Day 79: Thistle Hill Shelter to New Shelter (25.9 miles)

July 30, 2004 - Woke up at 6 after only about 6 hours of sleep. West Hartford was 5 miles away and I was out of food so I packed up as fast as I could. Made great time to the Country Store where I had a box of sugar powdered donuts with chocolate milk. Then just 10 miles to Hanover, NH. Made it there before noon. Went to the Dartmouth Library to check/write emails. Did that for an hour then went to the supermarket to resupply. Then ate lunch right outside the store. They had picnic tables where I shoveled down food; too much I might add. I didn’t leave there until 5 pm since I had planned on staying at the shelter that was just .8 miles away. Got there and it was a piece of crap. I saw that the next shelter was only 9.3 miles away so I decided to go for it. Should make it before 9 pm. The hike wasn’t too bad, made great time. Got to the turn off to the shelter and saw there was s brand new one just .3 miles north but no water. So I ran down to the old shelter, which was a piece of crap and no one was there, refilled water and got moving. Had I not stopped for water (it took 30 min to go down, refill, and come back up) I would have made it to the shelter without using my headlamp. There were lots of people at this one, all asleep. I woke some up while pulling all of my stuff out of my pack. A good 25.9 miles, not bad for having a 6 hour break.

Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH right near the VT/NH state line