(start 9:45 finish 1:30. Hanover. Dartmouth College. 10.5 miles)
I left Paul's house at 8. Then ate breakfast at the general store in town. I wound up sitting with beer hunter and timber for a while. They were older guys hiking together. Timber was from Britian and he helped me come up with the idea of doing a bicycle tour of Europe next summer.
Today I did NOT want to hike. I was thinking about hitch hiking from that general store to Hanover. I thought about trying to catch a bus. My body or maybe my mind didn't wanna hike the 10 miles to Hanover (a city that AT goes directly though. Dartmouth College. And where I have to pick up my mail drop of my goretex gear) But I finally convinced myself that I needed to burn off the calories from the big breakfast and from my over eating gorge from last night's party, so I set off. I started feeling great and it wound up being a great day, felt strong. I met some cool people on the trail that fired me up- two south bounders that were friendly and positive, a father that was mountain biking and his daughter running behind that were talkative and friendly and finally a group of four youngins on their first day out of their goal of hiking all of the AT in Vermont.
I bought the AWOL guide from an outfitter in town. This book shows the elevation change much better than the book i have. I had it before but I gave it to that dude. And now I'm eating lunch at a salad buffet. I think I've felt weak because I haven't been eating much vegetables. So I loaded up on good food- spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, beans, blueberries, strawberries, chicken, turkey, olives, squash, zucchini.
I spent time on the computer today at the Dartmouth Outing Club uploading photos and videos and now I'm tenting in the woods behind their soccer fields. I have to go back into town tomorrow morning to go to the post office.
7/11
(start 10:30 finish 8:00 @ trapper John shelter. 16.3 miles)
Today was a lot of ups and downs. Tough miles. The only thing that really hurts are my feet. It's sucks. They're holding me back. Today was also the first time the heat was a big factor. It was pretty hot. I sweat a lot and had to carry and drink a lot of water.
The Whites are coming (White Mountain Range). Very big mountains. Very big elevation changes.
Someone asked me tonight who I've been hiking with and since it's such a short post I'm going to attempt to remember who I've hiked with and got to know a lil: coyote, puddle duck, nochello, llama legs, Christian, the fixer, the newly weds, Nero, shoefly, over the top, battle cat, dream walker, sky pilot, white wolf, Charlie, inch worm, sprocket, pipe, night train, timber, beer hunter, Billy goat, Beth, good foot.
7/12
(start 10:00 finish 10:20. Rumbler's Rest campsite. 1.1 miles)
I woke up to this dude talking loud to another hiker asking him if he wanted to slack pack. So I got up and talked to the dude. He's trying to start a campsite business nearby so he's recruiting hikers to stay at his place and he's also offering slack packing. Slack packing is hiking with a light pack. So this dude would take our extra gear to his campsite (you only take the gear you'd need for one day). We would walk about 16 miles and he would pick us and take us to his campsite. YOU KNOW I LIKE SLACK PACK!!!! my feet are hurting so I decided to do it.
So we had to walk 1.1 miles from the shelter to the road where this dude was parked. When we got there, he tied us up, f•cked us and robbed us. Calm down do-do. (jk. Another movie quote)
Then I took the slacking further. I've decided to take the day off. I'm starting to lose weight, feeling stronger, my fitness has improved a lot. I don't want to get a little stupid injury to set me back. Life's not a track meet, it's a marathon. I wanna be healthy for Maine and for when I get home to continue working out.
7/13
(start 10:30 finish 7:20. Beaver brook shelter. 18.8 miles)
I felt very strong after my Nero. I walked the first 10 miles in about 4 hours. I was going to stop at that point at the Hikers Welcome hostel but I felt very good and the weather was suppose to be good. It was another 8 miles to the shelter I was hoping to reach which was after a 3800 foot elevation gain to summit Mt Moosilauke. That was the biggest elevation gain so far this trip, maybe I've done, not sure how big it was when I almost summitted Mt Elbert. AND the weather was not good. It rained and there was a thunderstorm cluster behind me, so I was walking fast and running off the bare (above tree line) summit. That was only the second time in my life that ive been above treeline. It was cool. Its going to happen a lot more very soon while summiting these mountains in the Whites.
It's funny how psychology affects your perceived effort. I knew it was going to be a big climb so I prepared myself mentally for it, and it seemed rather easy. However when I have to do an unexpected 500 feet up, that seems very hard.
There was a crazy dude at the shelter that got in late. He was nuts!!! I didn't realize he was nuts and I was trying to be nice and talk to him. Big mistake. I wish I could have recorded what he was saying. Somehow we got to talking about sex and he said he learned from horses- sniffing around, following and then... Then later he was talking about war. He said if you enter war, you have to go all the way, concentration camps and genocide your enemy. Then he began his ramble across all things- religion, Indians, fighting styles, weapons, space travel, over population, right vs wrong, democracy, equality. He would just say random things like 'back in the day i bet everyone had their own fighting style. And they knew it. And it was good.'
I was really afraid to sleep in the same shelter with him. I bought a little book on the brain in Hanover that I've been reading out here and the last section I read was on psychopaths and how when Bundy was 4, his aunt woke up to him standing over her smiling with all the kitchen knives placed around her. That kept coming into my mind about this guy... He was about 25. I think he was slightly retarded or some type of mental problems, homeless and penniless.
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