Date: 2017-05-22
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

About 12:30 a.m. I noticed that my inflatable insulation pad was going flat. I blew it up again. Then it went flat again about 20 minutes later. Then I blew it up again. Then it went flat about 10 minutes later. So I got out of my sleeping bag, put on my warm Under Armour running pants and my insulating Patagonia jacket and I set about repairing my inflatable mattress. I have a patch kit that requires you to 1st locate the hole, which you have to do by getting the mattress wet and looking for bubbles. I found two holes. Then you deflate the mattress and apply a sealing compound to the hole, apply the patch, smooth it out, and then put a pot of boiling water on top of it to let it cure for 1 hour. So I did basically that for each of the two holes. Of course I did them one at a time, because I only have one pot in which I can boil water. While I was waiting for the second patch to cure, I heard strange sounds coming from down the hill in the forest. I wasn't sure if it was growling or the distant sound of a truck. The rain was making noise hitting the leaves of the trees and the roof of the shelter, and that made it hard to identify.  At one point, I heard a branch break somewhere behind the shelter, like something had stepped on it, and I wondered what it could be. Growls, heavy enough to break branches on the ground... I started formulating defensive strategies. Fortunately, I didn't end up needing any of those strategies. I woke up to light and the sound of the rain at about 5:45. There were a couple of bird sounds mixed in. It was chilly, and the high humidity made it feel like it was sucking the heat out of me. So I made a cup of hot coffee. I dressed and packed up to go. This took a lot longer than it sounds, because I went through several changes of mind about how much clothing I should wear to balance the heat generated by hiking and the cold lost to the wet rain. I set out on the trail about 7:15 a.m.Somewhere around 10 am, I arrived at the south/western edge of Norwich, VT. As I walked through town, I met hiker Preacher again. We walked together and told stories, and we took pictures when we crossed the bridge over the Connecticut river into New Hampshire. He had stayed in Norwich the night before, and he was starting out northbound again. We eventually went separate ways when we got to downtown Hanover, NH. He continued up the trail, and I checked into the Six South Street hotel. Today would be a "nero" for me. I then went to the post office to get my package, and I had lunch at a nearby restaurant called Molly's. I also picked up a few miscellaneous items at a CVS pharmacy. I had Thai food for dinner. Too much. I had to go for a walk after dinner to help the food settle. I wandered in the Dartmouth campus for a while. Now hat distance did not count towards my miles for today, but since I had only done 6 trail miles, it didn't really matter. It did not wear on me at all. Enough town talk; this is a trail journal.Oh - I also figured out how to link videos to this site.  I posted one from weeks ago when I was at West Point, and I posted another from a few days ago (Killington summit). You should be able to see them if you click the "hamburger" (Three lines) icon.