Day 129
We woke up at Happy Hill Shelter to an overcast sky, but we were thankfully dry. We think it may have sprinkled a bit overnight, but were glad to see dry gear! We headed out early and ready to cross into state 13! We had fairly easy walking with a nice cool breeze the first 3.5 miles. The trail was nice and soft, covered in pine needles. After only an hour and 15 minutes, we came to Elm Street in Norwich to begin our road walk. We were dreading this, as paved roads are murder on our legs, but it wasn’t too bad! We had three trail magics on our way in to town and got to the bridge over the Connecticut River fairly quickly. Here, we passed into New Hampshire and up the hill to downtown Hanover and Dartmouth. We walked around downtown for a bit and headed straight for the Indian buffet where we ran into Golden, Trekking Pole, Lone Duck, and Dirty Girl all ready to eat! We filled up on food for over an hour before going to pick up our drop boxes at the outfitter. I was psyched to get new shoes, my last pair for the trip! We then called a trail angel who picked us up for showers and laundry. Her neighbor offered us his basement to sleep in for the night and we had a wonderful time with them and two other hikers - Great Lakes and her son Tall Grass. Warren and Toni stayed out on the porch and chatted with us for several hours, even giving us ice cream and beer. Warren mentioned we could zero if we’d like and Nokey is lstarting to feel under the weather, so we decided to make the call in the morning. The photo today is the state line on the bridge.