Rendevous in Hanover

 Hanover- A Trail Town

This college town is a gem along the rural Appalachian Trail. The white blaze takes you right through town. There are young people everywhere with lots of nightlife, school is just underway, farmer's market is thriving, construction workers climb the roofs. Some good pickups at the hiker box in the community center: HoneyLemon Losenge, powdered milk, AquaMira for treating water-- Score! Gotta love the free stuff! Also there is an amazing food cooperative with dry bulk section. Free camping for thru hikers is found on the edge of Dartmouth college's soccer fields. We set up here for the night and walked to the Salt Hill pub for trivia night.

And what better way to celebrate than to stop in for a PBR with the old Men Of Action Team + Effect + Tag + Coach + Bobwhite! What a great crew we have. The owner at the all-you-can-eat-pizza-buffet screamed into the back of the kitchen..."CHOP CHOP We got hikers!"

 

our NOBO friends left to right: coyote, lady sherpa, T-Mello, Bobwhite, Tag in front of Hanover Town Hall.

Wondering exactly where I would run into my fellow Konnarock Trail Crew alum "Lady Sherpa," I wanted to try and contact by phone, but then I figured that if we were destined to meet up then we will. Because everything on the trail happens word-of-mouth and there are frequent conincidents each day that throw you a little surprise.... right?  I'd heard from other NOBO's that LadySherpa was closing in on Hanover. Of course I am travelling the opposite direction, and with the white blaze running right down the busy street of Hanover, there were many chances to miss each other. But sure enough I saw Danielle on the corner of main street by the bagel shop. Here she was having travelled afoot all the way from Georgia, and I from Maine.

This spring my friend Matteo 'Mufassa' Romanno and I did some Trail Angeling with car rides for Sherpa's band of gypsys including Shuffle, Dash, Truckin, Soul Slosher, Beans, Yinz or Uins? The destination in town was "BOB's DAIRYLAND." I came in and said "BOB fire up the grill, we got lotsa hungry hikers coming."

So anyways.. from this unplanned crossing of paths in downtown Hanover Lady Sherpa and Coyote and I proceeded to enjoy the benefits of being a hiker in a hiker friendly town....     Hanover is famous for handing out free stuff to hikers... as long as you leave your stinkin pack outside. The hiker-friendly tradition here makes us feel welcome and it brings in business... But a lot of them are kinda like "here's a free snicker's candy bar.... now get the hell outta here!" The bagel basement gave out free bagels, the gear shop handed out free snickers, the pizza joint gave out one free slice, the bookstore served free coffee. So as Lady Sherpa, Coyote, and T-Mello wandered the morning street, I had a thought...."That's funny I don't even drink coffee, but what the hell? ... It's free, so I'll take it"

The next day out of Hanover Tag, Effect, and I crossed the bridge over the Connecticut River (and we almost walked right past the sign for the VT/NH border without seeing it) We were headed for Happy Hill shelter just 3 miles out of town. A few day's travel found us camped across the highway from the Inn at the Long trail, where I got to meet up with a friend of mine from Virginia Tech lacrosse Ben Nachlas. There was an Irish Folk band from NY playing and the guiness was flowing smoothly. The bar tender "Owen" was a class act. He poured a half and half which consists of a Long Trail Ale (on the bottom) and a creamy Guiness pour to float the top. To top it off Owen streams the tap down to pencil thin while he creates a shamrock design in the foam of the beer. It was so nice to see him and catch up with my fellow hiking buddy. I reflect on the days when I had just met Ben... Ben had just returned from an Outward Bound backpacking session in Montana while I had just returned from a N.O.L.S. backpacking sesh in Alaska in the summer of 2004. We instantly hit it off the moment we met in Blacksburg. That night at the Pub both of us and the rest of the crew spent the remaining night in laughter and comaraderie. Thank you Ben the Trail Angel for making the visit!

SOBO CREW ROLLIN DEEP

Special Effect, Suge Knight, Denim Chicken, T-Mello, Tag, Aldo the Apache AKA Coach, Ben

The People's Trail

I've met so many wonderful people that the following text below only scratches the surface, but here's a tidbit or two on the characters I've had the pleasure to share the journey with.

Chet West, proud hostel owner in Lincoln, NH sits in front row. From left we have Tag, T-Mello, Twisted Turtle, Effect

Two trail crews in one day... there's lots of work to be done on Saddleback. That's where the Maine Conservation Crew steps in... keep up the good work guys!

 Here I am with crew leader Chris and Andy who worked Konnarock last year

I was stoked to see Maine AT Trail Crew hard at work on stone staircase up Saddleback

Wildcat perspective of Mt Washington two days before our foggy summit

 Here I am in Stratton with the Hirsch and Yet

trees fallen over trail

 T-Mello and Leprechaun in Rangely

 Here is 'LardAss' a trail volunteer and past thru-hiker freshing up the white blazes

Me and Zach atop the Horn of Saddleback Mountain... I lost my ballcap

Zach from Baltimore area is a recent Towson University grad, who had some art classes with my friends back home Teresa and Kevin. He claims to not need a trail name because “life on trail is the most real I’ve ever been, I don’t want to go by another identity.” A respectable philosophy I suppose. His two friends from back home had quit their jobs and spent loads of money on gear to do this journey with him. They both ended up quitting the trail partway through the 100 mile wilderness, only a few days in. But Zach spent a memorable first day on Katahdin with his father and grandfather, a Frederick, MD native in great shape for his older age. Zach uses a homemade collapsible twig-burning stove to cook meals and heat up tea water. An important element of this stove system is the rubber hose he uses to create a concentrated blast of oxygen for fire fuel. Anyways, Zach is a great guy whose company I’ve enjoyed much along the way. His morning account of last night’s dream involved a family-robot-butler who turns evil against them was one of the most interesting stories told thus far. 

Skypilot is a NOBO who flew helicopters in vietnam had to stop me when we crossed paths. “You're the 14th red beard I've met out here. I have to tell you this story… We rescued a POW who was locked up in a cage for 7 years and he came out lookin like you with golden red beard.” Well that's great I'm a P.O.W. now!

Pilot, a doctor in Indiana, is attempting her 3rd Thru-hike. Met her husband on a winter Northbound hike some years back. First SOBO attempt completed in '98. I had the pleasure to taste Pilot's high flying pace for about 4 days over the Maine Mahoosuc range during that heat wave. 

Headbutt got his name after repeatedly headbutting several fallen trees. His open head wounds were doctored up by hiking partner Pilot. This determined duo was just the company I needed to go through Mahoosuc Notch. Headbutt was our pace setter. Having just finished grad school in Washington, his at home running regiment helped him achieve a nice steady 'one-speed' hiking style.

Rinee- recent high school graduate from Germany, met him on Barren Mountain and shared shelter for a couple nights.

Twisted Turtle- from Cincy, a Harry Potter fan who finally got to see the new film on his third attempt searching for cinema in a trail town.

Milk Carton- when she started on Katahdin she was carrying a Spot Locator, a device that sends out your GPS coordinates with the push of a button. She was not using this device for the first 5 days while travelling in the 100 mile wilderness. Her parents became worried and began the long search. NOBO's who met her hysterical parents began poking fun at her: "Wait I recognize your face.... You're the girl on the Milk Carton aren't you?"

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Coach a graduate of Alderleaf Wilderness School, is from Georgia. A freshly turned legal drinker, makes sure to have his daily dosage of Pabst Blue Ribbon whenever possible. This guy is fun to be around and I look forward to hiking with him some more

I met 'Bobwhite' at Shaw's famous breakfast in Monson. A Maryland Institute College of Art graduate and Baltimore resident, Bobwhite helped launch a new parish community in Mount Vernon. Before trail life, she was most recently pouring concrete for custom table top designs, and she hopes to try ship sail fabrication when her journey on the A.T. is complete. 

Effect with candy bar and Tag atop Saddleback mountain.

Suge Knight- Assassin to Tupac Shakur, was inspired to hike the A.T. after the release of last year’s National Geographic special on the ‘People’s Trail.’ A loud mouthed Cape Cod character. Does a great Chris Farley, Frank Rizzo, Sol Rosenberg from the Jerky Boys, endless entertainment from this guy. Now traveling under the team name Men of Action including Stray Cat/Denim Chicken. MOAT must surround freedom. The Men Of Action Team are still on the trail while their third buddy when MIA.

Stray Cat/ Denim Chicken- originally from Erie, PA, now claims Savannah, GA to be home of the best St Patty’s day celebration. He never heard a thing about this Appalachian Trail until about a month before his Katahdin summit when SugeKnight came up with the idea. With experience as a welder for an oil company in Texas, Denim Chicken and SugeKnight dream of opening a bike shop after the hike.

I met Lefty at the Lakeshore House and shared a cold one with him first thing out of the 100 mile wilds. I was a bit confused when I see him wearing a red plume hat and a ladies dress telling me that he is an Iraq war veteran. So I guess there is such a thing as a militarized drag queen. Somewhere near Rangely, Lefty LEFT his team high and dry. Walking off and quitting his hike, he left with group gear that was shared between all three guys.

Men Of Action Team  <M.O.A.T.>

They were still a few days behind me when I heard the story of their infamous Kennebec River crossing. After spending a day in Caratunk waiting for the delivery of their new hiking boots, a night spent exchanging stories with some other war vets at the bar must have inspired them to cross the river that night. This is the river that hikers are asked kindly to wait for the daytime ferry service put on by Hillbilly Dave. Well they never met Dave, and with packs in trash bags, they forded the risen night river (upstream dams must have been releasing at night). A crossing of about 70 yards swept them downstream but all three made it across in one piece. Then somehow they realized they should have brought some more beer along with them. So SugeKnight and Stray Cat crossed back over to hitch another ride to the Wilderness Outfiter’s bar and retrieve three growlers full of beer. This time the Men of Action Team got dropped off by a Caratunk native at the 1986 crossing where sticks in the river used to show the way. This story did not surprise me one bit. Whenever you hang with this dynamic duo, you know something crazy is about to go down.

As a temporary summation of the Men Of Action Team let’s just say you probably shouldn’t fuck with them…. And don’t ‘bring piss to a shit fightÓ’