Date: 2004-08-28
From: Hanover NH

To: Hanover NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

8/27/2004 - 8/28/2004SlimerI was coming into Hanover NH, the trail runs right through the town. Just as I was coming out of the green I passed a house, lady in the yard playing with her dog. She asked where I¢m going? I say Maine. I ask her if she knew of a decent place to camp close by? She said, I have a barn in the back yard you¢re welcome to sleep there tonight. I accept her offer. She tells me where to get water. Later on she comes out to the barn with a big platter of muffins, bananas , and oranges. She also hands me a farewell / good- luck letter. Tells me to go in her garden and help myself to any veggies I wanted. This lady was so nice to me, her name was Lisanne Dorion. Thank you so much Lisanne, I will never forget your act of kindness to me.Wake up the next morning and head into town, didn¢t bother anyone in the house as I didn¢t want to disturb them. Walking into town I see Gather standing at a phone booth. We hook up and go to the P.O to get our goodies. Man at the P.O, said he didn¢t have anything for us, after a phone call to mom we got that mess straightened out. Went back to the P.O and our packages had miraculously appeared. Postal worker said they had been put in the wrong bin!Now I have to figure out how to cram 40 lbs of (****) in a 35 lb pack!! This takes some head scratching and packing and un-packing. Gather has some what the same problem. We have added our winter gear on top of what we already had, our summer gear consisted of what we were wearing. Finally get it all figured out. Man this pack feels like it¢s full of lead, not sure I will be able to handle all this.Met Baltimore Jack in front of the library , Baltimore Jack is a legend along the trail. Someone said he has thru-hiked it 7 times, if I make it once will be enough for me. He was a wild looking dude, but a very nice person. Dad had ordered some T-Shirts from him a while back, very nice shirts, mom loves them.We sat and talked to Baltimore Jack for a while, he said when we come out of Glencliff we will start to climb Mt. Moosilauke (4,802 ft) He looked at us and said ¢get ready boys Mt. Moosilauke is going get your un-divided attention!! We were afraid to ask just exactly what he meant by that, some things are best left alone until the time comes.Baltimore jack said he was going to hike through the Whites with ¢One Leg¢ who is a fellow with an artificial leg hiking the trail coming south bound. Gather and I look at each other, neither of us said a word.Met up with ¢Munchain¢ and her dog Kaya down the trail, she is trail hopping, she¢ll do one section and then catch a ride to the next, she¢s having fun. Heard Alabama is up ahead of me, he wears a kilt. Haven¢t seen him since GA, someone said he was hiking with Sun-Pig.Heard Ted from Greensboro got off the trail in Harpers Ferry, he e-mailed dad, said he had a hamburger waiting on me when I get back. Mr. Ted I'm gonna take you up on that, and also I want to hear the story I heard on the trail about you getting attacked by a wild turkey. Last time I saw Ted was at Fontana Dam NC. Skittles was hiking with Ted, wonder where he's at?While talking to dad on the phone a college girl walks by, I start laughing, on her T-Shirt was "Bush Is A Weenie!"Gather and I split up. I go call home one last time. I will be hitting the trail in a little bit. I¢m really worried about all this extra weight and my feet. Hitting the trail, see ya in Glencliff in a few days I hope ¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦1,732.2 miles put to bed441.9 miles to go before the big ¢K¢8/28/2004Gather:Hanover New Hampshire 08:00 AMWoke up this morning to a surprise! That flat spot I pitched my tent on last night was some ones back yard ! No one said anything to me, but I did pack up and leave.Called home, all ok there. Freckles is still holding her own. Mom reads off my guest book entries to me. She tells me about Stephanie Moxley of the Denton Animal Clinic signing my guest book. Stephanie has a sister Beth going to school in Bangor Maine. Stephanie gave mom Beth¢s phone number for me to call if the need arises when I get to Baxter State Park Maine. Beth lives about 30 miles from there. Thank you Stephanie & Beth for the kind offer, I will call Beth if I need to.Little chipmunks everywhere, will scamper right up to you and seem to beg for food, gave one some granola bar, he sat on my foot and ate it. While talking to dad Paparazzi walks by, he just came into town. I must have passed him without knowing it, I thought he was in front of me?Met up with the Slimer this morning at a phone booth, he is having foot problems. The shoes he bought in Manchester Center VT are killing him. Besides they had holes in the side of them. Slimer had duct tape wrapped around them. Dad has a new pair waiting on him in Glencliff NH, couldn¢t get them here to Hanover in time for today¢s pickup. They are Montrail hard Rock Trail Runners, the kind Slimer wants.Slimer and I have a package drop here at the P.O. We go to pick them up, people at the P/O. says there¢s nothing for us!! We walk back to the college campus (Dartsmouth) and call home. Mom said her and dad confirmed by tracking numbers the two packages were here! Mom tells me to call back in ten minutes, she calls the P.O. in Hanover. Postal worker finds the two boxes, said they were in the wrong bin! Why can¢t these people get anything right!!So we walk all the way back to the P.O and pick up our winter gear and food. This pack is really heavy now. Not sure I¢m going to be able to handle all this. The Slimer has the small Go-Lite pack! I¢m not sure it will hold all his gear and food. I¢m worried it will bust open as the Go-Lite¢s are very fragile compared to my pack.Slimer and I split up and go different ways in town. I pack up and sort everything, discover mom and dad has sent me too much winter gear. So it¢s back to the P.O. to ship the excess back home! I will be leaving Hanover NH today heading north on the trail, next shelter is 3 miles out of town. Not sure where the Slimer is at the moment. Called home one last time. Dad asked me four questions:1).....        What would you do different if you had this to do all over again?      Answer:   ¢Nothing¢      2).....        If you were to give someone advice about hiking the                           A/T, what would you tell them?      Answer: ¢STAY HOME¢3).....        What is the best thing that¢s happened to you on the trail?      Answer: ¢Birthday party Rob Bird gave me¢      4).....        What is the worst thing that has happened to you on the trail?      Answer: ¢The Vermont Mud from Dalton to Manchester Center¢                  The PA rocks would come in second.   Slimer told me he spent the night at some ones house last night, out back in a barn, said they were very nice people. This is a very nice town, home of the Dartmouth College, not much here other than the college.Dad said he called the ATC HQ in Harpers Ferry WV to find out what the numbers were regarding hikers on the trail, they gave him the information below. Interesting statistics,Some interesting statistics, I called the ATC HQ today in Harpers Ferry WV, below are the numbers they gave me, 2004 Thru-hiker Estimate: Northbound As of Aug. 5Springer Mtn., Ga. 1,535 - Hikers Started The Trip - 0- milesNeels Gap, Ga. 1,305 - Hikers ----- 30 miles from SpringerFontana Dam, N.C. 864 - Hikers-----131 miles from Neels GapHarpers Ferry, W.Va. 657 - Hikers -- 846 miles from Fontana NCKatahdin, Maine 18 - Hikers 1165 miles from Harpers Ferry WV (As of Aug 5th 2004 only 18 hikers have made Katahdin) No one knows how many are still on the trail for sure.Makes me feel good to be still standing, although I had heard the drop-out rate was huge on the trail. I have knocked down 95.9 miles in 5 12 days over some rough mountains, that¢s an average of 17.4 miles per day.Total miles hiked to date: 1,732.2 milesTotal miles to go before Katahdin: 441.9 milesHere we go heading north putting one foot in front of the other flashing my wicked grin ¢¦¢¦¢¦Transcribers note: As Baltimore Jack told them, they are just now starting to get into the rough stuff. Very rugged country from Glencliff on to Katahdin Maine.If they are to make it by Sept 30th they will have to average 13.3 miles per dayIf they are to make it by Oct 15th they will have to average 9.8 miles per day.Looking at all the statistics from other hikers, 10 to 12 miles per day is about all they will be able to so. So it is going to be cutting it close.Baxter State Park closes down the trail to Katahdin Oct 15.Good luck and Godspeed on their journey north........