Date: 2016-06-18
From: Stowe, VT via Hanover, NH

To: Stowe, VT via Lyme-Dorchester Rd.
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: broken clouds

We slept in a little bit this morning, enjoying the rarity of an actual bed. Then it was downstairs to a breakfast of donuts and other snacks that we had hastily bought at the gas station after dinner last night. By 7:45, we were piled in the car and back on the road to Hanover. We stopped by the local outfitter in town, where Dill's mother had sent a package for her containing, it seemed, a few new clothes and some snacks. Unfortunately, the sending of the package was a bit late, and it hadn't yet arrived when we checked in. So we moved along, saying bye to my dad for the day, and continued the roadwalk through town. We passed by athletic fields and grocery stores before turning through a parking lot and then back up into the woods overlooking Hanover. Right before velvet rocks, we met another hiker, Cosmo, who began in Daleville, and who has been hanging out with White Rabbit and Large! I was catching up to them! The day's hiking was pretty uneventful, a lot of small ups and downs before a moderate climb up Moose Mountain. We have passed into the realm of the Dartmouth Outing Club, most notable for their bright orange signs, that look as though they were made by children, and have doodles and surprisingly unhelpful maps. The last challenge of the day was a climb up Holt's Ledge, which Dill describes as "That scary-looking triangle" on the elevation profile. The climb wasn't as bad as we were expecting, though, and the view from the top was pretty spectacular, a gorgeous view into the smaller peaks of the whites, including Smarts mountain to the north, tomorrow's big climb. Unfortunately, a lot of the ledges were fenced off to protect peregrine falcon nesting. It would've been nice to sit along those cliffs. We headed down the mountain and met my dad at the Lyme-Dorchester Road. He happily got some work done at the Hanover Public Library during the day. We stopped in at a small store in the town of Lyme for some snacks before heading back to Hanover. We decided to go check at the outfitter for Dill's package, which still had not arrived, and while we were in town, thought we might as well stop in at Ramunto's again to see if any hikers had arrived. There was a line of packs outside the restaurant, and inside we found DoubleDip and Dirtface, Bolt, Postal, and RaSa! Dirtface screamed and gave me a big hug. I had managed to pass them while they took the day off in rutland, and was disappointed that I would not probably see them again, so I was happy to get to run into them. I ordered a beer and talked for a while. They were all doing well, and had taken a very short day into town, and were planning to go see a movie before hiking out a mile from town for the night. Eventually we had to say goodbye, though, and we got back into the car and headed to Stowe. We went to the grocery store for some resupplying, and Dad picked up some steaks for the evening. He cooked us up a big meal when we got home, telling us that it gave him immense joy to see us "consume so much red meat." We then turned in for the night. Great first day in New Hampshire.