Day 147-More of the Same, But Into Town!

Aug 12-13.7 miles-Thistle Hill Shelter to Norwich Hostel-AT mile 1749.4

The trail was very similar to yesterday’s. The weather was similar to yesterday. It was hot, there were fields, there were ups and downs. The big difference was that we had a town and a comfy bed at the end of the day!

Here’s some photos from the day. 

Field in the morning. 

Woods in the morning. 

Sure Foot enjoying getting his shoes wet. 

Annnd...back into the woods. 

Yup, another field. 

It finally dawned on me what these are. They are for maple syrup. I saw them yesterday too. 

I call this “Porcupine Woods”.

Doesn’t that one darker cloud look like a rectangle?

The guys and my poles (we were taking a break because there was a bench, and a cloud shaped like a rectangle).

Today, it seemed like we spent the most of the morning eating. We had our usual morning snacks, then just before we popped out onto the road there was trail magic from someone named Karen. I guzzled a Coke. Then, in West Hartford there was the “Blue Barn”. Linda has been a Trail Angel for 11 years. 

Linda is in red on the far end. She had watermelon, soda, coffee, and her husband (?) just happened to be making scrambled eggs! We ate, and then headed back out. Irish and Mosey ended up staying 3-4 hours (but they had a short day)! 

We basically walked through West Hartford and back into the woods. Finally, we came to Elm Street in Norwich. But we had another mile of road walking to get to Main Street. When I got to Elm, of course, Sure Foot was already there. There was also a cooler from Hanover Adventure Tours (which is actually part of where we are staying). I opened it up to find all empties. I was so sad...until Sure Foot walked over and handed me the last Coke. He had saved it for me when he saw there was only one more after he had one. I was so happy!

Down Elm St we went (after I drank my Coke!

I called the hostel to have them come pick us up at Main and Elm. “Calamity Jane” suggested we walk over to Dan and Whit’s General Store and get some food for dinner, as they have a full kitchen that we can use. We got some Brats and buns, and tortilla chips and hummus. 

The shuttle driver picked us up at the store, and drove us to the hostel (about 4 miles out of town on the Connecticut River). This is a new hostel. Last year was their first year. It’s pretty nice. We are in the “Katahdin” room (there’s 4 beds). There is one other hiker in the room named Cindy. She’s a southbounder (SOBO). Red Baron and Mr. Jenny are also here, but in another room. Laundry is free, and they provide fixins for breakfast. I’m going to have waffles. 

I picked up two packages. One was my final pair of shoes, along with my puffy jacket, more bug repellent, and leukotape. 

Another pair finished after 550 miles!

The other box was Trail Magic from my awesome friend, Kim. 

So much yummy goodness in one box! I, of course, shared with Sure Foot, and I gave some cookies to Mr. Jenny, and Red Baron. Thank you a million times over, Kim! You are the absolute best!

Now, I suppose I should get some sleep. We are taking a zero here tomorrow. We are going to take the hostel shuttle to Hanover tomorrow morning to go to get food, and go to the outfitter so I can replace poor ripped Stinky Pink...it’s time. The shuttle doesn’t actually take us to those places, but from the shuttle, we can get the free bus. 

I’ll have a new plan to tell you all about tomorrow...