Date: 2013-08-07
From: steves back yard

To: hexacuba shelter
Miles today: 38.5

Woke up this morning to the sound of babbling brook and a slight breeze. The store opened at seven and I had a fantastic breakfast sandwich and hot coffee before heading out. I was just 9.7 miles from New Hampshire and the town of Hanover which is home to Dartmouth college. I started at 8:30 and made the 9.7 by 12:30pm and was kicking butt. Their were all kinds of places I could have stopped for lunch or just a Guinness but I ended up just having a fresh squeezed lemon ade and kept going, now that's discipline! I ended up logging 20.8 miles and am laying on my sleeping bag in moose mountain shelter. My feet are feeling it right now but no new issues except my groin pain is getting worse. Tomorrow I'll hike 17.7 miles, up and over a couple mountains and within two days will be starting the white mountains where the fun really begins. I must say at this point that Vermont is one of the nicest states I've hiked thru and will be coming back with Alison to hike again. Thank you to (GMC )Green Mountain Club for all your hard work taking care of the trails in your area. Today as I was making my last climb, I saw a group of young teenage boys backpacking down by me. One of the boys looked like he was having a real hard time. He had on oversized boots, a pack that was way too big, a treking pole that was all bent up and was sweating like someone just dumped water on him as he asked me," how far is the road mister?" I didn't have the heart to tell him it was far so I said," not too much further." He'll find out soon enough what that means as he'll be hiking for a while yet. I know hiking gear can be expensive but, if you want your kid to have a positive experience on a trip like this, you should make sure they have good light weight gear and do not over pack. I remember when I first started hiking I had a Jansport external frame pack and would put fifty pounds easily in it for a four day hike. Know, I would kill myself with that much weight. 32 to 35 lbs is optimum for any amount of hiking because you can adjust your eating habit to fit your need without the crazy weight. Well, mark me down for another 17.7 mile day on the Appalachian Trail. Right now it's 8:26pm and I'm resting easy inside the hexacuba shelter about 25 or so miles from north Woodstock, NH. Tomorrow I'll hike into Glencliff and stay at the hiker hostel where I can get cleaned up, do laundry and pretty much do a short day of 14.7 miles, finishing into town about noon on Saturday after climbing over four thousand feet of elevation up mt moosalauke at 4802ft and slide on my butt down the very vertical other side. I am gonna look into slack packing the mountain so I can have an easier climb, after all, it's a nice way to finish up 207 miles in 13 days. Hang on, be right back. Looks like an average of about 16 miles a day for 13 days by the time Saturday comes. Not too shabby for almost fifty, hey? I'm looking forward to a zero day before starting the white mountains, plus I'm getting my cold weather gear back so I'll be prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws at me. This morning while I was hiking down a pretty steep trail coming off of moose mountain, not paying attention, I hiked off trail and when I looked up, I was looking off a thousand foot sheer cliff into a white wall of fog. I all of a sudden thought about sister Patty telling me about having a seat on the bus with a cushion and instantly wondered if this was the bus stop for heaven! I turned around an slowly stepped away from the edge and backtracked about 20 yards or so to where I missed the turn and corrected myself. Right now I can hear the not too distant rumbling of thunder which is often a companies by lightning and rain. We are expecting some precipitation but hopefully it'll stop by morning as the rocks and roots are already slippery without adding to it. The hexacuba shelter is a hexagonally shaped and is open on two sides. Their is six people here this evening besides myself and every kind of body noise is sounding off like a seven piece band. I am wondering if this is a mouse house. Wouldn't that be swell?! :-/