Stream 1731.4 to Norwich, VT 1750.6 (19.2 miles, 725.2 total miles)
Last night was definitely interesting. I woke up in the middle of the night to hear a pack of what sounded like coyotes howling and yipping in the distance, which was a little freaky.
I made myself get up at 5:30, and put on my clothes that were still damp from the day before. They were also cold, so I put my rain jacket on as well. I’d just started carrying it instead of my umbrella for that purpose, and it had been a good move.
I packed up and had cold oats, coffee, and a packet of breakfast essentials instead of a warm breakfast like I’d had the day before. It wasn’t as tasty, but got the job done, and I headed out to hike at 7AM, wanting to get a good start on a long day.
The first half of the day was full of lots of annoying ups and downs that were quite steep. There was a lot of hiking through brush and fields as well, which always sketches me out about ticks. I also walked through what felt like hundreds of cobwebs, and my shoes and socks were soaked in no time from morning dew on the grass.
A few miles into the day, I stopped at a view, and while I was sitting on a conveniently placed bench enjoying some cell service, Shrek caught up and stopped as well. It was turning into a sunny, warm day, but the humidity was not too bad.
The ups and downs continued, but I was making good time, and arrived at the spur trail to Thistle Hill Shelter 6 miles in at quarter till 10. I used the little gazebo privy I’d heard about, which was very unique, and took a 20 minute break. I’d been famished all morning, and kept eating protein bars out of my fanny pack.
For the next couple miles the trail made a downward trend toward another view, but with several much smaller ups and downs in between. I was really looking forward to lunch, where we’d agreed to meet in West Hartford at a trail angel’s house/barn right on the AT.
I had done a good job of pushing myself to hike harder. I wanted to become a faster and stronger hiker, and knew when I was hiking by myself I often didn’t push myself pace-wise. I’d noticed taking long breaks over the past day or two had really helped me sustain a faster pace.
The gnats had begun to pick up, and there was another field to hike through, so I put my sunglasses on. I had listened to podcasts all morning, knowing I’d be charging in town, but switched to music to give myself some energy.
I popped off the trail into a little road walk in West Hartford a couple minutes after noon, and crossed the bridge over White River. I saw locals fishing and swimming off little beaches below. Across the road, I stopped at the house with a blue barn that had an AT symbol on it.
The house belonged to Linda and Randy Hart. When I arrived, Linda called out to me on her porch, and showed me where the sodas, fruit, and hiker log were. She had an unofficial hostel as well that she hosted hikers at, and the nicest porta-potty I’d ever been in. It had three rolls of toilet paper, a real mirror, shelves, and was very clean.
I talked with Linda for a bit, about the trail and my family, since I used to come up to visit family in VT during the summers. Shrek arrived an hour after me, having taken an hour break where I saw her last, talking with her boyfriend on the phone.
Linda had to run an errand shortly after we arrived, but told us to stay as long as we wanted. We had some lunch, and Shrek contemplated if she wanted to jump off the bridge or not.
To clarify, Linda said everyone jumped off the bridge in town as kids, and many hikers often did as well. The rest of the Cult had come through on a rainy day we thought, but there were lots of comments about it in Far Out, with mostly encouraging tones to do it. Though there were a couple fear mongers as well.
I wasn’t going to do it, since it was almost 2:00 by then, but walked over to the bridge with Shrek, where we found markers that showed the safe place to jump. The water looked deep, and though Shrek is a very sporty, athletic person, she weighed the pros and cons of jumping while holding onto the railing, looking into the water.
She decided to go for it, and I got a good video of her jumping off into the water. I am no judge of heights, but I would say it was maybe 30 feet high or so. I was very impressed she’d done it, and happy to live vicariously through her jump. I rushed down a little path off the road to meet Shrek at the beach she swam to across the river after jumping.
She was exhilarated, and said she’d have done it again if we had time. Wringing water out of her braids, she walked with me back to the house, and laid out in the bright sun to dry off.
I packed up my stuff, put my shoes and socks back on, and hiked out just before 2:30. I had taken a two and a half hour lunch break on a 19 mile day, and was very happy with that. I’d gotten up early enough and hiked fast enough to afford it, and neither of us minded getting into camp late.
I found myself hiking very strong and fast up the 3 mile, 1400 foot ascent, after a bit of road walking through town. It was nicely graded, and I pushed myself to hike harder, as I’d done before. I made it to the spur trail at Happy Hill Shelter after 1.5 hours, 4 miles in, and ate some snacks and drank Propel.
There was an absolute cloud of gnats around my face, so I used my bandana to fan them away, and applied more bug spray. After that was a few miles of very easy ridge walking. I saw three nice day hikers as I was breaking at a power line, and talked with them for a few, surprised to see anyone else on trail besides Shrek for the first time all day.
There was a mile long road walk on Elm Street getting into town, and it was a bit of a steep descent at first. There were gorgeous houses all around, and friendly people who waved as they drove by in their cars.
I had a moment of pure bliss while I walked down the road. The sky was beautiful and cloudy, and I felt good on trail for the first time in what felt like a while. It was one of the moments that make hiking the Appalachian Trail so worth the bugs, rocks, roots, and mental and physical exertion.
As I walked down the road listening to Raury’s “God’s Whisper”, I felt so proud of myself for being on the trail, for feeling like I was in exactly the right place at the right time. I just get so used to being in the woods, that sometimes it randomly hits me where I am and why, and I feel so fulfilled.
Shrek texted me she had just gotten to the road as well. At the end of Elm Street, I turned left, away from the AT, and walked to Dan and Whit’s General Store, which Linda had told me about. Sometimes they had day old sandwiches that hikers could get for free.
I asked the man at the deli and, though there weren’t any day olds, he marked off two sandwiches almost half price for us, and added veggies to them. Outside, we ate our sandwiches for dinner sitting on benches, and decided to just stay at the park in town.
We were in Norwich, VT, a 1.5 mile road walk before Hanover. It was 7:30 or so when we headed over to the park, where there was a gazebo we could set up in, and hit NH in the morning. We were going to hang out in town and resupply, then hike 11 miles out to a shelter.
We got set up under the gazebo, where I put up my tent without the fly, and Shrek cowboy camped near me. We stayed up way too late talking till 11:30, then turned in.
I was feeling very excited to get to New Hampshire, and had enjoyed hiking with Shrek the last couple days. I didn’t know how much longer we’d hike together based on pace, but was very glad for the opportunity at the moment, and knew I’d made a friend for life.