Date: 2012-06-25
From: A small patch of mostly flat land

To: Just outside of Hanover
Miles today: 12.0

It started raining a little before dawn, prompting me to get up and get moving towards Hanover. A couple miles into the day's hike I came to the Happy Hill shelter and stopped in to get out of the rain. Another hiker, Angry Bird was there. I talked to him for a couple minutes before realizing that he was a SOBO thru hiker, the first one I'd met so far. He was making great time, having left Katahdin only three weeks earlier! As I was leaving, he mentioned some trail magic ahead in Norwich. The trail is a roadwalk through Norwich, and two different residents were kind enough to leave trail magic for hikers passing through. Watermelon at one house and maple cookies at another! Leaving Norwich, the AT crosses the Connecticut River and enters New Hampshire, the fifth state of my hike and my first time in the Granite State. As exciting as it was to be here, my mood went downhill quickly as a sharp pain was now emanating from my left foot. Strange that the worst pain of the hike so far occurred while walking on a sidewalk. I'd been accustomed to some foot pain for a while now, but this was infinitely worse. So bad in fact, that for a moment or two I mulled over the idea of ending my trip I reasoned that if I quit now, it would still be something of a success, having been to a pair of states that I'd never visited and walked over 300 miles. Earlier in the trip I heard a thru hiker say that if you're ever thinking about quitting, "go into town, have some pizza and think it over, then hike another hundred miles". I followed some of that advice, and had lunch at Ramunto's Pizzeria. Afterwards, I picked up some Vitamin I at CVS, and went to the outfitter to get a replacement for the spork that I'd lost in Vermont. Hanover really treats hikers well, Ramunto's gives them a free slice and you get a candy bar from the outfitter with every purchase. Another place that's very accomodating for hikers is the Dartmouth Outing Club, the organization which maintains the AT through southern NH. The DOC (Darmouth Outing Club, not Dept. of Corrections) provides computers that hikers can use for internet access, which I greatly appreciated. When I first got into town, I happened to run into a photographer who works for Dartmouth and as we were talking about the trail and Hanover, he mentioned that the Salt Hill Pub has $2 pints during happy hour. The pub was literally right on the trail and a stop for a couple pints and a sandwich was in order. Like every other place I'd been in Hanover, the pub was a hiker friendly establishment, they even have part of a wall for hikers to sign their trail name. Before leaving town, I had one more stop to make, a resupply at the co-op on the edge of town. No surprise, this place caters to hikers too. As I was standing in line to check out, an enthusiastic co-op employee gave me a pat on the back and asked me how my hike was going. What a friendly place, Hanover is one of my absolute favorite trail towns. The trail goes back into the woods just past the co-op, so I hiked until I found a respectable "stealth" site and set up for the night, ending a memorable day on the AT.