Today was a magical day. 

We got rained on last night, packed our tents up wet and set out for New Hampshire. I’m traveling with Retainer and Romani these days.

 
As we left Vermont we saw some great mushrooms (thanks to the additional rain)

Indian pipe

We approached the White River (Norwich VT) 

Romani jumped off the bridge into the water, an AT tradition, which I opted out of.

After we crossed the bridge, we visited Linda’s (she’s a trail angel who hosted 1600 hikers last year)

She served us coffee , fruit, and eggs.

Then we mosied on down to Dan and Whit’s, s famous Norwich grocery store. Standing in the ice cream window line was Jodi Wenger – a physician colleague of mine from 15 years ago (Chinle). What a very small world!!!

Then we rolled into Hanover NH by crossing the Connecticut River

We ran into Hat Lady (a trail angel seen here with Romani)

She drove us to our hotel, to several stores, gave us advice on where to go and what to do, and kindly joined us for dinner. Then she drove 40 miles home. 

These trail Angels are among the most generous people I have ever met.

Now we’re at the sunset lodge in Lebanon NH, getting ready to explore Hanover tomorrow. I went to Dartmouth college here 40 years ago.

What a crazy day….

Vermont is going to be tough to beat,

Junco

Last day in Vermont tomorrow. 

It’s been great mushroom weather and I found some fine ones

Also found some curious wood images

And a very interesting frog

Anybody know this very large tree?

This is the leaf of the very large tree above

And some nice views

Vermont is a fine place!

Junco

The Long Trail is a 272 mile trail that runs north/south along the ridge of the Green Mountains in Vermont (from the Massachusetts border to Canada). 

From southern VT, the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail have been together (for 105 miles). This created quite a bit of foot traffic on the trail – north and southbound AT hikers and north and southbound Long Trail hikers.

Yesterday I passed this sign (which at the time I did NOT know was the place the AT separated from the Long Trail)

I accidentally followed the Long Trail for half a mile (it has identical white blazes ??!)

I celebrated my Long Trail trek with this beverage from the LongTrail brewing company

 

Yestetday, I also saw some strange figures in tree shapes

Back on the AT,

Junco

Walked into the Mountain Meadows Lodge minutes before a huge thunderstorm blew in:

This place is right on the AT. My room is in the white farmhouse on the right.

They delivered pizza, so I took advantage of that

Came down from Killington ski resort today – foggy and spooky

The spruces and balsam firs seem unhealthy here. Every forest in the northeast seems to have one or more species that are struggling.

However, the fungi were looking pretty good

This one is a bit traumatized, but very unusual

Lots of other remarkable things

Cool spider web

White birch bark is so fascinating

Looks like litter on the ground

Thanking my lucky stars that I stayed dry,

J

I’ll be slowly climbing this ski resort mountain today. Hot and sunny.

Today has been pleasant with lots of late blooming plants.

Please let me know if you recognize any of these

Jewel weed:

This one made my skin itchy(? Nettle)

Rutland VT

A few more

Gonna be a hot one, 

Junco

Today has been the day of mud and biting insects

And beautiful streams

 

And plants and wildlife:

And some great vistas

Wearing a mosquito net on my head

All in a day’s play

Junco

Spent two restful days at the farm near Stratton mountain, VT with my sister, Janice, her husband, Dave, and their daughter, Sadie 

Because I had been bothered by deer flies, which tend to attack the back of your head, my neice, Sadie, designed a deterrent

Got back on the trail at the end of a 3 day period of rain

The forest was a bit soggy

Climbed to the top of the ski resort, Bromley.

It’s sunny today and looks nice for the next couple days.

Drying out,

J

When I was in Damascus,VA (after 468 miles of hiking) I switched to these trail running Hokas (Challenger ATR 2’s)

Their cushioning, light weight, and breathability made my feet very happy. I beat them up pretty badly over the next 450 miles and laid them to rest today. Tread separation was a big problem – went through 4 tubes of Gorilla Glue to keep the tread on. The upper material also started to disintegrate recently. 

I decided to stick with Hokas and moved to the more durable (and colorful) “Speedgoats” 

Hoping they get me through to Katahdin!!

J

While hiking yesterday, I ran into my friend Ryan (trail name Ralphie from A Christmas Story) . We both started on March 11, but I had not seen him in months. Really nice to catch up

After passing over Stratton mountain yesterday,  I was met by the Coleman family, friends of my sister and her husband, who took me to this beautiful farm house, where I will spend the weekend. I was very impressed by the vehicle that Beth Coleman drove when we went to the grocery store this morning

The farm house, the barn, and the view to the northeast (from the side of the house)

This morning’s sunrise

From the trail yesterday:

Decaying wood is loved by some

A dragonfly

A garter snake 

A chipmunk

View from prospect rock of Manchester center 

A few others 

This farm life could work well for me.

Junco

I’m on the summit now

The trail up was through spruce and fir forest

I know that’s a lot of photos – seems like there are so many new things here, like this frog

Hoping to meet my sister and her husband at a farm near here on Friday. Yay!!!

J