Day 120 Norwich to Trapper John Shelter

Today's miles 18.1.  AT miles 1759.8

We had complimentary coffee and muffins at our hotel this morning. I also forgot to mention yesterday we got a complimentary glass of wine and beer with our lunch too.  A very nice hotel.  We left the hotel about 8:30. The trail took us on a mile and a half road walk to Hanover crossing the Connecticut River Bridge and the state line from Vermont into New Hampshire on the way.  In Hanover we stopped at the Dirt Cowboy Cafe and sat outside with a coffee/tea and Danish pastries.  The trail continued through the town for another 0.7 miles before heading back into the forest.

We passed the four fifths way mark at mile 1748.  Today was our four month anniversary of being on the trail too.  We have just one month left if we're to finish by our five month target date of 20 July which we are on target to do so.  It was another warm sunny day but with a nice breeze so we stopped for a break in the sun at Three Mile Road parking area.  A section hiker, Roger, pulled up and parked next to us and gave us a nice cold bottle of water.  He was taking a two hour break from work and hiking up to Moose Mountain South peak and down again.  We met him again on the summit, great views up there, and had a good chat.  It is his dream to thru hike the trail and is hoping to in a couple of years time. We hope you achieve your dream Roger and thank you for the water.  

We continued to Moose Mountain shelter where we had planned on stopping for the day.  It was only 2:30 though so we decided to continue another 5.7 miles to the next shelter.  The trail had been pretty straight forward and easy going up to this point.  We saw a bright yellow sign saying 'bears with tracking collars please don't shoot'.  A local guy rescues bears and releases them with tracking collars to monitor them.   After Moose Mountain north peak we had a mile and a half steepish downhill followed by a mile and a half steepish uphill to Holt's Ledge where there were more good views, trees as far as you could see.  Then it was a mile down again to Trapper John shelter. All a bit more strenuous but on good trails.  We arrived at the shelter just after 5:30.  No Big Deal was already there plus another section hiker.