Date: 2004-08-09
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Everyone started stirring around 5am. I waited as long as I could, then started to get up. I guess having my breakfast poptarts in a ziplock next to my bed saved too much time; I found myself on the Trail at 545 and noted wryly that I could have stayed in bed another 15 minutes!Still, it was good watching the world wake up. The trees were very tall with no underbrush and there were frequent meadows so were actually views for a change, unlike most days when the forest cut off sun and sky. I saw the first sliver of sunlight pop above the mountains to the east, casting long patches of light on the leafy forest floor like shadows in reverse. Out in the meadows the low sun brought out the rounded texture of the treetops and the sky was blue. Puffy white rivers of fog filled the low valleys in sharp contrast to the clearness above. The forest floor and leaves were dry but the grass and tall milkweed of the meadows were wet with dew so my boots alternately dampened and dried as I went. I found my first blackberry at 605, a new record! Then two more and several handfuls of raspberries. As I got lower into the first valley I expected to plunge into a cloud but all I noticed was a damp chill, a slight decease in visability and wisps of white cloud overhead where there had been none.The breakfast counter at the deli in West Hartford seemed busy and I did not see any milk, so I bought two Klondike ice cream bars instead and ate them on the bench out front.At Elm Street in Norwich a Trail Angel had left a cooler of snacks and sodas as a Trail Magic farewell to Vermont. I drank my soda with one hand and carried my poles in the other as I walked along the road to the Connecticut River bridge. Right in the middle there was a vertical line on the bridge parapet with the letters "Vt" and "N.H." on either side. Playfully I did the same game I had once played at the Prime Meridian line at London's Greenwich Observatory, standing with one foot one either side of the line and standing alternately on either foot. Vermont; New Hampshire, Vermont; New Hampshire. I giggled at jumping from state to state and started up the hill to Hanover, getting to Main Street at 130.The Dartmouth Outing Club was closed until 2 so there was no information there. I decided to go to the post office and see to my bounce box and winter clothing. I found my housemate had sent the wrong box with just two air mattresses and a bivy sack, no clothes except a too-heavy fleece jacket. I kept the bivy sack in case I got nothing better and turned to my bounce box.To save weight over the Whites I took every nonessential from my pack to go into the box. The spreader bars and pole sack for my Nomad Tent, the bottle of body powder after putting a small supply in a ziplock, my new flashlight, the anti-itch cream and poison ivy lotion, the old water filter element I had saved to see what happens when you filter Coca Cola and any other odds and ends I could do without for two weeks. Then I got New Hampshire maps and guidebook pages, my light balaclava hood, and vitamins from the bulk jar in the box. I sealed up the two boxes and sent the bounce box to Gorham, beyond the Whites, and the other box back home.Knowing I needed to call my housemate and not knowing when she would be home, I splurged and got a room at the pricey Hanover Inn where I would have a phone and a good central location. I was lucky, she was home! So over the phone I went item by item the things I needed as she gathered them together, then asked her to take them straight to the post office and mail them to Glencliff by priority mail. What a relief to know my winter things would get to me after all with no delay!Next I went to the Hanover Food Co-Op. It really is hiker heaven! For the first time since Hot Springs NC I found Bear Valley Pemmican bars. They are light and have over 400 calories, making a good hiking lunch that really keeps me going. I took all they had, then got a 12-pack of Cliff bars on sale, dried pea and lentil soup mix, tortelini, poptarts and odds and ends. I would mail food shipments to Glencliff and Franconia Notch, then mail the extras ahead to Gorham to feed me in Maine, where lightweight high nutrition food would come in handy.Finally I could relax and eat the rest of the evening. The Hanover Inn was comfortable, but I had been in nicer hotels for the price.