With a brisk walk to Hanover, New Hampshire, we entered our 13th state today. The phrase “just one more state to go” trips off the tongue a little too lightly for what lies ahead, but it was a bit emotional for us as we crossed the Connecticut River bridge, and saw the letters “NH” carved there in stone…

Our day starts at 7:00 a.m. back at the West Hartford Village Store and Full Belly Deli, where we are second in line behind Rhino and Spiceman for a very large and filling breakfast. We have about 7/10 mile of road walking out of town before we pass under I-89 and turn back into the woods. There’s about 1,000′ of elevation gain as we pass the Happy Hill Shelter turnoff. (X found the midway sign pointing ahead to the shelter and back to the village’s Podunk Road a mildly humorous juxtaposition of words…) After the shelter, the walk to Norwich was as easy as you could ask. As we reach pavement at the edge of town, we find several driveways have bins of ‘self-serve’ trail magic. Then we pass under our second interstate of the day, I-91.

Hanover was bustling with activity, with so many bright shiny faces wandering around, as the Dartmouth school year is about to commence.

We walk the trail mileage through town, running some errands along the way. X is able to get a haircut when a scheduled 1:15 appointment is a no-show. N is able to get his bent eyeglasses frame repaired. We draw a blank on Mountain House meals and socks at the outfitter, but at the Hanover Food Co-op find more than enough re-supply to take care of our first three days hiking in New Hampshire.

We haven’t taken a full day off since Connecticut, so it looks like it’s about time for another, so we can plan for the now looming Whites…