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