Hanover, NH to Pinkham Notch, NH

Late Summer 2005 Trip

Day 1, Saturday, September 3

Hanover, NH to Shelter, 1.5 miles

Now that my section-hikes are further north on the AT, my “spring” and “fall” trips are getting closer together in time. My spring trip through Vermont was later than normal…really early summer as I was trying to avoid mud and black fly seasons in Vermont. Now I want to avoid colder weather to the north, especially through the White Mountains, and not have to carry heavier winter gear. So, I have intentionally moved my “fall” trip closer to late summer. So here I am on Labor Day weekend starting my next trek north.

I’ve spent the summer running almost every day trying to keep the trail shape I earned earlier this year. The June/July hike was during a hot spell in New England, and was really challenging, considering the fact that I hadn’t done much to get in shape for that hike, and ended up blistering my feet. The summer hike was also the buggiest of all my trips. The mosquitoes and deer flies were bothersome. I hope that Labor Day isn’t too early to start hiking again.

So at 4:30 AM on a holiday weekend, when a normal person would still be sleeping, resting from a grueling summer schedule, I roll out of bed and head for the shower. I’ve got a plane to catch this morning for Boston. From there it’s a three hour plus bus ride to Hanover, NH where I stopped hiking in July. I spent last night packing my gear and making the last preparations. I’m ready to go by 5:10 AM.

The drive to the airport is uneventful. I’ve packed my backpack in a duffle bag this trip, hoping that will help it flow through baggage check. I can’t afford for it to not show up on this trip. I don’t have a lot of contingency time built into my schedule to wait around the airport waiting for it to show up.

My flight is substantially less than full. In fact, both the airport in Charlotte and in Boston seem to have slept in this morning. My flight is on time, and my pack shows up in Boston. I make my way to the bus stop, and the bus shows up on time. The bus travels to Boston’s South Station where I buy my ticket to Hanover and a return ticket from Gorham and get back on the bus. We pull out on time. Good start.

Traffic is heavy on the Interstate headed north out of Boston. We get caught in a couple of slowdowns which add about thirty minutes to the bus ride, but it’s a beautiful afternoon and altogether relaxing trip. By 2:40 PM we’re pulling into Hanover and the Dartmouth campus.

I take my pack out of the duffel bag and mail the bag to Gorham for the return trip and make a beeline for the Subway for a quick bite of lunch. I then head over to the sporting goods store for a fuel canister. That’s when things begin to derail. I can’t find an iso-butane fuel canister in all of Hanover. I hike down to the Dartmouth Co-op hoping they may have one, but no luck. They are kind enough to phone me a taxi to take me over to Eastern Mountain Sports store in Lebanon, a few miles away.

I grab my pack and wait outside in the warm afternoon for the taxi. It pulls up thirty minutes later. They didn’t count on me needing a return trip from Lebanon to Hanover however, so it takes several stops and passenger pickups to get me to EMS and back to Hanover. But I am able to find a canister and some gloves at EMS and get back to the trail shortly after 5 PM.

I had only planned to go a short distance this evening anyway and I’m at the shelter by 5:45 PM. I pass a couple of runners on my way up to the shelter, but no other hikers. The shelter is vacant when I arrive and I spend my first night back on the trail alone at Velvet Rocks Shelter. It has been a long day to get this far, but I’m back on the trail. I’m in my sleeping bag by 7:30 PM and soon fast asleep.