View From Smarts Mtn Fire Tower

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Moose Mountain Cabib to Smarts Mtn Fire Wardens Cabin

Saturday, 8/8

AT Miles = 12.4 / 1759.9
Other Miles = 0.1 / 55.1
Total Miles = 12.5 / 1815.0

Miles to Katahdin = 418.4

Boy,it was cold lat night! I wore every bit of clothing I have, which isn't all that much, while sitting around after supper. Normally I wiuld have crawled into my sleeping bag to stay warm and passed the evening reading, but there was a nice group of weekenders and section hikers at the shelter, and I greatly enjoyed their company as we all sat around the campfire and sipped shots of Jack Daniels from a bottle one of them had brought. After watching a bright orange moon rise around i8:30, I finally did go to bed and barely stayed warm during the night.

I allowed myself the luxury of sleeping in a bit, and thus didn't get moving until 7:30 this morning. It was a surprisingly tough day's hike, which found me at the summit of Smarts Mountain about a quarter of two this afternoon. It surprises and worries me how tired I am and how much my knees ache after hiking only 11 miles yesterday and 12.5 miles today.

I set up my hammock near the Fire Wardens Cabin here near the summit, and after reading for a while managed to fall asleep for a while; I'm not sure how long. It is 6:00PM now and again I am wearing all the clothes I have but am not quite keeping warm. I will be in Glencliff on Monday morning where I will pick up a food drop and some warmer clothes that Jodi mailed to me there. I decided not to have Jodi send my warmer sleeping bag yet, planning to continue using my summer bag. I hope that doesn't prove to be a mistake. I will have my warm long johns to wear at night, as well as my down jacket which I add to the bottom insulation of my hammock on cold nights.

I saw a bear this morning; my fourth to date. I heard him moving through the underbrush and stopped to look. Once he was far enough away to not feel threatened, he stopped and looked back, and we stood for several minutes studying each other. Any day I see a bear is a good day.

Two of the section hikers that were at Moose Mountain SHelter last night had said they were planning to be here tonight, but they haven't showed up yet. There are two other southbound hikers here tonight, who I haven't really had a chance to talk to yet. I am going to stop typing and cook my dinner now. I haven't had any cell coverage since leaving Hanover yesterday morning, so I'm not sure when I'll get to send this.

Oh, I think yesterday I said I assumed the Dartmouth colors were orange and black since the DOC uses those colors for their blazes and all their signs, but I have since been told the school colors are green and something, so I guess my theory is shot to heck. That'll teach me to assume anything.

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Hanover NH to Moose Mountain Shelter

Friday, 8/7

AT Miles = 11.0 / 1747.5
Other Miles = 0.1 / 55.0
Total Miles = 11.1 / 1802.5

Miles to Katahdin = 430.8

Jodi and I had such a wonderful evening last night! I spent the afternoon doing zero day chores, mostly working out logistics for the upcoming sections. I never did find time to take a swim in the hotel pool. Then it was dinner time and I asked Jodi what she wanted to do for dinner, and she suggested we head over to Chester and find someplace to eat there. Chester is only a dozen or so miles over the pass from Springfield, and we had stayed at an inn there last year on Memorial Day weekend when we spent the weekend cycling and running.

We drove over to Chester and decided to have dinner at the Inn which is right on the town green. It was a gorgeous evening out, with cool, dry air and just enough puffy cumulous clouds in the sky to add a bit of depth. We got a table on the front porch of the inn, and soon after we sat down we noticed a concert about to start in the park across the road. It was a jazz ensemble, and they were very good. So we sat outside sipping our martinis and eating our dinner, listening to big band jazz and watching the locals enjoy the concert. A great way to end my latest zero day.

This morning Jodi dropped me off at the post office in Hanover, where I mailed my bounce box up the trail to Lincoln, NH, then I started walking. It is only 44 miles from Hanover to Glencliff, my next town stop. If I pushed a bit, as usual, I could make it there in 3 days, which would put me there on Sunbday. But I have a mail drop at the post office in Glencliff, so getting there on Sunday makes no sense at all. That leaves me free to take it very easy for the next 4 days, and get there on Monday.

I really enjoyed hiking without any time pressure today. I left Hanover after 10:00AM. Around 12:30 I was at a point where the trail crosses a road, and just up the road is an old cemetery with fresh-cut grass and nice sunshine, so I walked down there and sat in the sun while I ate my lunch. I left there around 1:00, and by 3:00 I was here at the shelter.

The weather is quite cool today. It feels like late summer in northern New England. It is breezy in a way I haven't felt for months. The forecast calls for the temp to fall into the 40s tonight. It should be great sleeping all snugged into my bag tonight.

This is Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) territory. The DOC has been blazing trails between Hanover and the Whites since long before the Appalachian Trail existed. Traditionally the DOC blazes trails in alternating orange and black stripes, which I assume are the school colors. The DOC maintains this section of the AT and they do use the standard white blazes, but they also mix in some of the old orange and black blazes, which are sometimes referred to as Halloween blazes. The signs the DOC puts up are also black on orange. Tradition counts for a lot in New England!

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Zero Day in Hanover, NH

Thursday, 8/6

AT Miles = 0 / 1736.5
Other Miles = 0 / 54.9
Total Miles = 0 / 1780.5

Miles to Katahdin = 441.8

The title of this post is a bit misleading. Jodi and I aren't staying
in Hanover. Hanover is quite an expensive town. The Hanover Inn,
directly across the green from Dartmouth College, has rooms starting
at $275 per night, and goes up from there. Jodi and I are comfortably
settled into the Holiday Inn Express at an exit off I-91 in
Springfield Vermont, where the prices are much more reasonable. But
Hanover is where I got off the trail, and where I will get back on
tomorrow morning, so in reference to my hike, Hanover is where I am.

Yesterday afternoon Jodi and I drove to the Eastern Mountain Sports
store in West Lebanon, NH, wigth my broken backpack. That is where
Osprey had sent the part to repair my pack. Sure enough, the package
was there, marked in bold to "HOLD FOR APPALACHIAN TRAIL HIKER ALLEN
FREEMAN." Their backpack expert, Jeff, and I set out to figure out how
to replace the broken rod. Getting the broken one out was easy enough,
but installing the new one was a whole other story. With the new rod
in place, there is a large flap of fabric at the top of the pack that
has to be stretched until it goes over the rod. This places the whole
mechanism under tension, and gives the pack its stability. When I had
talked to the woman at Osprey she had told me we would have to pry the
fabric over with some kind of lever. Well, we tried several different
tools, and even enlisted the aid of another employee so that there
were three of us trying to lever this rod into place, but to no avail.
After struggling wityh the pack for what must have been close to an
hour, Jeff decided to simply replace my pack wqith a brand new one,
and to send my old one back to Osprey. Considering that I did not buy
my pack at EMS, and that EMS received nothing for all their effort in
helping me try to install the replacement rod, this was a very
generous offer. Jeff went well above and beyond in helping me out, and
I am now the happy owner of a brand new backpack, so I expect no
further troubles in that department for the rest of my hike.

I told Jeff I thought they should hold on to the broken backpack, and
the next time the Osprey rep is in their store, he should ask him to
demonstrate just how easy it is to replace a broken side rod. ;-)

I slept late this morning, then after breakfast did all of my errands;
laundry, food shopping, gear cleaning, etc. The weather is mostly
sunny and dry.I can hardly express how happy it makes me to think of
the trail drying out every day. I am starting to get my hopes up that
this summer's weather pattern has finally broken, and we might get a
string of dry weather.

My next stage of the hike is the 40+ miles from Hanover to Glencliff.
The terrain outside of Hanover starts to get a bit more vertical, and
I have decided that I am not going to push hard for miles for a while,
so I am giving myself four days to get to Glencliff, which gets me
there on Monday. It would do me no good to get there sooner anyway, as
I have a food and equipment drop at the post office there, which I
won't be able to collect until Monday anyway. After Glencliff I head
up into the WHite Mountains, so I will pick up my warm clothing again,
and also my Thermarest pad. I need the Thermarest because I hope to
get work-for-stay at at least some of the AMC Huts in the Whites, and
work-for-stay just gets you a place on the floor to sleep, and
whatever the paying guests don't eat for dinner and breakfast.

Right now I am sitting outside at the hotel typing this. I am thinking
about going swimming in the pool, but that almost seems like too much
work.

Oh, I seem to have created some confusion with my reference to blue
blazing a few days ago. To clear things up, blue blazing means simply
to hike a trail other than the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian
Trail is marked with white blazes, and many side trail are marked with
blue blazes. My reference to blue blazing as a "gateway drug" was just
an analogy, folks! Here are a few definitions to help clear things up:

White blazing - following the Appalachian Trail (AT). Sometimes the
term is used to denote a hiker who makes it a point to pass every
single white blaze along the entire length of the trail. Some hikers
even mark the trail in some way whenever they leave the AT, so that
they can be sure to start back up in the exact same spot.

Blue blazing - walking some trail other than the AT

Yellow blazing - hitching rides along the road, and thus bypassing
parts of the trail. So called because of the yellow lines on a road.

Pink blazing - this can have a couple of different meanings, but
usually it refers to a male hiker who is hiking long, hard days trying
to catch up to a female hiker he has taken a fancy to.

So, I have blue blazed a little bit. I have never yellow blazed, and I
certainly haven't pink blazed, unless you count that morning I nearly
dropped from exhaustion trying to get to my rendezvous with Jodi way
back in Virginia.

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Photos

Photos for the section from Manchester Center VT to Hanover NH are
here: http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/ManchesterCenterToHanover/

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Happy Hill Shelter to Hanover, NH

Wednesday, 8/5

AT Miles = 5.8 / 1736.5
Other Miles = 0.1 / 54.9
Total Miles = 5.9 / 1780.5

Miles to Katahdin = 441.8

It was warm last night.Warm enough, and muggy enough, that I actually
had a bit of trouble sleeping. Also, I think I was just so tired that
it actually made it even harder to relax and fall asleep, if that
makes any sense at all.

I slept a bit later than usual this morning. I usually wake up about
5:30, and lie in my hammock for another 10 or 15 minutes waiting for
it to become just a bit lighter outside before getting up. This
morning I didn't wake up until about 6:10. I knew I had only 3.5 miles
to hike before reaching the town of Norwich, so I didn't even bother
to eat my usual breakfast of cold cereal. Instead I put a granola bar
in my pocket, packed up my gear, and started walking.

Wow. Knowing I had only a few miles to go, and no time pressure on me
today, I relaxed and really enjoyed hiking for the first time in a
long time. By 8:30 I was walking down Elm Street in Norwich, past some
lovely little homes tucked into the lush summer landscape. A few
minutes later I was at the corner of Elm and Main Street, and walked a
block up Main Street to Dan & Whits Grocery, where I bought a bacon,
egg, and cheese sandwich, a bottle of orange juice, and a copy of the
New York Times. I took my purchases back down Main Street to a bench
in front of the post office, where I sat reading the paper, eating my
breakfast snack, and chatting with the occasional passer-by. Boy, was
that wonderful. I so enjoyed this morning. I need to slow down this
hike, even though I am already moving so darned slowly, so I can enjoy
the places and moments that come along.

Eventually, though, I hoisted my backpack onto my back and turned east
heading for the bridge over the Connecticut River and thus into New
Hampshire. I was at the post office in Hanover a few minutes before
10:00, where I picked up my bounce box that I had mailed from
Manchester Center, VT. Then I went outside and sat on a bench while I
waited for Jodi to appear about 10 minutes later.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Winturri Shelter to Happy Hill Shelter

Tuesday, 8/4

AT Miles = 20.4 / 1730.7
Other Miles = 0.5 / 54.8
Total Miles = 20.9 / 1774.6

Miles to Katahdin = 447.6

My apologies for being a couple of days late with this entry.
Tuesday's hike just kicked my butt. I started hiking at 6:45 in the
morning, and I hiked hard all day until I finally reached Happy Hill
Shelter at a few minutes before 6:00 in the evening. That made just a
bit over 11 hours to cover less than 21 miles. I sincerely hope it was
because the terrain was difficult, and not that I am simply losing my
ability to hike.

It was really nice outside, and the trail even offered up a nice view
now and then. In the afternoon I came to one spot where there was a
grassy knoll -- not THE Grassy Knoll -- high atop a ridge with a long
view of the Green Mountains stretching into the distance, and someone
had even taken the trouble to put a comfortable looking Adirondack
style chair up there. It looked like a perfect spot to relax for a
while and enjoy life. But I didn't have time to stop, and just pushed
right on through without breaking stride. I find that so frustrating!

When I arrived at Happy Hill Shelter there was one other hiker there;
a young woman with the trail name Nico. I hadn't met her before so I
asked if she was a southbounder. "Well, sort of," she replied. When I
pressed a little bit more, she told me that she had just finished her
northbound thru-hike, and was now hiking back to the Long Trail to
finish hiking that trail as well. So, she left Springer Mountain on
March 25 -- one week after me -- and summited Katahdin on August 2nd.
On the 3rd she got a ride back to Hanover, NH, and was now hiking from
Hanover back to the junction of the Long Trail and the Appalachian
Trail, in Sherburne Pass. I told her I hated her. She understood.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

No Blog Tonight

Very tired after hiking 11 hours today. Will catch up tomorrow, from New Hampshire!

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

The Inn at Long Trail to Winturri Shelter

Monday, 8/3

AT Miles = 19.9 / 1710.3
Other Miles = 0.2 / 54.3
Total Miles = 20.1 / 1753.7

Miles to Katahdin = 468.0

Whew! Up, down, repeat ad nauseum. That was today's hike. I haven't had to climb like this since I don't know when. I am tired tonight in a way I haven't been tired since probably back in the Smokies.

One might think that since the trail left the crest of the Green Mountains and turned east towards the Connecticut River, the trail would be gradually descending down to the river valley. Well if one did think that, one would be very stupid. There are multiple ridges to the Green Mountains, and the trail has to climb up and over every one of them before it gets to the river.

Most of these climbs were really steep, and many of them were quite long. And it's not like there is a reward for climbing; maybe a nice view with a sunny spot to sit and rest and appreciate it. Oh, no. This is Vermon t. You climb in the trees. You summit in the trees. You descend in the trees.

I got a late start today, and even though I hiked flat out, it took me from 9:00AM until 6:00PM to cover the twenty miles. And it absolutelt kicked my butt! Tomorrow's hike will be a little bit longer, and I hope my legs recover enough over night to be able to do it.

It's not that I think 20 miles is the perfect distance for a day's hike or anything. Rather, it works out this way because the shelters / campsites in this area are spaced about 10 miles apart, and 10 miles is too short a day so the days end up being 20 miles by default.

I am sharing the campsite tonight with a woman and her son. She started section hiking last summer and is now on her third ever backpacking trip, while this is her son's first ever trip.

Oh, a first today! I met, on the trail, an actual United States Forest Service Ranger. In 1700 miles he is the only USFS or NPS employee I've met out on the trail. I've seen plenty in frontcountry settings, but never in the backcountry.

You might have noticed that I passed the 1700 mile mark today, and I have well under 500 miles to go. I told someone today that I wished the trail were 500 miles shorter, as then I would be done and back home now.

Hiking isn't all misery or anything like that, but it hasn't been fun for quite a while either. I hope it becomes fun again.

Oh, I almost forgot. I spent about 35 minutes on the phone with someone at Osprey this morning, and they are supposed to be shipping the part needed to fix my backpack to the EMS store in Lebanon, NH by Wednesday. I will be in Haanover on Wednesday, and if the stars align correctly Jodi will be meeting me there, so then we can drive over to Lebanon and get my pack fixed. If Jodi does meet me, I will likely take a zero day on Thursday.

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

My Broken Backpack

Not only is the stay broken, but the broken end has worn a hole in the packbag.

--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Back Home Again Hostel to The Inn at Long Trail

Sunday, 8/2

AT Miles = 17.4 / 1690.4
Other Miles = 0 / 54.1
Total Miles = 17.4 / 1733.6

Miles to Katahdin = 487.9

In this episode, our hero solves a mystery, gets stung by a bee, drinks a Coke, climbs a mountain, and (gasp!) blue blazes. Oh, and it rains, of course.

At the hostel yesterday afternoon I chose the bunk right next to the window, of course. I like fresh air. At home Jodi and I keep the bedroom window open almost all the time, even into the winter.

Well, it might not have been the best choice last night. The street fair happeniong right outside the window included bands that played until fairly late ("late" here means pretty much anything past sunset, otherwise known as "hiker midnight"). Then at first light this morning the Rutland Public Works crew was out in the street packing away all the street barriers so they could reopen the street, so I was woken up by their equipment and their yelling back and forth. Not the best night's sleep I've ever had.

After breakfast at a cafe down the street, I called a local guy who I was told provides shuttles for hikers and arranged for him to pick me up at 8:30 and drive me back to the trail. While I was out front on the sidewalk waiting for him, I was checking the suspension on my backpack, as I have been having a lot of trouble lately with the load seeming to shift to the right until the pack becomes very uncomfortable to carry. Well lo and behold, I discovered that one of the aluminum stays on my pack is broken. For those that aren't "into" backpacking, stays are thin aluminum rods that run down either side of the pack and lend it some stiffness, and serve to transfer the load down to the hip belt. I will have to call Osprey tomorrow and find out what I need to do to get this fixed. I hope I can get it taken care of when I am in Hanover, NH on Wednesday.

So, that takes care of solving a mystery. Now, as to thaqt bee sting. Well, I was walking up the trail and Yeeow! A bee stung me directly on my right Achilles, just below the cuff of my boot. I don't know how he stung me through my sock, but darn, it hurt! Alright, so I'm a wimp. It was just a bee sting. But even now, some 10 hous later, it still hurts.

As the morning progressed the sky was getting darker and darker, and it was obvious it was going to rain sooner orlater. I was hiking pretty hard, determined to get as many of the day's miles in while it was still dry, and to try to limit the amount of time I would have to slog through the rain. Still, when I came upon the cooler sitting at the base of a tree, with a lawn chair invitingly open next to it, I had to stop and look. Score! The cooler was full of cans of Coke, and there was even a bit of ice left in it. It must have just been set out Friday or yesterday. So I took off my pack, sat down in the chair, and enjoyed a nice cold Coke. My sock had been rubbing the top of the big toe on my left foot, so I also used this opportunity to put a bit of duct tape on my toe to help lessen the abrasion. I know it's stupid, but I often walk for hours with something bothering my feet because I don't like to stop and take my pack off.

Soon after my Coke break the trail started climbing up the south side of Killington. I was still laboring under some fantasy that I could get to the top before the rain and fog rolled in, and could then actually enjoy the views from the summit. Poor deluded hiker! Of course by the time I got to Cooper Lodge it was raining and the fog was rolling in thicker and thicker. From the lodge the summit can be reached via a 0.2 mile spur trail, but with no visibility it would have been a waste of time and effort, so I stopped at the lodge to eat some lunch and chat with another hiker that was there -- it was 2:00PM already -- and then I pushed on down the north side of Killington.

Okay, so now we come to confession time. I blue blazed this afternoon. There, I said it. I blue blazed. I am no longer pure. I am sullied; unclean. For those of you who have now lost all respect for me as a person and a hiker, feel free to throw brick bats, to unsubscribe from this blog, and to shun me forevermore.

The AT north of Killington used to slab the east side of Pico Peak, pass Pico Camp, and head north across land owned by the Pico Ski Resort until it crossed Rt 4 right at The Inn at Long Trail. But the AT is mandated to have a permanently protected right of way, and in order to procure that the AT was relocated a few years ago so that it slabbed the west side of Pico Peak, on land owned by the state, and then head north to cross Rt 4 0.8 miles west of The Inn at Long Trail. The old trail still exists, it just isn't the AT anymore. It is now called the SHerburne Pass Trail. Well, the Sherburne Pass Trail was going exactly where I wanted to go, so I took it. There. It's done. I am a blue blazer. Let's just hope blue blazing isn't a gateway drug. Next thing you know I could be yellow blazing, and I could be at Katahdin by the end of the week!

As the day progressed the rain of course became steadier and more intense. By the time I arrived at the Inn it was raining hard and I was soaked. I dripped all over the counter while registering for my room. They have a great hiker discount, but it is onmly available as a walk up. If you call ahead and reserve a room you have to pay full rate. It being Sunday it was very doubtful they would be full, and indeed I got the walk-up hiker discount rate. It is really nice to be inside and dry on a night like this. The weather is supposed to be dry tomorrow. I know I am a bit of a whiner, but wouldn't it be nice to string two, or three, or maybe even more, dry days together? It sure would be nice if the trail could dry out a bit and I could end a day with dry feet for a change.

I have two long days planned tomorrow and Tuesday, then a short day across the Connecticut River and into Hanover, New Hampshire on Wednesday. I hope I can get my backpack fixed in Hanover, before I head on into the White Mountains.

Good night from Sherburne Pass, Vermont!
--
"Home is where I hang my food bag"

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com