AT Days 52-55: First Miles in New Hampshire – The Trek

After an exquisite stretch of AT trekking in Vermont, I’d cross into my “residence climbing state” of New Hampshire.  Nevertheless, I had by no means hiked any of the upcoming path miles between the Vermont border and the western fringe of Mount Moosilauke.  These first miles in New Hampshire would show to be each attention-grabbing and difficult.  Right here’s the each day abstract:

Day 52 – Thistle Hill Shelter, VT to Velvet Rocks Shelter, NH (16 miles)

Day 53 – Velvet Rocks Shelter, NH to Trapper John Shelter, NH (15 miles)

Day 54 – Trapper John Shelter, NH to Hexacuba Shelter, NH (12 miles)

Day 55 – Hexacuba Shelter, NH to Jeffers Brook Shelter (16 miles)

Heading into the valley – and a “Zoinks” second!

Thistle Hill Shelter sits on a beautiful ridge overlooking the Connecticut River Valley.  Hanging my hammock within the tenting space above the shelter offered me a entrance row seat for a yellow-orange morning dawn on Day 52:

I needed to get into Hanover, NH as rapidly as doable that day because the city library would solely be open till 5 o’clock.  There have been fourteen miles to cowl within the interim, principally downhill.  The early morning began with a variety of pasture crossings providing nice valley views:

A fellow flip-flop hiker named Shaggy had additionally spent the night time at Thistle Hill Shelter, and I’d catch as much as him simply outdoors of the small city of West Hartford, Vermont.  Final night time I’d learn in regards to the city within the FarOut app, and it painted an image of a once-bustling stopover that had closed up a bit lately.  As we exchanged a couple of phrases about the previous few miles, I absently stated “So I suppose we’re about to move by a ghost city, right here, huh?”  Shaggy’s eyes obtained huge, his jaw dropped and he repeated “ghost city?” again to me.

It wasn’t till a half-mile later that I spotted the hilarious irony of what I’d simply executed.  I’d performed the cartoon position of Freddie by telling a companion named Shaggy that we have been about to undergo a ghost city!  I beginning laughing out loud recalling Shaggy’s wide-eyed response to my assertion.  Actually the one factor lacking from the entire sequence was the “G-g-g-g” that might go earlier than “ghost”, and a shivering Scooby Doo leaping into Shaggy’s arms!  The entire idea right here is simply hilarious to consider!

City time

Finally the path emerged from the woods onto an asphalt highway outdoors of picturesque Norwich, VT.  What a pleasant little Vermont village!

The following a number of miles required a two mile roadside stroll throughout the Connecticut River straight into the middle of Hanover, NH.

The quaint residence of Dartmouth School was abuzz with individuals all over the place, as commencement ceremonies have been to be held the subsequent day.  I positively felt a bit misplaced toting my climbing gear and path aroma by the sidewalks of the crowded little city.

As luck would have it, Hanover’s library is situated proper subsequent to Ramunto’s Pizza, which affords thru-hikers a free slice.  In addition they have a positive choice of craft beers on draft. I took full benefit of each after ending up a weblog submit subsequent door.

For the report, my beer choices that day have been Fiddlehead IPA, Industrial Arts Wrench NEIPA, and a scrumptious Cloud Drop IPA from Vermont’s Higher Move Brewing.  All paired properly with three slices of pizza.  Gotta hold packing on these further energy!  After a resupply on the Hanover Co-Op Market, I’d head to a shelter nearly a mile out of city.

Going over Moose Mountain and Holt’s Ledge

Day 53 concerned a few small climbs:  Moose Mountain and Holt’s Ledge.  I’d encounter a variety of day hikers making the most of a sunny Sunday.  The Most Memorable Second (MMM) of the day was this unimaginable view from Moose’s South Peak:

I want I may communicate as glowingly about Holt’s Ledge, however that late day climb was an actual grind:

• A swampy space on the base had among the most vicious bugs I’d seen since Mosquito Alley, MA.  On went the bug-net headgear!
• The ascent was brutally steep at instances on an more and more heat afternoon.
• A number of instances I reached places that I assumed have been the excessive level of the climb, solely to search out out they have been false summits.

The bugginess of my Holt’s Ledge hike brings up reminiscences of one other buggy “Ledge” climb.  Again once I was possibly eleven or so, my entire household launched into a brief day hike to a spot referred to as Corridor’s Ledge close to Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire on an early June day.  We introduced alongside our bug spray however actually miscalculated how vicious the black flies can be on that path that day.  Because it ended up, we by no means even took our lunches out of our packs — as a substitute fleeing downhill to the automobile to flee the little nasties.  “Corridor’s Ledge” grew to become the intense level for our household’s barometer on simply how buggy a sure place was.  So assume twice subsequent time you’re planning to climb some “Hxxxx Ledge” – the bugs could drive you loopy!

Smarts Mountain / Mount Dice

I’ll let you know, I actually must applaud the advertising and marketing genius of the fourth-largest self-storage firm in the USA.  You possibly can yearly pay tons and tons of cash on TV commercials, billboards, or the aspect of a NASCAR automobile to get your organization identify seen.  However for CubeSmart to have a few side-by-side New Hampshire mountains donning their company identify, properly that’s simply plain genius!

However significantly — I discovered these two peaks to be stunning and really difficult.  In ascending them, I felt I’d lastly reached the White Mountains as I’d face a tricky “rocks and roots climb” — the kind of climb I’d cherished since I used to be a child.  The quantity of ledge, each quartzite and granite on these two peaks is unimaginable, and a hiker is requested to scale many sections of it, each up and down.  However the view rewards are improbable, and properly well worth the effort:

The fireplace tower view from 3200 foot Smarts Mountain was merely astounding – the clear MMM from Day 54!

I’d wrap up the day by staying on the distinctive Hexacuba Shelter, a splendidly quiet spot on a ridge of Mount Dice.  What number of six-sided shelter buildings have you ever ever seen?  How a few five-sided “Penta Privy”?  Hexacuba has them each!  I additionally came upon firsthand that they generally have a really giant napping black bear within the afternoon.

Shortly after I arrived at about 4pm, I walked in the direction of the tent websites and heard a crash as the massive head and shoulders of a bear emerged above me and took off up the mountain!  I’d not see or hear him after that, but it surely did set an uneasy tone for my solo go to to an in any other case peaceable location.

On in the direction of Mount Moosilauke

I had some climbing to do on exiting the shelter, as much as the summit of Mount Dice.  Once more, views have been ample to the west and south of the height.  However what I actually desired was to see Moosilauke and the remainder of the White Mountains.  Thankfully, a 0.3 mile aspect journey to Mount Dice’s North Peak offered me that view, the MMM of Day 55!  I do know that many thru-hikers received’t take the additional time or miles to observe a aspect path, however I’ve executed it on many events up to now.  And the rewards (such because the superior view under) are sometimes significant:

I used to be thrilled to get a transparent view of the 4800+ MOUNTAIN that I’d be scaling tomorrow!  I regard lots of the New Hampshire 4000 foot mountains with a little bit of reverence and awe, recalling their magnificence and majesty on brilliant sunny days in addition to their ferociousness in unhealthy climate.  The forecast fairly good for this journey, so I eagerly anticipated the climb.  I completed out the rest of that day’s 16 miles of climbing attempting to quell my anticipation.

The actual White Mountain part of my AT hike was about to start, and I couldn’t be happier!

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