a long while. I'm living the life right now. It just doesn't get any better than this.We broke camp at 6:00AM this morning and rolled into the Dirt Cowboy Coffee place at 6:40AM. I purchased an ice coffee and a copy of the New York Times. I enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of the morning while catching up on the news of the day.I'll give you one word why Hanover is significant to anyone who is not a hiker: Darmouth. This Ivy League school is what this town revolves around, and I say that in the best possible way. There are clothing stores and book shops whose sole purpose is to meet the needs of the college students, and there's a high-class hotel for their parents to stay while visiting the town.Darmouth College also has a top-notch outing club, where we went next to drop our packs. The college has dedicated an entire historic brick building to the cause, and the club has at least one full time staffer to help coordinate the clubs various outings. The club allows us hikers(at their own risk) to store our packs in building while we complete our various town chores. The club also has computers hikers are allowed to use.Another great thing about this town is that it has a free bus service for the area. We took advantage of this service by busing to the laundry mat to ensure we had clean clothes to start New Hampshire in.For resupply one must walk to the Hanover Consumer Cooperative. This grocery still is quite impressive, although it is poorly designed making navigation through the aisles quite an adventure. All the employees in this tore were pleasant and quite a few took interest in our hikes. What you must understand is that in a town like Hanover, hikers stand out without even trying. We look like we just returned from war, while some of the locals look like they are preparing to go to the country club.While Cookie went to lunch at a local Indian food place, I opted for a diner in town. This was a poor choice. The service was apathetic, and the food was mediocre. A poor decision on my part.After lunch I returned to the DOC to start consolidating my food. Cookie suggested to me that we take the bus to West Lebanon and see if they could replace my dilapidated sleeping pad. When we rolled into the store I explained what happened and they did not think twice about replacing the pad, I also bought some new socks. Since we had time to kill we walked over the the LL Bean, which is housed in the same complex. I was not impressed with this store, although I admit I am used to the high standards of their flag ship store in Freeport, Maine. I was disappointed to find out they don't sell winter hats in the off season. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I lost my beloved Mountain Hardwear winter hat in PA, and have been searching for a new one ever since.Back in Hanover I returned to the DOC, but I fist stopped to admire the Dartmouth Green, which is a nice and open park in the middle of town.At the DOC I finished consolidating my food and prepared to leave town. Cookie and I decided we would stop at the co-op to buy some dinner before leaving. When I went to check out my cashier was someone pulled straight from Woodstock. This lady was clearly having the time of her life, and I chatted with her and the customer in front of me about random things, including my hike. It was an experience like no other.Unfortunately, my adventure in Hanover had to come to an end. I had a blast in Hanover, certainly one of the best trail towns I've been to. The people in town were pleasant and unassuming. What was nice is that this town has other things to do, and us thru-hikers are not that high on the priority list. In other towns you feel like you are being interrogated by some locals who are trying to be friendly. The truth of the matter is that the money hikers bring to towns like Hanover is not that big of a deal. It was a perfect town.Cookie and I then walked a grueling 5/10ths of a mile to the first shelter out of town, where I am tenting tonight.It's now time to start New Hampshire, with the climax coming in the White Mountains.It's time.And that's the way it was.Kirby