Month: July 2021

Start: Thistle Hill Shelter (AT mi 1736.3). Stop: Hanover, New Hampshire (AT mi 1751). Today’s miles: 14.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 726.3 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont

I slept so good, once the eating noises were done and after the couple that showed up at 10pm quit shining their headlamps in my face.. haha.. tents do not block bright lights, and they had to set up their tent. Thankfully, once their lights were out, so were mine.

I didn’t get up when I planned to, I slept until a little after 7:30 lol—can’t guarantee good sleep, so when it comes, you take it! I packed up and forced myself to eat more for breakfast than I did yesterday. I had the Belvita breakfast cookies and a probar.. I was about ready to spit the last bite out because I was just so dang tired of chewing, but I got it down.

I hit the trail around 8:15 and it was another slow moving day.. albeit faster than yesterday, thank God. I had less ups and downs, so they were longer inclines and declines, but it seemed to be more manageable. I just kept telling myself to keep moving forward, get to town, and then you can rest. It was my mantra on repeat all day long.

I only took my pack off twice. Once to filter water and dig a hole 😉 and then again later to put my rain cover on my pack when it started to sprinkle some. I was *shockingly* begging the rain to come for a little while, simply because I was so sweaty and knew I’d be in a hotel bed tonight so who cares if it pours? It didn’t. The sprinkles lasted about 5 minutes after I put my pack back on. Whatever. And I skipped lunch. Well, my typical lunch anyway. I just ate another protein bar while I slowly chugged on. Get to town. Get to town.

The trail was beautiful, as always really.. and actually not very muddy (good thing it didn’t rain, I guess). I remember thinking this morning how it’s been a few days since I’ve seen a snake-and then this afternoon.. a quick slither to my right, a medium sized garter snake. He was way too fast for me to get my camera out, but it was the very first time I didn’t really react. Ok, that’s a lie. I yelled out a, “JESUS CHRIST” when I saw him, but I didn’t jump or get the cringe-y feeling I normally get. You know I must not be feeling myself at all! Lol

The last stretch of trail was on roads through a neighborhood to a town, then across a bridge and into downtown Hanover, New Hampshire. That road walk was so painful for some reason. I think I need to get some shoes with cushion, because it felt a lot like my feet were just going to snap off at my ankles. The ache with each step was unbelievable. But-I enjoyed the views! The houses were gorgeous-expanded farmhouses that when my nosy self looked on Zillow, all cost over a million-or two. Well, ok then Norwich, Vermont.

The bridge that took me into New Hampshire crossed over the Connecticut River. And then downtown Hanover is home to Dartmouth College. I’ll be damned if there wasn’t actual ivy on the brick walls of some of the student housing I passed while on the side walk. Ivy League indeed.

The town is very cute, my hotel is very nice. Once I checked in, I went ahead and asked the lady to reserve tomorrow night for me, too. I didn’t even want to see the room to know I wanted to stay tomorrow. I went to the top floor to my room, instant gratification. Yep, I’ll stay here again. Hell, I might move in and not leave. It’s got a big king size bed, a writing desk (which maybe I’ll use to do some mile planning), a couch.. ok, it’s incredible.. the only thing it lacks is an actual tub (Lauren, I bet you’re getting a kick out of me learning to love baths LMAO).. but the shower is spectacular! (I’m going to send a picture to Uncle Keith tomorrow, I want this shower pan haha)

I didn’t shower right away, because they don’t have laundry here.. so I knew I needed to do my running around town first-so I don’t have to put back on dirty clothes and go back out. I ordered some Thai food and sushi online from the place semi next door, then I walked over to CVS. I picked up my prescription, some probiotics (heaven help me if I get a damn yeast infection while hiking-I’ll take the diarrhea over that ANY DAY, but hopefully this will help solve both potential issues), a razor, some baby wipes, and Gatorade. You know.. essentials.

Once I checked out, I went and grabbed my food (neatly sitting on a table with my name on it ready to go.. talk about efficient), and headed back to the room. By this point my head was swimming and I was limping-but I knew I was so close to relaxing. SO. CLOSE.

I ate what I could of my food (I still have a ton of pad Thai left) and showered. Since then, I’ve just been hanging out in this big bed with my feet propped up on one of the 5 pillows. I’ve got my steroid cream on, antibiotics are in, and I’m all caught up with family and friends that have checked in on me. Sometime tomorrow I’ll figure out the bus situation to go get my laundry washed somewhere in a neighboring town.

I don’t think I’ll be double zeroing now when I get to Lincoln, New Hampshire. That was the plan originally because the car rental company wouldn’t rent the car unless it was rented for 2 days-something about preserving their fleet or whatever. But, now, since I’m zeroing tomorrow, but the hotel and rental car are already paid for in Lincoln, I have a new plan in place. I’ll get off trail in North Hampton, get shuttled to my hotel, get the car the next morning, and do that chunk I missed as a day hike-slack pack. Then, I’ll still have the whole next day to rest up and pick up Andrea from the airport. I think it’s going to work out just fine. Not to mention, my body needs tomorrow to rest up and hopefully start recovering some, whether I wanted to or not.

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling. It’s way past my bedtime! Sweet dreams, y’all. Thanks for following along and for checking in on me. Love y’all bunches 🙂

I slept hard and I was so grateful for it. I still woke up with a headache that has persisted the last several days, but it’s tolerable. I finally got out of bed sometime close to 10am and then called a restaurant across the street to place my breakfast order. I almost asked if I could tip one of them a $10 to walk it over here to me, this is a college town after all. I put on my rain gear (all my other clothes were in a smelly damp heap by the door waiting to be washed), and headed out of my comfy room.

I ran into TBird, TownLegs, DoubleDecker, Smiles, and TieDye at the elevator. They offered to take my laundry for me when they decide to go, but me being typical me and not knowing how to except help, I said I’d go too, just let me know when.

I walked across the street to the gas station, got some more Gatorade’s and water (sometimes tap water just doesn’t cut it, so a fresh bottle was called for lol), then went next door and got my food. I don’t know if I’m actually just really damn slow or if all these restaurants in this town are super efficient, but both times I’ve ordered food it’s been sitting waiting on me to get there. Better than the other way around for sure.

Back at the room, I practically collapsed on the couch. I don’t necessarily feel “bad” but the littlest of things makes me so tired. I ate my breakfast sandwich, which had egg, bacon, avocado on toasted bread with Sriracha Mayo on it. It was very good. Because I wasn’t sure I’d like that, I also got an Asiago bagel with chive cream cheese.. I liked that, too. And I was happy that I was so dang hungry after hardly eating the last few days. Like-if you thought I was kidding: I don’t have to resupply for this next stretch.. I still have enough food for 3-4 more days. Ha oops.

Anyway, I ate and then got a text from DoubleDecker saying they were going to do laundry and resupply soon. I met her, TieDye, and Smiles downstairs and the 4 of us headed to the bus stop up close to the campus square. This town is absolutely gorgeous. In another life, I’d have loved to come here for school. Anyway, Curmy and Derby were in town, too! TownLegs and TBird said they saw them walking in when they were at breakfast. I text them to see where they were at now, but they were already gone to resupply. Another tramily miss for me.

We took the bus for a 20 ish minute ride, and walked the half block to the laundromat. Once we got everything started, they were trying to decide their resupply strategy.. I said I’d wait with the clothes and put theirs in the dryers when it was time to switch, so they could all go resupply, since I didn’t need to. They headed out, I got the pleasure of staying and being treated to the attentions of a kid running around the place like a banshee. I’m sure that mom was like, “have kids they said..” hahaha

I switched our clothes into the dryers and played on my phone a bit. I was getting so tired I could barely hold my head up. I realized that there was an outfitter by the Walmart they were headed to, and was a little disappointed in myself for not having the energy to go. If I went I could find a hat to protect my face from the sun (because of this antibiotic), I could have tried on new shoes.. so many things. But I seriously just couldn’t muster the energy. I think that kid was stealing it all.

Once my clothes were dry (theirs still had 15 minutes and I had no way to tote their clothes back with me.. I should have made them leave their bag), I packed them into my tiny gas station plastic bag and text DoubleDecker where there’s were and that I was headed back. I just couldn’t sit there a second longer.

I made it to the bus stop, nodded off on the ride back, and then walked back to my room, dropped my stuff, and promptly fell asleep. In my rain gear. Lol lord help me. An hour or so later, I woke up hot, so I forced myself up and into some of my clean clothes, and laid back down. I started to watch some of the shows on Hulu on my phone, I ordered a pizza to be delivered, and then I nodded back off.

That’s how the rest of the day went. I laid in bed, half sleeping, half watching shows and responding to messages. Cholula and Lizard both made it into Hanover today, and this evening so did FarOut and Sauce. I’m so frustrated that I didn’t feel up to going to meet any of them anywhere, or even having them come here.. which they all offered to bring me anything I needed, but apparently all this body wanted was sleep. So, that’s what it got. I have a practically whole pizza that I’ll have to figure out what to do with in the morning.

I did eventually get up and shower again, and I’m already back in bed. My stuff is semi packed for tomorrow, but I’ll have some to do in the morning. I don’t know how far I’ll make it tomorrow. Im going to hike out of town, and just have plans A, B, and C depending on how I feel. There’s shelters at semi decent increments tomorrow, so the most I’d do is 13 something.. the one before that is 11 miles total, but I’d have to tote my water for 3 miles up a mountain.. which sucks. So, who really knows? It sounds like a decision for tomorrow either way. Lol

It’s not even 8pm and my eyes will barely stay open to finish typing this out. Y’all know what that means.. goodnight 🙂

Ps: sorry for the lack of pictures, I should have been having a field day photographing this town.. the amount of pictures I have is a true reflection of how I’m feeling that day.. lol I’ve always been that way!

Start: Hanover, New Hampshire (AT mi 1751). Stop: Moose Mountain Shelter (AT mi 1761.9). Today’s miles: 10.9 miles. Total AT mileage: 737.2 miles

I had very busy dreams all night, although I couldn’t tell you anything about them, except the feeling busy part. They weren’t nightmares, every time I’d suddenly wake, it would be with a smile on my face.. but they definitely left me feeling tired.

I snoozed until 9am. That bed, busy dreams or not, was too comfortable to get out of. When I finally did, the headache was still there, lingering in the background, but slightly more dull than it had been. Maybe things are starting to look up! I packed and got ready to leave with surprising quickness, literally all packed by 9:23. But I took my time eating my cold pizza, plopped another 3 pieces on top of my food bag, with a container of ranch.. hoping my way of packing it would keep it intact throughout the day.

I left the hotel at 10am and the trail was literally one street over. That made life easy. The first bit of the morning was a road walk through that gorgeous college town, and then the trail turned back into actual trail right behind the baseball field. Pretty neat, really. I got winded a few times on minor hills.. but I didn’t let it get me down. I knew today would feel tough regardless of the terrain, and any miles made today would get me closer to where I need to be. My body would have probably liked another day of rest, but knowing I’ll have another zero in a few short days, along with 3 nights in a hotel helped motivate me to head out this morning.

I took my time and actually enjoyed my hike today. I wasn’t nearly as slow as I had been the few days prior to getting to Hanover, and I smiled to myself at one point thinking that I’m actually starting to feel.. dare I say it.. good. I mean, my joints-especially my hips and knees still ached all day, but my ankles didn’t feel like they were going to snap off and my hips only really started hurting after I loaded my pack with 3 liters of water for a climb up a mountain to camp.

I did take a fall to my butt sometime before noon. The trail is wet and slippery thanks to all the recent rain. I thought it was going to pour down today, per the weather app.. but it just stayed cloudy and threatening all day. I was still sweat soaked of course, but with the sun hiding behind the clouds, I was never worried about my skin exposure because of the antibiotics I’m on. So, honestly, I was grateful. The bugs were a little annoying, but not as bad as they had been, or maybe I’m just in a happier mood that I’m hiking and not laid out in a bed feeling awful that I didn’t care as much about the bugs. Who knows?

I ate some pizza at a creek crossing sometime around 1:30, and I honestly wasn’t hungry for it, but knew I needed to eat to have the energy for my last uphill. It was over 900ft of elevation gain over a mile and half, which is like a daily thing really, but knowing how I’ve been feeling I knew I’d better be cautious. Plus, toting the extra water up that incline just makes it more challenging.

I was mostly in the woods, covered with moss and pine needles. One shelter I passed was named “Velvet Rocks Shelter” and that’s exactly what all this moss covered forest looks like. Thick emerald green crushed velvet. I may end up having to crochet something with green velvet when this is done lol (man, I am so weird). When I wasn’t in lush forest, I was walking through overgrown fields. Part of me started to get anxious about ticks in this overgrown grass, but then I remembered these antibiotics will keep me safe from any new ticks for now-so this is the best time to get exposed to them.

I made it to the top of Moose Mountain (South) and then down to the shelter before 4:30. It felt weird being at camp so early! Jola is a NOBO that was in the shelter when I came around. He knew my name and said Lizard had came through and mentioned I’d be coming. She had pushed on ahead of course, being that she got here to early (according to Jola lol). I really wish I had it in me to chase that girl down so we could camp together tonight. But as good as I feel, I’m also spent.

I set my tent up in a nice flat spot, and hung my wet clothes out to dry some. If it rains over night then they’ll be just as wet as they were when I took them off, but maybe smell a little less sweaty. Lol it’s only a 10% chance of rain overnight, but we all know how that goes. After setting everything up, washing my legs down, and changing clothes, I headed back to the shelter and chatted with Jola awhile. He’s so close to finishing his hike that he says he’s slowing down his mileage because he’s not ready for it to end. It’s funny that in the beginning it felt like 200 miles took FOREVER to reach, and now hundreds of miles just seem to slip by without realizing it.

I ate the rest of my pizza and drank an electrolyte drink. A couple solo people showed up throughout the hour, one set up a tent so far away I can’t see her, one set up his hammock on the other side of the shelter. I went to use the privy, a funky one that has a roof but no sides. When I came back I decided I just couldn’t socialize anymore. I said my goodnights and came to get into my tent.

My water is filtered for tomorrow and I’m laying in my tent completely content and ready for bed. I know I should wait to see if I need to pee again, but I’ll just have to get up later and handle that when the time comes. I’m going to try to see if I can push some decent miles tomorrow to stay on track to meet Andrea on time, but if I need to cut it short there’s a couple places I can do so at-although my app has them sounding very unappealing. Hopefully I wake up feeling that much better than today and can knock it out without issue. I’m going to attempt to get up earlier than I have been since I’m going to bed so early tonight.

We’ll see. I might be snoozing that watch alarm when it goes off. Haha— sweet dreams 🙂