Date: 2012-06-27
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Firewarden's Cabin
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: clear sky

Another dreary, overcast start to the day. I guess my good luck with the weather had to come to an end sometime - NY, CT, MA, and VT all gave me plenty of cool, clear days and only occasional rain. The "Green Tunnel" offered protection from the intermittent rain, and the trail wasn't in bad shape which made the hiking fairly pleasant. By late morning, I came to an overlook on the east side of the trail and paused to take a few photos. Scanning my surroundings, it was apparent that the trail was really in the woods - I could only see a couple of houses off in the distance, everything else was trees, mountains, and clouds. Before long, the trail left the woods and to a road crossing near Lyme, NH. While walking along a pond, I spotted a small sign on the side of the trail, it was a weathered piece of plywood with a hand-painted AT logo and "Free Water" "Free Ice Cream" written on it. It looked so old and faded that I initially passed it up, but then I stopped in my tracks and took a side trail to investigate. It led to a house a very short distance from the trail. Outside on the front porch there was a cooler with cold cans of Mountain Dew available for $.50. I was taking off my pack to look for quarters when a man came to the front door. It was Bill "Ice Cream Man" Ackerly, a very friendly trail angel. Sure enough, he gives out ice cream bars to hikers and also offered up crackers and cheese, walnuts, and soup. I had just eaten lunch so I passed on the soup, but everything else was great. Bill's children had hiked the AT and they told him about some of the trail magic they'd encountered and encouraged him to be a trail angel. He's been doing this for a few years now, and each year more and more hikers stop off at his place - he's even listed in A.W.O.L.'s AT Guide! As I was getting ready to leave, I weighed my fully loaded pack on Bill's scale and it came to just over 40 pounds, thanks to a large re-supply in Hanover. I thanked Bill for the food and good conversation and left to finish up the day's hike. After leaving Bill's, the trail started a steady upgrade and my progress slowed. I thought I was getting fairly close to the firewarden's cabin on top of Smarts Mountain, but when I came to a rock outcrop I could see the fire tower was still way off in the distance. There were some very steep, slippery climbs along this section, I'm glad I was going up them and not trying to descend them in the rain. Eventually, I made it to the cabin and was happy to see that it was a fully enclosed structure. This would be my first time sleeping indoors since June 1st! When I tried the front door of the cabin, it was locked but I heard someone inside rustling around. You never know who's going to answer the door in situations like this and I hoped that whoever was in the cabin was fairly normal. The lone occupant was Janet, a section hiker from Nebraska. She'd spent the day in the cabin, wanting to dry out some of her gear and avoid the less than ideal hiking weather. She had recently finished serving in the Peace Corps and was in New England for a friend's wedding and a little AT hiking. We chatted throughout the evening, occasionally pausing to shoo mice away from our food and gear. Aside from the hyperactive mice, the old cabin was a fine place to spend the night, it was completely dry and slightly warmer than any shelter would have been.