Day 129
We got to
order a whole meal for breakfast for free with out stay and I had some
delicious blueberry pancakes with real Vermont maple syrup. After breakfast we
hiked the half-mile back up to the mountains and continued on the AT. Just a
little ways down was another inn next to a pong the Trail passed by. We stopped
in for water. It also looked like a really fun place to stay. We found Slim and
one of the British boys inside. Slim’s brother and the other British boy had
gotten injured so the two of them got off the Trail with the brother’s father.
I thought something like that might happen since Slim wasn’t going any slower
for them. After a couple more miles we headed up Quimby Mountain, across it a
couple of miles and back down. We then headed back up and across more mountains
until we reached a short side trail that led us to the Lookout, which was a
cabin with a tower on top. It was privately owned, but thruhikers were welcome
to stay there. There were already many thruhikers there including some annoying
southbounders. Since we had time, we moved on across the mountains a couple
more miles to Winturi Shelter where we spent the night.
Miles hiked
today: 18 Total AT miles completed: 1716.9 Total AT miles left to hike: 468.4
Day 130
We woke up
and hiked several miles up and down several small mountains like Ascutney
Mountain, Dana Hill, and Totman Hill. It was a pleasant day and we walked
awhile along what looked like an old road with an old stonewall running along
it. We have often come across old stone ruins of buildings and walls. On top of
one of the small mountains there was an abundance of raspberries we leisurely
picked and ate. We hiked on through some farmland and at a gravel road we
turned and walked a bit to the Cloudland Market, a small farm store. We bought
some fancy cheese and crackers and local sodas and enjoyed them on their large
front porch with some other hikers. After lunch we hiked up Thistle Hill and
back down through an area filled solely with skinny, tall trees with their branches
only at the very top. It looked very beautiful. Further down, the Trail led us
to the town of West Hartford. We crossed the White River on a bridge where
teenagers were jumping off into the water. Right across the bridge was a cooler
of trail magic. There were sodas, full-sized candy bars, snacks and beer. As we
were enjoying these, we heard a bell ringing. Across the street, some locals
were on the porch of their house, motioning us over to them. When we finished
drinking, we walked over there and found more free sodas. The woman who lived
there offered any of us a place to stay there with breakfast, but we wanted to
get further so we declined. We walked over to the one grocery store and deli
where we were going to have dinner, but it was closed up for good. So we went
back to the trail magic for some more snacks and hiked out of town and up Happy
Hill to Happy Hill Shelter where we spent the night.
Miles hiked
today: 20.4 Total AT miles completed: 1737.3 Total AT miles left to hike: 448
Day 131
We woke up
and hiked a few miles on easy, flat terrain before heading down the mountains. The
Trail led us a mile down a road where a few houses had containers of trail
magic set out front for us hikers, filled with the usual snacks and sodas. The
street led us to the center of Norwhich where we were spending the first of our
two days off for our wedding anniversary. We stopped by Dan & Whit’s
General Store, which was a small store, stuffed with everything from fancy
cheeses to hammers and nails. The aisles were small, the store was packed with
people, and around every corner was another room that seemed to appear out of
nowhere. It was quite charming and we enjoyed looking at all the gorgeous food.
Right next-door was the Norwhich Inn where we dashed to in the heavy rain that
had just begun pouring. We had to wait ten minutes before we could get our
room, which was old-fashioned and had a bed with a canopy. The inn itself was
very old and used to be a haven for people as they traveled in their
stagecoaches. We cleaned up and went to Jasper Murdock’s Ale House, which was
in the inn. The lunch and beer was exceptional and I sat sipping my second
round while blogging. We went back to Dan & Whits and bought some sushi,
cereal, and fancy chocolate for dinner. We rested and watched Independence Day on TV before going to
sleep.
Miles hiked
today: 4.4 Total AT miles completed: 1741.7 Total AT miles left to hike: 443.6
Day 132
Today was
our second wedding anniversary. After eating the continental breakfast at the
inn, we got back on the road that was the AT in a steady rain and walked the
mile and a half down the road over the Connecticut River into Hanover, New
Hampshire, home of Dartmouth College. In the middle of town we checked into the
Hanover Inn, which was new and fancy with robes and umbrellas in every room. We
changed out of our wet clothes and went to an Indian restaurant for lunch.
After eating, we walked through Dartmouth College and stopped by one of their
libraries to see the fascinating Jose Orozco mural that covered the inside walls.
After spending some time looking at the mural, we found some computers we could
use. Some high school friends of mine were getting married on August 23rd
down in Maryland and I wanted to see if we might be somewhere on the Trail where
we could take a bus or get a rental car. So I spent about an hour making a
tentative schedule for the rest of our time on the Trail to get an idea of
where we might be. When I got to the end of the schedule, I found we’d finish
the entire Trail on August 23rd at a normal pace. We discussed it
awhile, but ultimately decided we would try to finish by the 22nd so
my parents’ could pick us up and drive us down to the wedding. It was a bit scary to put us on a tight
schedule, but we felt ready to be done with the Trail and knew this would force
us to get done sooner rather than later. So after I called my parents and they
agreed to the plan, there was no turning back. The rest of the day we spent
having fun. We got delicious gelato at a gelato place, went to see the film Begin Again which was good, and went to
a Korean restaurant for dinner where I had yummy bulgogi. It was a great day!
Miles hiked
today: 1.5 Total AT miles completed: 1743.2 Total AT miles left to hike: 442.1
Day 133
After waking
up at the Hanover Inn we walked to the nearby diner, Lou’s, where we ate some
delicious cruller French toast and cinnamon bun pancakes. We then headed over
to Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art, which was free and small with some
interesting pieces. We then checked out and stopped by Lou’s again for a
milkshake and a donut, before taking the Trail through the town and southeast
down Lebanon St. We stopped by a store on the edge of town for resupply and
lunch before continuing on, back into the woods. We hiked several miles on
fairly flat ground with few breaks before heading up Moose Mountain where there
was a shelter we were planning to stay at. Since it was early evening we
decided to get ahead of schedule by hiking on, across and down the mountain and
up another one and halfway down to Trapper John Shelter. We arrived just before
dark and ate quickly before going to sleep.
Miles hiked
today: 16.6 Total AT miles completed: 1759.8 Total AT miles left to hike: 425.5
Day 134
We woke up
and hiked down the mountain less than a mile to a handmade sign that had a man
holding ice cream in one hand and water in another painted on it. Above this
sign was a sign that read: Bill Ackerly/ His Icecream Brings All The Hikers To
The Yard/ His Water Tastes Better Than Yours/ Darn Right, His Croquet Game Is
Better Than Yours/ It’s all FREE Yeah There Is NO Charge!! The
sign pointed us to the left on a small trail, across a road, to a small house
adorned with Tibetan prayer flags. Bill, an old man, welcomed us with some ice
cream bars before excusing himself to leave to visit a friend in the hospital.
Bill used to be a psychology professor at Harvard. Spirit Hawk of Love had
stayed at the house overnight so we talked with him for a bit while enjoying
some ice cream sandwiches. We then enjoyed a round of croquet in the backyard
before getting back to the Trail. It was flat for a bit before heading up the
fairly big Smarts Mountain. On some of the large, steep, slippery rocks they
put some metal bars into the rock to help us get up safely. At the top there
was a fire tower with views and a rundown, trashed cabin where we ate lunch.
After lunch we hiked down the mountain and up Mt Cube, passing by Eastman
Ledges on the way up. We hiked down that mountain and up Ore Hill where there
was a campsite. There used to be a shelter here, but it burned down in 2011.
The privy was real nice though, constructed by Dartmouth students. We arrived
pretty late, but we made dinner and I blogged some before getting in the tent
to sleep.
Miles hiked
today: 19.1 Total AT miles completed: 1779.3 Total AT miles left to hike: 406
Day 135
We woke up
early and hiked quickly the few miles across the mountains and up the small Mt
Mist, which was very misty. We hiked down the mountain and had a snack before
the four-mile climb up Mt Moosilauke, considered one of the most difficult. We
hiked up faster than we thought we would. We stopped for lunch halfway up and
it started to get quite cold and a little rainy. We continued to the top, a
bald, which we hadn’t encountered in a long time. As we neared the top, the
tress kept getting smaller and smaller until we were taller than the trees. And
then there were no more trees, just rocks. It was very cold, rainy, and windy
up there as we made our way across the top above the treeline. The wind almost
blew our ponchos off several times. As I took a picture of Nepsis at the
summit, the wind knocked me off the rock I was standing on a couple of times. The
mist was too bad to see any views and since it was so cold with the wind, we didn’t
linger on top and made our way back down. As soon as we entered the trees again
it was a lot warmer. Going down the mountain was a lot more steep and
difficult. We had to carefully make our way down several steep rock faces.
There were a lot of metal bars and wooden steps installed in the rocks to help
us out, but some had fallen away, leaving gaps we had to slowly maneuver over.
Our trekking poles were not very useful and we often threw them down a ways so
we could utilize all of our hands. Half of the way down, we climbed right next
to a brook that cascaded down the rocks with great power and beauty. At one
point when Nepsis threw her trekking pole, it bounced around and fell much
further than intended, almost falling into the brook. When she climbed down to
get it, we noticed a Gatorade bottle there as well. We climbed down further and
further, very slowly down the slippery rocks. Near the bottom, two older
thruhikers walked by us. They explained that the one had slipped and almost
died, that he had hung upside down in a tree and had lost his Gatorade bottle. He
was climbing back up to show his friend where he had fallen. He was so
traumatized by this that he would spend a day in town calming himself down. We
reached the bottom by late afternoon and tried to hitchhike. Very few cars
passed and then it started to rain hard. Still, no one would pick us up. We
needed to get into town soon so we could buy new trekking poles at the
outfitter before it closed. Our poles were cheap and broke so that they were no
longer collapsible. We wanted new ones for the White Montains, because they
were supposed to be some of the toughest terrain. It took thirty minutes before
a woman commuting from work picked us up. She asked if we minded that she was
drinking a big can of Foster’s beer and dropped us off at the outfitter in the
town of Lincoln. We bought a set of nice, new Leki trekking poles, a pair of
socks for Nepsis, and a map of the Whites. I had read many times that the Trail
was not blazed very well in the Whites and that there were so many trails that
thruhikers get lost without a map. It turns out, we really didn’t need it and
it was quite clear the entire time where the Trail was. After buying our new
gear we went to a pizza joint for dinner where I made the mistake of deciding
to try the Northeastern soda, Moxie. After dinner, we walked over to an ice
cream shop for dessert, and then a mile back toward the Trail to the Woodstock
Inn. The Woodstock Inn was an inn, two restaurants, and a brewery. The place
was packed with tourists and we got a room in a house across the street. We
took showers and resupplied at a gas station before going to sleep.
Miles hiked
today: 16.6 Total AT miles completed: 1795.9 Total AT miles left to hike: 389.4
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