Date: 2008-07-13
From: Hanover NH ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Hanover Inn

To: Velvet Rocks Shelter NH
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 147 Sunday July 13 ¢ Velvet Rocks Shelter NH - Miles Today: 1.5 Total Miles: 1735.8We've had an extremely taxing day (sarcasm). Our day started with us pulling ourselves out of the comfy bed at the Hanover Inn around 6:00 to get ready for our Very Berry Pancake breakfast at Lou¢s. Apparently Lou¢s is quite the hot spot as there were 20 people waiting outside for the restaurant to open at 7:00. Perhaps a Sunday breakfast at Lou¢s is the local tradition. Our Very Berry Pancakes were extremely large and filling. They filled the whole plate. Grasshopper had a stack of 2; Brakeman a stack 3 and he finished all but 2 bites. He's learning not to eat to the point of getting sick. Extremely tasty but a little expensive - $17.00 for our 5 pancakes. Expensive for us, but perhaps cheap for Hanover. After breakfast we took the tour of The Green on Dartmouth¢s campus before heading back to the room to rest up for the next segment. The infamous White Mountains, where we¢ll be above tree line for the first time, are fast approaching.We talked again with Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper, who have announced that they are going to pick us up at Katahdin! They want to celebrate the success of our long adventure with us!   They go down for the greatest Grasshopper parents lifetime award. That is so sweet. It brings tears to Grasshopper¢s eyes just thinking of it. Brakeman is already saying that Grasshopper is going to be a sobbing blob as we climb down Katahdin.At 1:00 we checked out of the inn to begin our long journey of 1.5 miles to our shelter. We did not make it far before we took a break. You see, as we walked out the front door of the inn, we noticed it was sprinkling, so we set out packs down on the covered porch, climbed into a couple nice rocking chairs and waited out the sprinkles. Oh how we do not like to get wet on the first day out of town. Once the rain stopped, we started our walk through town and then into the woods. It was just a short .8 of a mile walk in the woods before we reached Velvet Rocks Shelter.   With us tonight is Sliver, a section hiker, and two other hikers. Sliver shared with us a poem he wrote about hiking. It was so good that we asked him to record it for us on our voice recorder. A very creative man obviously! He told us of how he crafted the poem over a year or so while doing his postal route.Scarface Malone, by SliverTwas 2 weeks after EasterAnd all through the woodsAll the shelters and campsites were full like they shouldThe food bags were hung from the branches with careThough no one had seen hide nor hair of a bearMy legs they were sore, my feet numb from the coldMy boots they were soaked, my socks covered with moldBut my belly was full and some rest was in storeI hoped those hikers did not keep me up with their snoresSo me and my sleeping bag rolled out on my padFor the miles I¢d hiked, I wasn¢t feeling too badThe moon, it was full shining ¢ just enough lightAnd the wind thru the trees and the sounds of the nightAnd as I started to dose, my mind was at easeWhen I heard this faint hiccup and then a hurricane sneezeAnd the loudest most deafening clip cloppity sound I feared for my life as I fell to the groundI jumped up and grabbed then turned on my flashlightTo the most awfulest, grossest, most ugly sightIt¢s teeth were huge and the nose and that headAnd a scar across his face, I just knew I was deadIt had a wooden peg leg and a patch on one eyeAnd this big ol fat belly, but stood only 3 inches highAll around it leered, ¢You haven¢t got a dog?¢When I shook my head no, he plopped down on a log¢I¢m Scarface Malone,That¢s the name of this mouseThese here is my woods and you¢re in my houseYou¢re welcome to stay, but I got to charge you a feecause nothing in life, not even the woods, is freeYou got any beer and some chips, the ruffle kind is best with some French Onion dip¢He threw down my food bag, he ripped out of the treeAnd rifled all thru it on this big eating spree¢What? No peanuts. No granola. No berry poptarts.You can have all this bean stuff, it stinks up me farts.¢Then he found my three Snickers and ripped open the wrapsAs chocolate and peanuts went all over his lapHe talked as he ate and then he clip clopped awayBut came back in a moment and said, ¢Yeah, you can stayBut let me tell you about the cat.I wandered out too far. It nearly cost me my life.All I got was the scar¢He told me his tales - the ups and downs of his life.About his 10 little rug rats and an overbearing wifeHe shoved food in his cheeks and the rest in his shirtBut he got every crumb even the ones in the dirtAnd as he scurried away, he stopped to pause and thinkthen he flipped up that patch and gives me this wink¢Now let me set you straightWhat I really want is chips and beer¢In that thick Irish drawl said¢You come back now, you hear¢Sliver shared with us his stories of hiking the Whites with his daughter. OK, now we¢re really anxious. He talked about having to hike until midnight to make his destination as hiking was so slow going! Man, I wonder how bad the Whites are really going to be?We¢ve had a few sprinkles since getting to camp, but nothing bad. It's only 3:15 and 74 degrees in the tent. We still need to get water, which is just .2 away but Brakeman is not looking forward to getting it after such a taxing day. And how we're going to eat dinner after everything else we've eaten today, I don't know, but we don't want to carry it, so we'll find a way to eat it! We even turned down food that Sliver was trying to get rid of! Well, we did not turn down everything, but a lot. We did get a package of Bear Naked Granola from him. It¢s heavy, but will taste good.Also at camp are a few hikers we have not met before ¢ 1088 and Cricket, both gentlemen from New Jersey and in their 50s. Apparently the two have met before, as when Cricket pulled into camp, he was greeted with a hug by 1088. We had to chuckle with 1088, as he showed us his custom tailored crocs. First of all we could not believe that he was hiking in crocs! But he explained that because his one toe is so much longer than his big toe that boots are very problematic for him. So he took a pair of heavy duty crocs, cut a hole for his extra long toe to stick through and has been a happy hiker ever since. Gosh, we hope he makes it! We would not want to hike 2175 miles in crocs! His trail name, by the way, represents half of the distance of the AT ¢ 1088 miles. I believe he said that if he could make it 1088 miles, he could make it another 1088 miles, and thus his name.I think that's it from just outside Hanover, New Hampshire. Goodnight.