Date: 2012-07-14
From: Thistle Hill Shelter, MP 1724.6, VT

To: West Hartford, MP 1729.6, VT
Miles today: 5.0

Another great camp/tent site at Thistle Hill Shelter area. I mentioned before how luxurious a picnic table was to have at your camp site. Well, just a notch down, is having a plank to sit on when you're cooking! It was very warm last night and I slept most of the night on top of my sleeping bag. I fell asleep very quickly, in spite of having a nest of owls close by hooting and carrying on. I should mention, we meet a woman hiker "Seamstress" from Indianapolis, Indiana.   She is trying to complete her last section of the AT from Rutland, VT to Mt. Katahdin. Last night, she arrived at the shelter a couple hours after us.   She started at the same place we did, only was going much slower. The point is, yesterday was a very tough day for us and it was twice as hard for her and yet, she pushed through her difficulties. Hard Charger and his group left at 6:15 am and they plan to hike the 15 miles to Hanover. Seamstress left at 7:30 am and is heading for the next shelter.   Minutia and I hit the trail at 9:30 am.   We have a gentle descent of 1000 feet over 5 miles to the White River at VT 14 in the town of West Hartford, VT, MP 1729.6.Even though we were descending, the heat and humidity had us sweating profusely! By the time we crossed over the White River, we were completely soaked in sweat.As we crossed the river, we could see people kayaking and swimming...very inviting! We watched in amazement as one man actually jumped off the bridge about 30 feet into the river. Scary to us because the river level looked low.At nearby West Hartford Village Store, we had lunch and cold drinks. We decided even though it was a short day, we were done and needed a shower and clean sheets.   So, we arranged for a taxi to get a motel room near Hanover. Seamstress showed up before the taxi arrived and asked if she could share a ride to the motel too.The taxi took its time coming to pick us up.   After waiting a couple of hours, the three of us finally arrived at the Sunset Motel. The taxi driver was an 81 year old lady, in a beatup clunker, answering and talking on the cellphone, while driving. Needless to say, she scared the group of us and we all buckled up and prayed. As we were signing in, Hard Charger and his group arrived at the motel and were surprised to see us since they left camp way before us. After some teasing about us yellow blazing*, we all headed for our rooms and showers.   Since the Sunset Motel is located 2 miles from the nearest town, we all ordered delivery from a local pizza joint. Minutia and I share a pizza, "trash can lid without the fish", translation...everything but anchovies.We talked and compared experinces while we waited for the food to arrive. Turns out Minutia and Hard Charger graduated from the same high school, only ten years apart. It turned into a pleasant evening talking and eating with trail friends.I stayed up till ten catching up on my journal. Tomorrow we will hike the last ten miles into Hanover and be done with Vermont!*"Yellow blazing" refers to the yellow lane stripes on the roadway, which tend to be a shorter or easier way that circumvents the actual AT. Big Dog only "white blazes" following the white painted patches that officially define the AT. That's why they'll go back to where the taxi picked them up tomorrow and slack pack the 10 miles into Hanover, NH and catch a ride back to the motel.