September 1st : Hanover, New Hampshire

An enthusiastic phone call from Madeline this evening from their mail drop pick-up in Hanover, New Hampshire, home of Dartmouth College. Jonathan actually arrived here on Monday night (8/31); Madeline arrived by lunch time on Tuesday. They had again run out of food by Monday and Jonathan was eager to reach Hanover, which meant a stretch of 6 miles of night hiking on Monday. Madeline preferred sheltering for the night and heading into Hanover the following morning. She says she is not as big a fan of night hiking as Jonathan. She found a store off the trail and got potato salad for her dinner and an ear of corn, a cucumber and a tomato for her breakfast, (what do you usually have for your breakfast?). By 8:30 pm she was settling in at the shelter and Jonathan was heading the last 6 miles into Hanover. There was but one other hiker at the shelter that night with Madeline - a man named EO (Eternal Optimist). Children must be adventurous to take on this journey (and mothers must be brave).

Dartmouth College has a soccer field upon which they allow hikers to set up camp. This is where Jonathan was headed Monday night and this was where Madeline was to meet him the following day. She passed a Trail Magic cooler on her trek to Hanover and was treated to sliced watermelon and homemade bread. She arrived in Hanover by lunch and didn't find Jonathan till about 4:00, despite asking many a person for directions. For those of you who do not know Madeline well, she is directionally challenged. (This is another reason why mothers have to be brave. Directionally challenged daughters alone on mountains are not for the faint of heart.) Finally, someone provided her with a map upon which he highlighted her route to the soccer field and Hansel and Gretel were reunited.

Hanover has a pizza place where the first slice is free to hikers, and all leftover pizza slices at the end of the night are free to hikers who return at 11:30 pm. Jonathan was there Tuesday night and shared the haul with other hikers. Madeline spent the evening communing with other hikers around a campfire with BamBam, a hiker named You that they met at Twelve Tribes and a couple of men known as the Bear Brothers - individually named Chainsaw and Kilt Techie (he hikes in a kilt). Chainsaw began his trip in Georgia where he tripped and broke his leg. That knocked him off the trail for a good long while. He has just recently returned to the trail, leapfrogging up to the northern end; he's having some knee problems. Madeline says there has only been one hiker they have encountered thus far that has given them the creeps - just that instinctive warning that all was not right here. Madeline is missing her friend, BAM and dog Rocky from the earlier stretch of the trail. They know based on trail logs, (hikers sign in at shelters), that she is about 9 days ahead of them now. That about matches the number of zero days (no miles - off the trail) they have taken since they last saw her. Because she is hiking with her dog, she doesn't have the same off the trail opportunities as they have. They have reconnected with Mark Trails. Dana, however, is now off the trail. She is a teacher and the time had come. She did acquire a trail name (Dehydra) before leaving. Jonathan has still not acquired his trail name. Meteor Man and The Reader have been suggested but neither one has suited him.

This mail drop included their 0 degree sleeping bags, long underwear, gloves and Madeline's winter trail coat. They are heading into the White Mountains where cold weather is to be expected. The nights are already on the cold side (at least for Madeline - child of many layers and rarely without a blanket wrapped around her from September through June). Madeline said she slept in her warmer sleeping bag last night and it was great; the other one wasn't quite doing the trick any more. She says she feels like a chipmunk storing up fat for the winter right now. She's eating a lot of dairy when in town, in an effort to put on a layer of fat to keep her warm as they venture north.

In other news, Madeline cut all her hair off when in Rutland. She says it is very short and simple and easy to take care of. The time was right and it is liberating to be able to skip a day of brushing and not have mats to contend with. I wish I could see a picture. She said she met a young woman, Ilianna, from the Twelve Tribes in Rutland, that she spent a lot of time talking with, baked muffins with, and whose company she really liked. They plan to stay in touch. She has been with Twelve Tribes for 6 years and is very happy. She told Madeline that she had always had a very hard time connecting with people and so had insulated herself with books, music and TV (something feels a little familiar here). Once she became a part of the Twelve Tribes, everything changed in her relationship with people.

Madeline continues to read on the trail, picking up books in shelters, hiker boxes and used book stores. She purchased a book when in New York which she had previously read and loved, (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) and she has hung on to it through all these states. It has become the book she rereads when she has nothing else available. She says she has read it about 9 times now and is going to try to hang on to it through all the states to come.

They had planned to return to the trail today after lunch at a buffet (salad and pizza) but Madeline says she got sick, throwing up after lunch, and then slept for the afternoon. Was feeling fine this evening and headed to the movies with Jonathan. Tomorrow they will head back to the trail and a long day. They are planning on 17 miles to Trapper John shelter which Madeline feels she simply must stay at (huge MASH fan). I learned a bit about the privy rules at the shelters - no peeing allowed. Apparently it disrupts the slow composting process and increases the smell factor. Too much information?

It only gets better. - Amy