At long last, a short day! Hiked with Chris today and caught up with one another on how our respective hikes are going. Nice to slow down the pace for a change with so few miles to do. I arrived at the Hikers Welcome Hostel for a night indoors for the second night in a row and a crowd of thru-hiker friends to gather 'round the tv with to watch movies all night.
My first full day in my 13th state! All I can say is: "New Hampshire? Bring it." Hiked one last big day alongside Camel--perhaps my last 20-miler of the trail! Tired legs today after last night's late arrival, and the trail turned pretty dramatically more diificult with several rugged and steep ups and downs.
Hiked in tandem this morning with Camel, trying to catch up on the last few months of each other's hiking stories on the way into Hanover, NH for breakfast. We crossed over the Connecticut River into New Hampshire, nearly avoided a camera-dropping catastrophe, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Lou's with Footloose.
Some beautiful views from some low hills today, but I'm really just getting psyched up for New Hampshire! Took a nice nap in West Hartford on a bench near the White River after some Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Footloose and the Camera Crew. Today's definite highlight was a very unexpected late arrival by my old friend Camel, who I haven't seen since Atkins, VA several months ago.
Nice terrain, lots of PUDs. Not much more to say about that. Footloose and the Camera Crew and I popped in to the tiny "town" of South Pomfret to grab dinner, snacks, ice cream and beer at the general store. We had some great chatter over dinner across from the store before deciding to stealth camp on the porch of the Suicide Six ski area just up the street.
Aaaaaahhh. So nice to sleep in a bit, in a bed no less! I slept like an absolute rock and enjoyed a delicious brunch with Footloose, Mom and Dad, and the Bartzes. After all that, it only seemed fitting to take a very comfortable shorter day and to just cruise the entire way--I guess easing the miles coming out of town seems to be a good match for me.
Meeting my parents this evening, so time to make some more miles! Awesome to catch up with Lucky Star this afternoon before making the long climb up to Killington Peak. Also great to meet up with the Camera Crew again while we all ate lunch at Governor Clement Shelter--I haven't seen them since Damascus!
