Date: 2003-07-24
From: Thistle Hill Shelter (1640') 

To: Hanover, NH (425') 
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Aloha! Okay! You know the routine - Aloha Vermont! You wonderful state you! And Aloha New Hampshire! Wuhuu! Twelve states down and two to go. Only 441.9 miles more! Double Wuhuu!   Wow! What a day! I'd tell you that I don't know where to begin but you know that's a lie. The beginning always works best for me so let's start there, shall we? Elizabeth, Red Beard, Curly and I were all up and out early this morning. I could already smell the pancakes! I practically flew down the mountain. Hit the country store in something like 1.5 hours. For 4.7 miles that's excellent for anyone and stupendous for me.   Since Elizabeth left 20 minutes before me, and I didn't pass her along the way, I was slightly perplexed that she had not arrived by the time I did. When she did show up some 45 minutes later she was smiling big. Somewhere along one of the pastures she became lost in the fog and couldn't find a white AT blaze. Accordingly, she believes she saw my profile/shadow as I crossed the field and basically found her way to the point where I, or whomever, vanished in the woods. Since Trukin was the next person to show I'm guessing she saw him. Scary. I certainly wouldn't want to be wandering lost in the fog. She kept her sense of humor about her though and persevered nicely.   As I was packing to head back to the trail and make my way to either Happy Hill Shelter or possibly, but doubtful, Hanover, NH, Elizabeth and Trukin had yogi'd a ride to Hanover in the back of a pickup. With the invitation to join extended by Elizabeth, Trukin and the truck driver I hesitated not and jumped in the back. Didn't think a thought past that. Didn't know how or when I was going to hike the ten miles I was about to skip. Didn't know how I was going to get back to where I was leaving. Didn't know squat. All I knew is that I was going to Hanover and it was an adventure. Pretty cool!   After a short but enjoyable ride the driver dropped us on the trail in the middle of town. Awesome trail angels. They hadn't even planned on going to Hanover but did so just for us. Once again, if it weren't for the kindness of strangers, I'd have been hiking those mountains in the rain with my pack!   Hanover is the Home of Dartmouth College and offers all you would expect of a college town. The AT passes right through the center of town. In the past years students at Alpha Theta, Tabard and Panarchy have welcomed hikers either free or for a nominal fee. SOBOs had let us know that Panarchy was accepting hikers. It didn't take us long to locate it.   Oh boy, the Panarchy... have you seen the movie Animal House? If not then rent it and you'll get a good idea of Panarchy in general. The hikers are allowed to stay in the basement, and use the kitchen and the adjacent bathroom. After that everything else is off limits unless invited. Not seeing a soul in the house until late night I'm not sure how they monitor that but those were the rules and we all lived by them. As for the basement itself well... that's pretty hard to describe. Try envisioning a dark, dirty and dank one room cell with a couple of bulb lights in the ceiling and mattresses thrown on the floor or on the raised platforms around the room. I lucked out with a raised one, which was good since the entryway from the outside and from inside the house flooded during the torrential downpour earlier today. Thinking back now, I should have tried the other houses but this one was close, ready and I knew people. The place makes me shiver though!   Shortly after arriving Trukin and I started discussing slack packing the miles missed and Elizabeth made an appointment to have her nice long and thick haircut off. She also knows someone in the area and was hoping to hook up with them. I knew she was a smart girl! With the post office mail drops collected Trukin and I were ready to go, but how? That was simple enough to figure out - the bus back to West Hartford and slack back to here. Therein was where our problem lay. The bus only went to Hartford so we would either need to hike the five miles back to the store or catch a hitch. Hitch it was and it didn't take us all that long either. While Trukin road up front with our driver I spent the time reading the backs of the porn videos in his back seat. Ummmm... interesting? We were back on the trail and heading to Hanover by 1p. With an aloha and a wave Trukin was trucking.   Since I moved so well earlier in the morning with a pack on I figured I would practically fly those ten miles back without a pack. The terrain was awesome, it was no longer raining, the humidity wasn't killing me, and I barely had any weight on my back; what could possibly go wrong?   Well let's see, the little toe on my right foot could become excruciatingly painful. So painful that to walk it was necessary to curl the toes under for each step. Who would have thought a little toe could cause so much pain! Still don't have the foggiest idea what's going on with the stupid thing but it hurts. My boots couldn't have come off faster upon my return to Panarchy. Argh!!! The good part of the little toe pain was that it took away from the left arch pain. Barely felt it once the toe thing got going. What else, oh yeah... somewhere around the 2.5 miles to go mark the rain gods/goddesses decided to let it rip. And I mean rip. Torrential downpour. Drenching. Thunder rolling, winds howling, buckets of pouring rain. Where was I? At the beginning of a two-mile open road walk back to town. Through a lovely neighborhood, down the main road passing beneath I91 and up the same open four-lane road to town. Everywhere you don't want to be in a downpour. I was drenched. Under normal circumstances I would have laughed to see some of the facial expressions on the people in the passing cars but I was to busy trying to walk and look normal. Hard job when you're hurting and it's raining on top of it.   I will admit that when I hit the bridge over the Connecticut River and found the marker for the Vermont and New Hampshire division at the middle of the river, my toe didn't hurt any less and I wasn't any drier but my spirits flew. I had just walked into my 13th state! I had just walked 1730.7 miles across the Appalachian Mountains! That was too cool. Way too cool. I was almost whistling by the time I got to Panarchy.   After a quick shower, with a curtain I refused to touch, Trukin and I joined two other NOBOs for pizza. It was fun but quick. I'm tired. Very tired and way past ready for bed. It's hard to go to bed in this place but I will. I've laid out my tent ground cloth and sleep pad on top of the mattress, like just about everyone else, and think I'll be fine. Hopefully the stench of the hikers will kill anything living in the mattresses. If not then tomorrow¢s sweat sure will. I hope.   That's it. Eyes are shutting and body is drooping worse than its normal 46 years of wear and tear. You go appreciate your soft CLEAN bed and I'll go ... well, sleep.BSandTs: almost came to tears with the stupid toe pain but didn't. Hard core!AandPs: already discussed them and that's enough.MandGs: fallen arches, painful toes, drenching rains, and imperfect FREE accommodations...waah!Critter count: 6x Red Efts, 1x chipmunk, 1x deer