Vermont to New Hampshire

I'm running out of clever titles to put on these blog entries again. Suggestions welcome.

The northern part of Vermont doesn't follow a continuous ridge, but instead passes over a series of short but steep hills west to east. After splitting off from the Long Trail, the Appalachian Trail improves noticeably. It's nice to leave the mud, slippery rocks, and roots that have defined hiking in Vermont for me behind.

Crossing into New Hampshire means that the tough job of hiking through the White Mountains is fast approaching. I've hiked in New Hampshire most of my adult life and have walked all these sections at one time or another. I know what to expect, but I'm not underestimating what it's going to take to hike them all again as a through hiker day after day.

7/4 Cooper Lodge Shelter to Killington, VT - 9.7 miles

I woke up early to a very chilling morning at the top of Mount Killington. I warmed myself up with a cup of coffee then headed down the mountain with warm hat, gloves, and the rain shell on for warmth. The mountain was socked in a little, so I had the rain cover on the pack as well to keep everything dry.

After yesterday's rain, the trail was in bad shape. There was lots of mud, standing water, slippery rocks, and slippery roots. It took quite a while to make my way down. Luckily it's a short day today.

After crossing US Route 4, the trail seemed to dry out considerably. Maybe this area didn't get the downpour I had on the mountain yesterday. It was still somewhat slow going, but I managed to meet up with Steve and Angelika just a half hour later than I planned. 

Along the way I passed the junction where the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail split. I won't meet any Long Trail hikers from here on out.

We headed back to the campground, relaxed for a bit, then went out for wood fired pizza dinner. I ate mass quantities. After living on camp food for the last four days, I was feeling a little depleted.  

7/5 Killington, VT to The Lookout

It's chilly starting out this morning, but we're expecting it to get hot later in the day so we want to get an early start. Steve is still nursing his bad back, so he's going to drive me to the trailhead and hike in for a mile or so to see how it goes, and then drive to the pickup point and do the same.

The trail starts out going around Kent Pond. There's a bridge over a nice little cascade to start the day off. 

Further on, we pass by the much bigger Thunder Falls. It's early on Saturday, but there's already a bunch of day hikers at the trailhead on their way here. It's a short hike to a nice scenic spot, so understandably popular. While I'm here a mother arrives with her young son. His eyes are wide and he asks his Mom, "What's that?!". It's fun to see things through young eyes when everything is new and exciting. 

There are a number of climbs to reckon with today. The first is Quimby Mountain which has three bumps along it's summit. Each of those bumps rises and falls a few hundred feet. Some of the climbs are steep, as this ladder on the trail attests to.

Then we climb another ridge to a shelter known as "The Lookout". It's a private cabin that's open to hikers with a platform on the roof that gives you excellent views north and south.

The original plan was to spend the night here before Steve got hurt, but today I'm hiking a little further to meet Steve at the road crossing a little over a mile from here at Green Gate Road. 

Steve hiked in a bit and then went back to his truck where he's waiting for me when I get out. We stop at the grocery store in Woodstock to get food for dinner and head back to the campsite. 

7/6 The Lookout to West Hartford, VT - 15.1 miles

The morning started out cool, but we're expecting temperatures in the 90s today with high humidity. The changes in temperature from cold to hot and back to cold is hard to keep up with.

A look at the elevation chart of today's section looks like a sawtooth pattern. There are lots of short ups and downs which can be more exhausting than just one steady up. 

Steve shuttles me back to the trailhead in the morning. He's still nursing his back injury, so he decides to hike in to check out the view at The Lookout. I keep heading north and will meet back up with him where the trail crosses at Joe Ranger Road near West Hartford.

At the trail junction I meet through hiker Crockodile who I haven't seen since New York. We exchange pleasantries and agree it's good to see we're both still on the trail. I expect to see him again before we're finished with the trail.

As the day goes on the temperature keeps rising. I convert my pants into shorts and take off my gaiters within the first few miles to try and stay cooler. There are at least a half dozen short climbs along the way made more difficult by the heat. It's cooler in the forest under the canopy, but today the trail passes through several meadows that expose me to the hot sun. There's lots of milkweed in these meadows and the butterflies are taking advantage of it. Here's a view coming out of the woods just before crossing VT Route 12.

And here's another view just after crossing the road to South Pomfret.

The day goes by pretty quickly and I meet Steve a little over a mile from the trailhead. We walk out together passing through a couple of meadows just before the end of the day. 

While he was waiting for me, Steve got us barbeque for dinner which we took back to the campground and enjoyed with Angelika. 

7/7 West Hartford, VT to Hanover, NH - 13.3 miles

The weather man is promising another hot day, so Steve and I set out for the trailhead early. It's Steve's last day so we made it a little short to have time to wrap up at the campground for a quick getaway tomorrow.

Steve heads north with me from Joe Ranger road planning on doing a couple of miles in and then turning around. His back is feeling better, but he's not going to push it too far too fast. I move ahead at my own pace. The trail is still smooth here with good footing so nice to walk on. There are short ups and downs, but nothing major as it heads towards Hanover.

On the way I pass the Japanese through hiker I met in Pennsylvania at the Eckville Shelter. I haven't seen him in weeks, but we have probably been walking within a day of each other all this time. It's good to know he's still on the trail and making his way forward.

When I get to Norwich, Steve is waiting for me where the trail meets the road. He's already hiked in and out from that end a couple of miles. He's got a camp chair set up and brings me a cold Coke to have with my lunch. I can get used to this kind of service. There's still 2.5 miles to go from here to get over the NH border into Hanover, but it's all on roads so it goes pretty quick. The only problem with road walking is it's hard on your feet and it makes the already hot day extra hot.

After a little over a mile I'm crossing over the Connecticut River and into New Hampshire.

It feels good to be back in my old stomping grounds again. Now the real hiking begins as I make my way towards the White Mountains.

I meet Steve in Hanover and we head back to the campground. Angelika's brother Bruce is stopping by to visit, so we make plans to all have dinner together in Claremont.

Steve is heading out early in the morning and then our friend Bruce is joining us at the next campground tomorrow afternoon to hike with me for a few days.  

7/8 Hanover, NH to Lyme, NH - 17.6 miles

We all got up early. Steve said his goodbyes and headed back for home. We packed up the van and headed back to Hanover to resume where I left off.

There was a lot of walking through town to start. Hanover is home to Dartmouth University so much of the town is dedicated to that. The trail goes through downtown then skirts the edge of the college athletic fields before heading back into the woods.

The main mission for today is to climb Moose Mountain. Angelika, Guido, our friend Tim, and I all stayed at the shelter here in 2010.

At the south summit I met up with some other through hikers I haven't seen in a while. Hangman and the Wizard of Ghee I haven't seen since New York. There's a young woman hiking with Hangman that I haven't been introduced to before. Her name is Bacon Shovel. This is not a name I would think a young woman would appreciate, but she seems to have accepted it. 

There's a nice view from the south peak of the mountain, so I stop for lunch here with the other through hikers.

There's a quick down and up to get past the shelter, then up to the north summit, then a long descent down the mountain.

The next challenge is a steep climb up Holts Ledge. At the top the trail skirts the edge of the ledge which has great views, but there's a really steep drop at the edge. This is not for hikers afraid of heights.

All that's left now is the descent and to meet Angelika at the trailhead. Our friend Bruce is waiting for us at the campground. He'll be hiking with me for the next three days ending with Mount Moosilauke. This is the beginning of the White Mountains. It's been a long time coming, but we're finally getting here. 

7/9 Lyme, NH to Wentworth, NH - 16.0 miles

The weather is getting a little cooler, so we're looking forward to some more comfortable temperatures for two big climbs today. We take the van to the trailhead and Angelika joins Bruce and I on the trail for the first couple of miles. Along the way there's a stone milepost which is the first of it's kind that I've seen on the trail.

The mileage is a bit off (the actual book mileage here is 1774.3 to Springer Mountain and 424.8 to Katahdin. We're making good progress regardless.

After we reach Lyme-Dorchester Road the trail starts to ascend more sharply and Angelika decides to turn back. At this point we're on our way up Smarts Mountain. It's more than 2,000 feet of climbing over 3.7 miles from the road to the summit. Some of it is steep and it's the first real NH mountain climb I've had since starting this trip. At the summit is a fire tower with great 360 views of the surrounding area.

The descent from Smarts Mountain is more gentle than the climb which is a pleasant surprise. 

At South Jacobs Brook our second climb of the day starts up Mount Cube. We stop for lunch at a good sitting on rock before continuing on. We pass by Eastman Ledges then continue the steep ascent to the south peak. From the summit we have a nice view of Mount Smart where we just came from.

There's a group of boys from a local summer camp at the top when we arrive. They're very interested in our Appalachian Trail through hike. They have a lot of questions and they're thinking about how it compares to the hike they just did to the top of the mountain. It was a fun conversation.

Now it's just a matter of hiking the remaining 3.3 miles down to the trailhead to meet Angelika. We come out more or less on schedule. It's been a long day and Bruce has been keeping a great pace for his first day out on a long section.

7/10 Wentworth, NH to Glencliff, NH - 9.7 miles

The weather is overcast this morning. There's some light rain starting to fall as we're driving to the trailhead. We get the pack covers on and head out as the rain starts falling more heavily.

The trail today is short and terrain not too challenging which is good given the long day we had yesterday and the climb up Moosilauke tomorrow.

Bruce and I made good time and met nobody on the trail today. The only point of interest was reaching the summit of Mist Mountain with a sign to mark the summit.

We got back to the campground early and went out to a big midday meal in Woodstock then back to the campground to relax by the campfire.