Date: 2011-06-29
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: Hanover,NH
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

Start Trapper John Shelter, NH, mike 1755.9Stop Hanover, NH, Route 120, mile 1739.9Hiked 16 miles SouthboundSleep hotelCell goodOld Goat's notes:Wow! We hiked 16 miles today. That is our personal best for this year. We awoke about 5:45 am and we started to pack up and make breakfast, instant oatmeal for C6 and grits for me. We boil water and pour a cup of it into the envelope. We mix it up and eat right out the envelope - no cleanup, just lick the spoon. We hit the trail at 6:45 am, another personal best. We weren't sure if we would hike to the next shelter or beyond today. With the early start and our ability improving we made great time to the next shelter, we arrived there at 11:00. We decided to eat lunch at the shelter and hike into Hanover. Another factor that played into our decision was that we had done the two biggest climbs of the day by the time we reached the shelter where we ate lunch, Holts Ledge, a 400 foot climb, and Moose Mountain north peak, a 1200 foot climb. We made excellent time through a few sections and average times in others. We hiked 5 hours and 30 minutes after lunch and were very proud of this accomplishment. As we hiked down we decided to spend the night in luxury. We have a few errands we need to make in town in the morning then we'll head back to Glencliff. Check 6's notes:What a satisfying day. Our hiking speed was good for a lot of the day. It almost felt as if we were on our thru-hike, and it felt great!! My feet hurt a lot by the time we finished. This happened all the time before, but it doesn't happen every day with the hiking shoes I'm using now. Then again, we haven't been hiking such long days before today. There was a fascinating section today. Someone has tied off a huge rope (a repelling rope that's about 5/8" thick) to a tree at the top of a very steep hill. There were knots tied in the rope about 3 feet apart at the top of the hill and closer together at the bottom.   Since we were going South, we were able to use it to help lower ourselves down. I would not have been able to get down without it. Going North must be very hard..not only do you have to pull yourself up, but you have the weight of your pack to pull up as well. I'm so glad we were hiking South today!The mountain we were descending at the time doesn't have a mountain name. The area is called "Velvet Rocks.". We wondered why until we saw all the moss on all the huge rocks and boulders. We passed a bunch of thru-hikers today. We like to ask their trail names. I often ask how they got their names. Since we knew we were hiking so many miles today we didn't get the name origins, but there were some interesting names - Tree Beard, Storm Song, Pants, 99, Stillwater, Catmandu, Challenger, and The Corsican. A few days ago we passed a thru-hiker who said his trail name is Magic Bag. He said he picked up garbage in the beginning of his thru-hike, and one of the bags of garbage was a bag of marijuana. Gobbler said he came across some turkeys early in his hike and got them to gobble. Stops-A-Lot never showed up at the shelter last night. We wonder where he stayed. He probably hung his hammock somewhere between shelters. There was a couple there who we enjoyed chatting with. He us "Rewind" because he wanted to do a thru-hike in his 20's, but life got in the way, so he figured he's rewinding his youth and doing if now. His wife us "Fast Forward" because she decided to join him after he'd hiked about half the AT. People's stories are so interesting. So much of hiking the AT is the community. The other major factor is one's mental state. Long distance hiking is hugely mental. Once your body gets over the initial aches and pains, one attitude is extremely important. The hills aren't as hard now as they were when we first started this year because my body has improved. I no longer gasp for breath for a long time when I stop or when the hill flattens out. My breathing calms down pretty quickly now. I'm excited about that because it makes hiking the mountains much easier.