New Hampshire ... Wee-Hoo!

We made it to New Hampshire and are taking a day off in Hanover. Twelve states down ... two to go. I've hiked 1743.3 miles and have 441.9 left on this trail. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired, but crossing the New Hampshire border yesterday has re-energized us all. Massachusetts and Vermont were muddy. That's an understatement - the trail was it's own river and the mud was ankle-deep, which sapped our energy and hurt the spirits a bit, but the sun finally came out and has been drying things up over the last couple of days. Sadly, in the mud we lost a couple more of our comrades who decided to walk off the trail.

The two states left, New Hampshire and Maine, are known to be the toughest yet, but hopefully we'll get some better weather for them. Maine had a record snowfall this past winter, which turns into a record snow melt in the summer. Additionally, New England has had their wettest summer in recorded history, thus the current mud situation. Southbound hikers that we have passed said that streams that we will have to ford (wade through) in Maine are normally about knee-deep, but are currently chest-high due to all the rainfall and snow melt. Oh goodie - this could be interesting. So conditions in the near future may not be ideal, but we'll push forward. At this point we'll crawl to Katahdin if we have to. The sun is shining for now and that's all we need so onward it is!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Stratton Pond, VT; sunset from White Rocks Cliffs, VT; trail magic left by a southbounder on Airport Lookout, VT; sunlight celebration at The Inn at Long Trail (Thinker, Jogle & Zen); leaf changing color (uh-oh! Cold weather stay away!)

More Pictures!

Cloud inversion from atop Race Mtn., MA; ditto; muddy & wet trail in VT; 1600 miles - VT; morning view from Glastenbury Mtn. fire tower, VT

Pictures!

Lily pads on pond in New Jersey; NJ/NY state line; field in NY; sunrise in CT; falls of Falls Village, CT

1556.6

I'm in Dalton, Massachusetts taking a zero day tomorrow. We passed the 1500 mile mark a couple of days ago and are still meandering along. New Jersey was beautiful - still a little rocky, but beautiful. I will now defend New Jersey as "The Garden State". New York seemed to pass quickly and had some great views and climbs. Before I knew it we had crossed the line into Connecticut and New England. The short bit of the trail that runs through Connecticut was gorgeous and we stayed in Kent, CT overnight to restock, do a little laundry, and fortunately for us there is a fabulous coffee and chocolate shop in town, mmmm. As I sit now, I'm about 28 miles short of the Vermont border.

It's hard enough to conceptualize the fact that I've walked over 1500 miles through the woods and over the mountains with my world on my back, but it's harder still to believe that I'm only 619.6 miles from the end of the trail. That being said, the biggest mountains are ahead of us. Most people out here are still moving along okay. There have been a couple who have walked off due to Lyme disease or broken bones, but the rest of us are okay. A few bumps, bruises, bug bites (New England has mosquitoes capable of carrying my pack for me!), and new scars, but the rest of us are moving along.

We've been meeting a lot of southbounders, which just adds to the multitude of characters out here. Additionally, I have had the pleasure of meeting numerous people local to the areas and towns where we've been walking who have helped us out along the way or honked their horns and shouted "Good luck!" when we've crossed a road. One could even argue that people, in general, are still good. There are more people out there than I thought who are willing and happy to help out a smelly hiking stranger and refuse anything in return other than my promise to keep heading northbound.

Sorry - again, no pictures. I'm not allowed to plug my camera into the library's computer, but I promise I'll put up a bunch of photos as soon as I can!