8/01/01
When I awoke this morning I was amazed that it is already August and I was anxious to finish Vermont and get to Hanover, New Hampshire for a much needed break. Redneck and I pulled out of the Cloudland shelter around 8:30 a.m. with Finn just a few minutes behind us. After two quick miles we stopped at the Thistle Hill shelter to read the register. There was no Phantom entry in the register so we figured he must have camped somewhere to the south of us last night. Four and .8 miles of PUDs took us to West Hartfort, VT where the trail took us right by Rick and Tina's country store. Time for some food. Redneck, Finn and I sat down at the grill inside the air conditioned store where I ordered a steak and cheese grinder, a large soda, an order of fries and a milkshake. Before our food was placed on the counter, Phantom arrived. He had somehow passed us last night and camped at Thistle Hill shelter, but neglected to make an entry in the register there. After we all ate our early lunch we lounged on a bench outside the country store and Finn and I both managed a little catnap before I finally took the lead to resume hiking again.
Only one more significant climb stood between us and the end of Vermont, but the heat combined with the terrain made it difficult to get excited as we trudged on. The fab four stopped at the Happy Hill shelter, which was a really neat shelter, so we spent about an hour there chilling out and talking with Sideways, a Sobo with some good information about the trail farther north. Finally we left to tackle the remaining six miles into Hanover, NH. We jubilantly celebrated when we crossed the Connecticut River and located the VT/NH line in the middle of the bridge over the river. Twelve states completed, only two to go! I will not miss Vermont's PUDs, but there were plenty of fun memories of the journey through the Green Mountain State to reflect on. Ah, New Hampshire! Live free or die! ! I contemplated the state's motto as we hiked into town and turned off the trail to the Dartmouth College campus. We stopped in at Robinson Hall, home of DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) which maintains the section of the AT near Hanover. The bulletin board there (along with Sobos we had talked to) recommended that we go to the Tabard Fraternity House, a co-ed fraternity next to campus, for lodging. Upon arrival at the Tabard we self-registered, then checked out the large house (which reminded me more of a dorm on the old campus of Chapel Hill) to see what amenities were available to us. Cusi and Zack, who I hadn't seen since Trail Days in Damascus, VA, were staying at the Tabard for the night. It was great to catch up with them.
After a shower in the co-ed bathroom (which felt strange to me) on the second floor, we secured the pool table room on the first floor to store our packs, then checked out the basement where mattresses were laid out for thru-hikers as well as a kitchen area, washer and dryer, and the basement TV room. All of the mattresses had been claimed in the basement and there was a large group of Sobos in the dark TV room watching the DVD version of The Matrix when we peered into the room. I had by now already figured out the game. Officially, the Tabard only allows 10 thru-hikers to stay there per night and has a registration sheet out by the front entrance on the first floor. In truth, several more thru-hikers stay there to socialize with the other hikers and stay the night without registering. So, it appeared that we had made a good move putting our packs in the pool room on the first floor and we could sleep there since it was obvious that the room is being used only for storage currently. After getting our bearings at Tabard, we headed into town for some food. Everything But Anchovies Pizza and Pasta Restaurant had an AYCE special . . . lasagna, which gave me the chance to pig out. Phantom and Redneck enjoyed the same meal while Finn opted for a large pizza. From there we walked around town, then walked back toward campus where we saw Animal, then Beatle and Sara, who had yellow blazed from Killington. After spending some time at Tabard, Phantom, Finn and I ventured back into town to Murphy's Tavern for a couple of microbrews. From there it was back to Tabard where we all attempted to go to sleep in the pool room by 10:30 p.m. The Tabard frat members were holding their monthly meeting just down the hall at 10:00, which then turned into a full-fledged party. All of us were too tired to join in, so we continued with the attempt to sleep until the party finally subsided and we drifted into our slumber for the night. It felt great to be in New Hampshire and even better knowing that we were going to take the next two days off to relax and party in Hanover. Here are today's stats: low 60, high 85. Sunny. Today's mileage: 14.7; cumulative mileage: 1726.2.
