Eliza Brook Shelter

After a relatively short night's sleep (~6 hours) I woke up at 7:00 and packed up my gear. The hostel was fun for me (maybe a little expensive for what you get) but I have heard some complaints about it since from some of the NOBOs. I guess I just didn't know any better. It was just good to not have everything feel sticky for a few hours.

I started the day by fording the Olevarian Brook which had calmed down considerably since yesterday... which made the crossing a bit anticlimactic. The climb up Moosealaukee actually went really well. The trail wasn't very wet and it had a pretty constant pitch which seemed to help me just attack it. I actually really enjoyed the long climb and found myself at the peak with few breaks in the clouds where I could actually see the valley below. The sun tried hard to break through too but was mostly unsuccessful. This was my first summit on the trail above the tree line and although I didn't have any spectacular views, I still loved the hike.


The hike down the north side was just as engaging. After a lunch of Ramen and Pop Tarts, I headed down the treacherous (the forest service's words, not mine) north side of the mountain. Dangerous was right. The decline was very steep and it was stepped out with rebar hand holds in many places. Having it be wet only added to it.

The coolest thing was that the trail paralleled a brook that gained in volume and intensity as the hike progressed. So the hike was loaded with waterfalls, cascades and the sound of rushing water. It was awesome!

The only problem with having such a great morning was that I still had an 8 mile hike ahead of me and as luck would have it, it was all wet, all muddy, and mostly uphill! It was fine but I was really dragging by the end and was starting to lose the mental edge I had been maintaining. It was probably one of the hardest afternoons, physically, I have had.

The good news is that now I am a full day ahead of schedule.... like tomorrow night was when I was scheduled to be at this shelter. That means with just a few days left, I have a day to kill somewhere. I think I am going to take it as an extra day along the Franconia Ridge or maybe at the hostel in Crawford Notch. Either way, I am going to stay at the hostel in Lincoln (Chet's) tomorrow and hopefully, finally get my buckle replaced at the Lahouts outfitters in town.

For the last three days, have ended up with Cranky Pete, Blazing Socks and Professor at the same shelter. That has made for good conversation as we rehash the day, the impressions, the emotions and people's histories.

I can feel the end of the trail coming soon now. I do welcome it but I know I will long to return as well.

Trail Names - Pond Scum, Footnote (writing a book)

Mileage - 17 miles on the AT

Warren, NH

What a full day today! I actually had a great night sleep with only minor interruptions from the one snorer two pads over. My solution was to play the iPod and try and block him out. The thing that finally woke me up was a downpour that started around 4:00am. I woke up and went back to sleep hopelessly wishing it would stop before the morning came. As expected, 7:00 came and the rain was still coming down hard. I decided to get up anyway and hit the trail around 7:30 in the pouring rain. The first summit was Mt. Cube and hiking it in the rain was awesome! As I neared the summit and came out of the trees the wind and rain would pelt me and I had visibility of about 50 feet. I was loving it! It continued to rain all morning and as it did the hills began to release the water too. Our trails turned into streams, my boots filled with water and by 9:00am everything was a swamp. After a while, I just started stepping into puddles up to my ankles that I normally would try to avoid because the wetness just didn't matter.

At one point (Bartlett Brook?) a normally easy brook crossing turned into a ford because the water had swelled so high. I threw my boots around my shoulders and walked into the water completely barefoot (not normally a smart thing but I had a great time!). It was so much fun for me. The only downer for the morning was that I really, really had to use the privy for most of the morning's hike. By the time I reached Ore Hill Shelter around 11:15-11:30 it was at emergency status. It was easily the nastiest privy I have ever seen but it was a beautiful sight to me!

After some cocoa and a snack at the shelter, I decided to move. Clothesline opted to stay behind as he wasn't looking forward to more hiking in these conditions. There were also two hikers (Red and Thought Criminal) who were obviously taking a zero at the shelter. It seemed a lot of people weren't looking forward to moving today.

Around 12:30 the rain mostly stopped for the day and I was already on my way to Glencliff. As I was cruising along (~1 mile from my goal) I stopped in my tracks because about 20 feet off the trail was a big cow moose! She didn't seem too surprised to see me so I took a couple of shots and moved on.


Glencliff was pretty cool too. I decided to stay at the Hiker Hostel.

I showed up and there were already more than 15 people there (some for more than 3 days). The place is pretty cool (although it could definitely use a little bit of cleaning). There is a bunk room upstairs that sleeps 10 (3 bunk beds, 2 couches, and a couple of mattresses on the floor). I have a floor mattress. Also people tent outside. There is a grill, an outdoor shower, a computer, a common room, a DVD player, TV and hundreds of movies. I took a shuttle into Warren and stocked up on food including some instant gratification... namely some pizza and a sandwich. Our driver, Fat Chap, helps out with the hostel and gave us a tour of Warren that was pretty fun.

When we got back I enjoyed a lot of conversation, did laundry, did email, and took a shower. I had originally planned to do all shelters (no hostels) but I realize now that that would have been a mistake. Meeting all these people and experiencing this part of the trail is a big part of hiking the AT. This has been fun and a great recharge after a fun but grueling day in the swamp! It was easily the wettest day of hiking I have ever had. Tomorrow may be my toughest day yet if I try to make it all the way to Eliza Brook. We will see how things go. It is also the start of the White Mountains!

Trail Names - Half Ounce, Pogo, Pinenut, Fat Chap, Possum, Stretch, Red, Thought Criminal, Rockamimi, NoCar, Professor, Ozzy, Lieutenant (or Mr. F---ing Gentle Spirit), Slim, Bogie

Hexacuba Shelter

Well the plan was to start taking it a bit easier now that the White Mountains are getting nearer but since I left at 7:00 and was pretty strong until mile 10 or 11, I decided to switch things up from my original plan and stretch the day out. The hike up Smart's Mountain was pretty good but it was also tough. Along the way I missed one turn at the top of Holt's Ledge but was able to correct it .1 miles later at the chairlift for a ski resort. The views from Holt's Ledge and Smart's Mountain were both pretty spectacular. On top of Smarts Mountain there was a great big fire tower (kind of like Stratton Mountain in Vermont). From the top you could see pretty far off.

View from Holt's Ledge

Stairs heading down from the fire tower

I left Clothesline and Cranky Pete this morning assuming they would pass me sometime along the way but I never saw them today so I am not sure where they ended up. Blazing Socks was in front of me but I never saw him either. Last night was my first night without a woman in the shelter and all the bodily functions going on told the story as well!

I arrived at Hexacuba Shelter .... or more like dragged myself in around 5:00 to find it was mostly populated by SOBOs and this crazy old guy, "Biking Ray".... who seems to be a local of sorts. He is up hiking around for a few days and will be heading back down tomorrow. Oh! While I was writing, I guess, Clothesline walked by. I must have missed him. It is good to see that someone else made it in.

Anyway, the shelter is actually shaped like a hexagon. We are all sleeping with our feet together in the center and we are going to be packed in. On top of it it seems tent sites are likely to be packed as well. I already counted 12 people and more people keep trickling in.


Tomorrow, I am thinking I will make it all the way into Glencliff and have a nice dinner! It should be 15 miles or so but the hiking looks relatively easy.

Two of the SOBOs that showed up are obviously high and they were telling all kinds of crazy stories about their slack packing adventures and all the crazy experiences they have had in every town. Smoking (not necessarily pot) is definitely a trail pass time and is part of the hiking culture. Most seem to roll their own and the preferred brand appears to be American Spirit.

Trail Names - Beetle

Mileage - 17.9 miles on the AT

Moose Mountain Shelter

I jumped on the free Orange Route bus into Hanover at 7:30 and made sure to get a few errands done. I got a haircut (I decided to stay with the buzz cut), searched fruitlessly for a replacement belt buckle (although I did figure out an alternative to the duct tape I have been using since day 1.... I am now using a couple pieces of rope and a caribeener), got an everything bagel with cream cheese (ah... yeah!), did some email, bought season football tickets, and resupplied before heading out on the trail again. I was kind of lost resupplying at the Co-op and I am afraid I didn't plan well. In the end, I pretty much just grabbed some stuff and took off. I was on the trail before noon and headed up to Moose Mountain.

Today's hike was actually pretty easy. Maybe even the easiest 10 miles of the trip so far. The climb was gradual and the weather was cool. I have started to run into a lot of other NOBO-ers and it is fun to see the culture that develops as people catch up on each others stories and hear how friends in front or behind are doing. I can see how a lot of solid friendships are formed on the trail. So far I haven't stayed in the same shelter with the same people for 2 days but I can still see how it would happen. There is a pretty big group in the shelter tonight. There is one SOBO named Joel and three NOBO who seem to know each other really well. There is also a guy named Ben who is trying to section hike NH but he seemed to be in really rough shape on the hike up. I hope he does well.

Anyway, all in all, a pretty straightforward, uneventful day. It is just fun to be back out and as much as I liked being in a motel, I like better being out here in the woods with some company.



An example of trail magic. This one had bottles of ice cold water as well as Little Debbie snack cakes.

I am thinking of Anne a lot today because of how sick the bots have been. She is very supportive and totally cool for letting me go but when things like this happen, I feel bad that she is dealing with so much on her own.

Trail Names - Clothesline (from Cincinati, OH, UofTenn), Blazing Socks, Joel (not a trail name... he also did the PCT in '06), Cranky Pete

Vocab - "bounce" - sending some of your gear forward to another town to pick it up later, "flip-flop" - change from NOBO to SOBO or vice versa. This is usually done to avoid weather at the other end late/early in the season, "friendly" - pretty straightforward. It is a home, business, or individual who are friendly and otherwise help out hikers.

Mileage - 11 miles on the AT

Hanover, NH

Man, did it rain last night! The tin roof made for a very loud exciting evening! After such a long day yesterday, I decided I would sleep in this evening and sleep in I did..... I don't think I got out of my bag until 8:30 or so but when I did I hit the trail. The late start meant I wouldn't have much time in Hanover so I took off.

Of course, when I hit W. Hartford, I just had to stop at the Village Store and eat a large Pomfret and 2 powerades too! I was hoping to enjoy the lawn and chairs a little longer when rain reared it's ugly head again. So far I have dodged most of it but it looked like it would get me this time. Rather than sit on their porch in the rain, I threw on my gear and headed out which turned out to be a mistake because about 15 minutes later while hiking uphill (towards the interstate) I threw-up a mouthful of my lunch (sorry for the gorey detail without warning). Nothing serious. I just didn't give my food time to settle. No matter, I was still glad to have stopped and enjoyed the town food!

After hiking uphill a bunch, I finally reached the Happy Hill Shelter (which was actually pretty cool... as a side note, this is the place Sy asked me to bring him camping while looking over my shoulder during my trip planning). It was a stone shelter, was in better shape than most, and even had a lantern and bow saw available for visitors to use. I stopped for a drink when a man and his dog came bounding out of the woods. He had been out looking for mushrooms. He showed them off (orange and black varieties) and then bounded off again. Kind of eccentric but it is cool to mee the locals and get to chat with all these people who are so friendly with the hikers.

Eventually I came out on Elm Street in Norwhich which had two positives and one negative. + Beautiful homes! Holy crap. The street looked like a walk through a history book..... beautiful. + Watermelon trail magic! - Walking on asphalt....crap. The hike down Elm Street was steep and the surface, of course, was very hard on the feet and it continued even further (another mile or so) in Hanover.

Connecticut River, which is also the VT/NH border

The bridge crossing from Norwich, VT to Hanover NH.

Once I got into Hanover, I stopped by the DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) but didn't find them to be much help so I called the Sunset Motor Inn. A really nice old guy answered the phone and offered to pick me up at the CVS since the bus wasn't running. He also offered to let me use the motel's laundry machines since they didn't have a coin-op option. That was pretty nice of him. It turns out he has some BYU connections. I think one of his daughters graduated from the Y.

I was just glad to have an evening if warm food (a calzone, ceasar salad, and a Dr. Pepper) and talk with Anne and the boys. It was nice to get all of my gear clean and dry too... not to mention me (the shower was great!) Tomorrow I will do a few chores and resupply before hitting the trail again.

Trail Names - Peanut, Wrongway

Mileage - 4.8 to W Hartford, 9.3 to Norwich, .2 blue blaze at Happy Hill Shelter, .5 in Hanover

Thistle Hill Shelter

21 miles baby! (I will figure out actual mileage later... I am beat!) Last night it poured pretty hard while we slept but the sound was relaxing. I felt bad for all of the tenters (like 5 tents) who were going to have to pack wet gear in the morning. I was awake at 5:20 and on the trail before 6:00. I know that I had a ton of miles to cover so I wasn't 100% confident that I could make it happen.

In the end, it was a pretty strong day. I was able to get into a rhythm on the inclines that really helped me along. One of the cool things about today's hike was that it left the woods and went into fields and clearings near roads and hilltops.

I think in most cases it was old farming land. The result was a bit better views than I usually get to see. The only negatives were the fields were always dense with brush (I kept thinking about Lyme disease) and sometimes were very, very swampy. One cool thing was the lookout just above the hill from VT 12. There is a pretty impressive cabin up there which is open to AT hikers. Some of the wood looked like it was rotting but it was still a sweet spot.

By the time I hit Wintturi Shelter, I was about halfway and feeling pretty beat. I didn't think about how much further I had to go but focused on making it to the On The Edge Farm at VT 12 which was about 4 miles away at that point. Just before 1:00 I rolled in and feasted on a loaf of bread, sharp Cabot cheddar, a fresh tomatoe, a nectarine, a banana, 3 Gatorades... mmmmmm.


I was too full to eat their pie and ice cream but that looked amazing too. The woman working there (Lisa) was very friendly and we chatted a bit while I waited out the rainstorm that graciously waited for me to stop before it hit. Eventually another local stopped for ice cream and we all chatted on the porch for a while. After almost 2 hours, I decided I needed to go. I still had more than 7 miles to go!

The miles were tough but I made it in around 7:30. There are two others here (both NOBO like me) and they had a great fire going (Thank you!).


The water supply here is a little bit of a hike but it is beautiful. It is a waterfall. You just walk right up and at chest level, fill up!

Whike sitting on the porch st On The Edge I got to thinking about how few places have the lifestyle that these people enjoy. Not many. I don't think I could necessarily do it but I respect them nontheless. The local gentleman having ice cream had been in Pomfret his whole life (70 years) less the 4 1/2 years he spend doing sonar on a destroyer in the Navy!

Trail Names - Sofa King (say it slowly.... tee hee), Chowdah (woman from Boston, living in Colorado), Buddy - Chowdah's dog (I feel safe sleeping next to a Golden Lab for some reason!)

Mileage - .4 blue blaze to On The Edge Farm, 9.6 to Wintturi Shelter, .4 blue blaze to Wintturi Shelter, 3.7 to VT 12, 7.8 from VT 12 to Thistle Hill Shelter

Stony Brook Shelter

So before I talk about today, I need to talk about last night. At 11:00pm, I woke up with water pouring/dripping on me from the bunk above. In my half-conscious state, it took me a while to realize what was going on. My bag was wet on the outside (but not on the inside, thankfully) and my pad had a puddle on it. I squished over to the side and pushed my pad the other way until the dripping stopped an hour or so later. It made for an uncomfortable night and I woke up more or less every hour.

That being said, I was up at 6:30 and out at 7:00. The forest was beautiful on top of Pico; old pine trees and clouds with the sun shining through. I made my way down the mountain (being passed by Hammer as I approached route 4). Hammer is probably in his 50's and he started his through hike in Georgia on March 25th.

I was really looking forward to Deers Leap but I could have made a better decision on the approach. I opted to take the trail near Willard Gap/Maine Junction (where the AT and LT split). The problem was that this trail was a steep climb up Deer Mountain, down steeply on the other side, and an even steeper climb up to Deer Leap Overlook... and then back the same way, of course. That added a lot of unnecessary elevation gain and mileage since there was an easier trail a little further north on the AT. All that being said, the view from the overlook was beautiful as usual.

I also had a great break at Gifford Woods State Park. I enjoyed a couple of sodas from the vending machine, the attendant let me dry my clothes on their clothesline, and I got to talk with Anne and the boys!

I almost didn't want to go but I still had a lot of miles (7) to go including the hike out of Ottoauquechee. The locals had made a pretty cool boardwalk through the marsh surrounding the river.

The hike was tough but I had one of my stronger mental moments during this climb. I was definitely beat but was able to keep the legs moving and pushed it to the end.

I finally made it to the shelter around 6:30 where there was a big crew of southbounders who have got to know each other over the last few weeks. I have been listening to their stories about moonshine, trail magic (one had a couple catch and cook book trout for him, another had a steak in the middle of the 100 mile wilderness) and they had a small fire burning which is always uplifting.


I am nervous about tomorrow because I am beat and tomorrow is my first ever 21 mile day. We will have to see how it goes!

Trail Names - Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Skeeter, Spoonful, T.T (Trail Trooper)

Mileage - 13.5 on the AT, .5 on the Pico Peak Shelter blue blaze, 2.2 on the Deer Leap Trail blue blaze