Day 27
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Thistle Hill Shelter to Hanover, NH
14.1 Miles
Our last day! The rain has stopped and should be a sunny, warm day for a
change. We left the shelter at 6:30
ready to get'er done. We are looking forward to a less strenuous day with
mostly downhill except for a steep climb up to Podunk Road out of West Hartford
and more uphill to Happy Hill Shelter. After that, downhill all the way, baby!
As it turned out, it was a pretty miserable day for me. I couldn't get the
concrete feeling out of legs and the more we went uphill the worse it got. I
began to hurt all over, my back, my shoulders, my legs were aching. But my feet
were okay for a change- I am thankful for that. The rotation of Aleve and
Tylenol (plus a lot of prayer) has worked to keep that pain down the last few
days. If only I could get the rest of my body to cooperate, we could finish up
in good style.
The two fellows at the shelter last night told us about West Hartford, how it
was the hiker -friendliest little town with AT signs on a lot of the houses,
water spigots available all along, trail magic all along and the guy at the
school who ran out with a big hunk of cheese and bread. I was looking forward
to that reward by the time we got there. So we came out on the road and were
standing there figuring out which way to go when a gentleman in a car stopped
and talked with us and told us about how the trail went through town. That's a
good start.
As we made our way through town though, there was no sign of hiker-friendly
people, trail magic or cafeteria man. We didn't even see a school. The only
store in town was closed down. Disappointed, we sat down on a concrete slab
outside of town and ate our own snack before crossing under I-89 and heading
back into the woods. I was a little depressed at that point. West Hartford let
us down. Maybe it was the time of day, we came through in the morning--the
other guys in the afternoon.
We were now looking forward to getting over the last hill and the long gradual
decline on the other side. Going uphill got harder and harder for me as the day
wore on. Wait-up was way ahead; I was lagging way behind, just trying to put
one foot in front of the other.
Mosquitoes as big as small airplanes made it impossible to stay still for long
though. They were relentless. You can't even wave them off, you have to
literally wipe them off your skin. They stick like glue and try to get into
every opening on your head. They got on my eyelids and hung on tight with me
batting my eyes furiously trying to shake them. Once while wiping them out of
my eyes, I stepped on a slick root and down I went on my backside.
At one point I begged for just a short break and fell out on the ground just
exhausted saying, "I give up, mosquitoes, just take me." We had been
listening to a message by Keith Moore as we walked and just as I was lying back
on the ground trying to talk myself into getting up he said, "Quit being a
baby! Just because you feel yucky doesn't mean you have to think yucky or talk
yucky or act yucky." I immediately said to the iPod, "Shut up, Keith
Moore, I didn't ask for your opinion right now!" He said back to me,
"Spiritual people can feel yucky and shout hallelujah! Spiritual people
may feel weak but they stand up and say, “let the weak say I am strong!" How
timely was that? It was good for a laugh and a boost of faith that I needed
right then. I got up
and trudged on.
Then we came to a stream with no footbridge or stepping stones. I thought we
were through with that. But no! Having put on dry socks this morning and my
feet being somewhat dry inside my wet boots, I was not going to wade that
stream with my boots on. So we took off our boots and waded across. At least it
was not raging water like the last one.
We got to the powerline before making our final .6 descent
into Norwich, Vermont and sat down to have a snack. By that time, I was feeling
like I had been run over by a train. As I sat there trying to eat some jelly
beans to get that sugar high, I started feeling nauseous. The feeling got worse
and worse and I was feeling so bad until I was literally lying in the trail
with my head on my arms. I tried a couple of times to get up and go but
just could not. I was still nauseous and dizzy and feeling faint.
About that time, a father and son came along that we had passed as they went up
the trail for a day hike. They were headed back down in our direction. Thank
the Lord, they stopped for a conversation this time. I finally asked them if
they were parked at the bottom and they said they were and asked if I needed
help. As bad as I hated to admit it, I said that I thought I would need some
help getting down.
The young man offered to take my pack (praise the Lord!) and we all started
down the last decline with Wait-up almost literally holding me up. We made good
time in spite of all this, and by the time we got to their vehicle, I was
feeling a little better and able to walk alone.
From this point on to Hanover, New Hampshire the trail is a road walk. Although
they offered to take us to our parked vehicle, I insisted that I wanted to walk
across the Connecticut River bridge and the state line to complete our
three-state hike. We asked them to drive us to the closest store on the
trail so we could get a soda and we would take it from there. They took
is to Dan and Whit's General Store on Main Street, skipping the one mile walk
down Elm Street. Dan and Whit's claims, "If we don't have it, you don't
need it," and I believe it. It is a 3-story old wooden building crammed full
of everything imaginable--food, clothing, hardware, deli--I mean everything!
All we needed was a coke. As we sat on the bench outside sipping it, I began to
get my strength back and finally felt like I could go on. As I went around to
the side of the store in search of the bathroom, I discovered a little window
where they were selling soft-serve ice cream. Before heading off down main
street, we treated ourselves to a huge twist cone for $3 each.
On our way out of the parking lot, a man drove up beside us and asked where we
were from. He told us he was a trail angel and had hosted over 600 hikers
in his home and offered us a place to stay if we needed it. Fortunately, we did
not but it's good to know that there are local trail angels for thru-hikers.
Supposedly there is a list of them at the Norwich Library.
We walked down Main Street in Norwich .9 of a mile to the Connecticut
River Bridge and across the imaginary Vermont/New Hampshire line. That's as far
as I had any desire to go. I sat down on a stone wall beside the street with
our backpacks and Wait-up walked on through Hanover to our truck. So he made up
for the mile we didn't walk, but I didn't and I didn't even care. In a little
while, he drove up, I got in the truck and we said "Hallelujah, we are
done!"
This section was 291.2 miles long, we started on May 1 and finished on May 27. We hiked 22 days and took 5 zero days, an
average of 13.2 miles per day.
Right now, I don't even want to talk about next time--New Hampshire and Maine,
the Whites, the hundred mile wilderness or Katahdin. It all sounds too hard to
even imagine. Vermont was hard enough for me.
P.S. I lost both my
big toenails after returning home. They
got bruised the first few days of mountain climbing and did not recover from
the trauma.
