Day 142,, Monday July 19, 2021

            

Thistle Hill  shelter campsite to Hanover Adventure Hostel - 14.6 miles hiked today - 1751.0 total AT miles hiked to date - 442 miles to go.

 I woke this morning to the very familiar sound of rain pounding against my tent.  Packing up everything wet and taking down my tent in the pouring rain is not a pleasurable experience.   However, today was different than the norm, as it had pretty much cleared up by mid morning and we were hiking a semi dry trail.  

Early on, we started to see some views  of the mountains that were reminiscent  of the Smokey’s, with whisps of low lying clouds draped across them. Soon after, we ran into the Goat Lady, who apparently has a “trip” of goats (look it up) that she moves around the trail, clearing sections naturally.

Just before lunch time, we passed through West Hartford VT, a town almost wiped out by flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011.  Despite that, two of the houses there had folks who invited us up onto their porches for trail magic - the first offering flavored seltzer water, and the 2nd providing coffee, soda, and snacks.  We took advantage of both and also admired some of the old buildings and barns that had survived the flood.

After stopping a short while later for lunch (once we’d transitioned back into the woods), we had to make two river crossings with no bridge, stepping  rocks, or cables to assist.  This entailed wading into the swift moving current, knee deep in parts , and traversing to the other shore.  Quite stressful when trying to avoid a tumble into the rushing current.  Both crossings were successful for all and we moved on.  

The balance of the afternoon was spent finishing off Vermont (finally!), and crossing the border into New Hampshire.  We’ve now hit our 13th state in the trail, with only one more after this (Maine).  New Hampshire has the White Mountains coming up, arguably the most difficult section of the trail.  We’ve started to run into southbound thru hikers (SOBOs), who have been sharing stories of the difficulties to come.  Ought to be interesting.  We are taking tomorrow as a Zero, to get our gear cleaned of mud and grime, resupply, and allow for some healing on our chafed and sodden feet and bodies.  Back to the trail on Wednesday.

Until next time…