Date: 2007-05-30
From: Rte 8 Dalton, MA

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 173.5
Weather: clear sky

Just a quick summary update for LOTS of miles.From Dalton/Cheshire MA to just before Hanover NH.Wow! Miles are flyin by! and no time to update cuz I'm barely in town to resupply, shower, sleep, then keep movin. Often no internet access. Workin on other options. dunno if it'll work out.Hiked 9 or 10 miles with Scott (THANKS for comin out! It was a blast!) Finished the day bangin out a 20.Don't have my Companion/journal notes book here so I will save the details....wow...let's see Cruzed thru the rest of MA. Mt Greylock was a big climb, but great views. Finally crossed into VT and finally ran into The Groovasaurus & his 4 legged friend Hugo. Been hikin with them through most of VT. Generally great weather. A few warm days in the high 80's and even 90's. Bangin out 20's or betta every day. Its fun to be hikin with another thru hiker again. Guthook is a day or so behind, but so far hasn't caught up yet. Passed the Goodfellas and Fruitfly while they were off the trail in Edgemont. I think they're right behind Guthook. Kinda funny that all 6 or 7 of us started mid Feb (except me, Mar 1st of course) and all plan to be in Hanover by June 1st and finish by July 1st.For now, very temporarily it seems Groovasaurus and I are in front except for Woodstock (4 days ahead-the same 4 days earlier than my startdate) and the super early starters (before Jan 1st) who are about a month ahead. Reality is the group will soon be a small united bunch with nobody else even close to us, then we'll all hit the Whites of NH together and finish with ME nearly at the same time, depending on any other time off.VT has been fun. It started pretty easy but muddy (just as I remember it from last year.)The LONG TRAIL runs from VT/MA border north to Canada. The southern half of the long trail coincides with THE AT until about Killington, VT [Willard Gap,Maine Junction] then the AT turns east to Hanover NH and Maine.As we hiked further north the AT definitely got harder. Bigger "hills" and more ups and downs. Gettin ready for the Whites i guess.SNOW on Stratton Mtn & Killinton Peak. Little piles and patches of snow, but kinda cool. Caretakers on top of Stratton said just 2 weeks ago they still had 2 1/2 FEET OF SNOW. That's MID MAY!! Reading the shelter register, we noted that Bookworm (1st Northbound AT hiker for 2007) had 6 FEET OF SNOW APRIL 26th just 30 days ago!! He immediately hit town and bought snowshoes at the outfitter!Havin a blast. Bought new treads-had to. My trailrunners were shot after just 500 miles since Harpers Ferrry. Pennsylvania tore them up and I wore out the tread quickly. So glad I bought another pair of Asolos WITH GoreTex XCR liners-new model kinda like my first pair. Now I can walk through wet grass and streams without my feet getting soaked immediately. Of course that only works if I don't overtop with water/mud/etc. Food Food Food. That's what we live for. Recently ate at Sirloin Saloon in Manchester, VT. great salad bar and steak. The newby waiter, Owen was a trip. Clueless, stumbling over himself about what to say or do. Presented the steak sauce bottle to me like it was a fine bottle of wine. Didn't have a clue. But we did get free cake and coffee from the birthday party beside us. People are so nice to hikers.Ate HALF a homemade organic blueberry pie, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, and java soda at a roadside farm stand on VT 12 yesterday. Too bad the owner wouldn't let us use her damn bathroom!! Then bought organic Lamb sausage with Red Wine, Fetta Cheese & Pork to steam/fry up at the shelter. Mmmmmm. It was awesome and much betta with Lipton rice meal than tuna! Sooooo goood.Early start today to officially walk into Hanover for more food.Passing thru VT today, somewhere just before Norwich VT...A guy sitting on his porch yelled to us and offered us bananas and apples and water. Very cool. Fresh fruit is always a bonus.   Who am I kidding. ANY food!Staying tonite in Norwich, VT, just before Hanover, NH. Remember I grew up and now currently live back at home with my folks in NORWICH, CT!!We were walking into Hanover (hitchin w/ Hugo) when a lady stopped to pick us up. Betsy said her son "the Brain" is at Delaware Water Gap hikin the AT north also. She offered to put us up at her house! We quickly accepted. Showers, 2 bananas, lemonade, bagels and cream cheese AND a full blown ice cream sundae complete with cherry and whipped cream. Drove us downtown to Hanover so we could hang out and resupply. Playin the Dartmouth student act now. Duh..... I hope mom put more $$$ in my bank account. My debit card is runnin low....How can I fill up the Saab with gas??Later Betsy will pick us up, our laundry should be done, we'll eat dinner at their house and attend their daughter's band recital at school. Even hooked us up with clean clothes for town while our laundry magically cleans itself. Then we'll finish the walk into Dartmouth where the trail goes right through town. We'll breakfast in town at Lou's Bakery & restaurant. I guess we'll eventually have to hike more. Bummer.Really lookin forward to the Whites. Gonna be hard climbs every day. Short daily miles cuz it's ALL up and down and hand over hand climbing over boulders. But the views should be fabulous.Then on to Maine. Monson is supposed to be tough, then on to the hundred mile wilderness ending with Baxter State park and Katadhin!Every day we still see Hansel & Gretel, the German couple. Always look forward to chattin a bit with them. They're so cool and have such a positive outlook on the experience even when it's a tough day.They hike sections southward each day, then move further north and hike another southbound section the next day. Since they never camp overnite, each day they move north, so we see them every day. AND they update us on thru hikers just north or south of us that we would otherwise have no clue about. Updates are always cool-a slice in time- kind of like a glimpse into the future or immediate past.Groove is a funny guy to hang with. And Hugo is always entertaining, runnin off into the woods chasing something with his doggy pack on his back. Usually he comes back with it still attached!No more bears. No moose. Lots of small critters every day. Less deer.WOW! just got the crap scared outta me. We're sitting at 2 PC's in the lobby of the Dartmouth Outdoor Club building updating our journals, Hugo chillin sittin on the floor, Woman walked in with 2 dogs and the 3 of them exploded barking and lunging at each other! None of us saw it coming. No biggy but yikes!!Oh yeah, just rememberd my trekking pole saga.My carbide tips wore out several weeks ago, so I've been burnin into my hubs for a while. The outfitters all carry Leki poles and can replace tips on the spot, often for free or small charge. It's a wear item.Unfortunately I mail ordered my Komperdell's from REI. I could order from Austria,but... so I tried REI. REI says they checked their warehouse and all their stores but they neither carry nor can get replacement tips. Makes no sense. So they agreed to overnite "FedEx" a whole set of brand new poles to me. Just ship back my "old" worn poles I bought in February just prior to the trip. Sounds good to me. So I had them send them to the Inn at Long Trail-reliable choice, since it's been there 30-40 years and has been accepting hiker packages for years. Great place I definitely planned to stop for lunch, or dinner and a beer, possibly overnite depending. And it's perfect. Right where the Long Trail and AT diverge in VT. Unfortunately I discovered mid Memorial Day weekend that the Inn at LT is temporarily closed for renovations! I'm screwed! Will the FedEx guy leave my package on the doorstep anyway? not likely. and worse he'll take it back to the warehouse where I can't find it until TUES. I will arrive Monday. Can't even call REI customer service since they too will be closed. Damn!!But I lucked out! Sunday nite a section hiker rolled into the shelter and was bitchin and bummin cuz the Inn was closed-No Soup for You! No lunch for him either. Sucks after you're so psyched to chow. Get there and it's closed. But-he heard my saga and descibed a long box package sitting on the doorstep-YES! my poles no doubt!So I grabbed it the next morning! Just in time for the shuttle bus passing by into downtown Rutland. Yes. Otherwise gotta wait 2 hours for the next ride 11 miles into town. Hit coffee shop by the Hostel. They graciously repackaged my old poles and let me print a return label from email. Now I won't have to figure out how to mail them on a holiday! Hit 3 outfitters and bought new shoes! This time with goretex liners. My feet will stay dry now at least from splashes and quick submersion. But they don't breathe quite as well. Thats the trade off.Got a ride to EMS outfitter and grabbed a Subway sub for dinna during the ride back - thanks so much to the trail angel. I never would have made it back in time and wasted a day in town. Got back on the trail at 5pm and banged out ANOTHER 10 miles by 830pm. WOW! I remember not long ago when 3pm with 10 miles to go meant HUGELY in trouble! I still think of it that way! Amazing how we can hke faster easier and much later sunsets changes everything psychologically!Well over 3/4 of the way now. More than 1700 miles done. Less than 500 to go. BUT it's THE WHITES and MAINE. The toughest miles to go. But should be fun and cool. Can't wait.Sorry for the rambling and typos. Just so far behind now I'd neva catch up. Gotta get going now, to finish up in town and get back to the Taj Mahal. What an AWESOME trail magic we stumbled into. Betsy & Bill puttin us up with all the extras while their son hikes the AT south of here. it just doesn't get any betta!!!! Great Karma will come their way!Time to find more food in town!