8/05/01
This morning I awoke from my night's sleep in Tabard basement TV room raring to go. Everyone was in various stages of waking and packing up, so it wouldn't be long until the hiking would commence after a long time off. Phantom and I left together and his goal was one more White Blaze milkshake before leaving town. Unfortunately Ben and Jerry's was closed as we passed by, but we made one last stop at the food co-op for Phantom's groceries before resuming the hike. The climb out of Hanover was gradual but I held my breath in anticipation of blisters forming from the new boots. There was definitely some friction on the right heel but apparently the 1,400 miles of previous blisters had toughened my foot sufficiently to protect the heel from further blistering. I got ahead of Phantom and stopped six miles into the hike at a road crossing where Redneck and Ryan were eating lunch. I stopped for lunch as well and Phantom caught up just as I was finishing lunch and getting ready to hike on. The afternoon hike included a moderate climb over Moose Mtn., then a drop into the valley before a steep climb up to Holt's Ledge. The rest of the guys had stopped but I kept moving as I was tired and wanted to get into the shelter as soon as possible to rest. I reached the Trapper John shelter at 5:30 where Mick (from the UK), Swagman (from Australia) and Ryan were already in camp. The water source was nearly completely dry as New Hampshire has been suffering from extremely dry conditions for several weeks. I walked down the stream bed and managed to find a small pool of water 200 yards downstream for water resupply. Level tentsites were limited but I managed to find one and set up camp and made dinner. Around 7:30 the gang showed up (Phantom, Redneck, Priceless and Finn). I was happy to see them but even happier that I had pushed into camp two hours before them and was settled in for the evening. I attempted journaling, but was too tired to focus, so by darkness (8:30) I turned on the radio and relaxed until sleep took over. It was great to be back on the trail and in New Hampshire. Today's stats: low 72, high 88. Hot and sunny. Today's mileage: 16.7; cumulative mileage; 1742.9.
