While hiking in Vermont on a trail near Killington, Suzanne and I saw one hiker with a cucumber in his belt… rather odd, we thought. Then we saw this cooler with freebies of veggies and cold drinks that some good-hearted souls had left for thru-hikers. Gifts like this are called “trail magic”, and are greatly appreciated by perpetually hungry long-distance hikers who average 15-20 miles per day over often very rough terrain. Dory and Mucosa, the benefactors of this trail magic, must be very thoughtful and kind-hearted folks.
I was almost able to grant some trail magic myself the other day. I was driving down the road with Rudy and Gretchen in the back seat when I saw a young male hiker with a big backpack hitch-hiking in the vicinity of the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I stopped to give him a lift, and in the rear-view mirror I saw him signal his dog to come up out of the weeds. It was a 60 lb pit bull! As he walked up, I said, “Sorry, but I have two small dogs in here that would go berserk if your dog got in.” It was an “Isn’t that interesting” moment.
The next contest involves two types of flora; this beautiful orange variety was sighted by our Trail Slogger in Vermont, on the Long Trail. The mushrooms(?) were seen on the Mount Martha Trail in New Hampshire. What are they? 
My Lovely Bride loves waterfalls, so of course when I saw Thundering Falls on the map near Killington, I steered our trusty car that way and we hit the trail. It was a pleasant hike in, much less rocky and muddy than the Long Trail had been. This made MLB very happy, and as the saying goes, “Happy Wife, Happy Life”… 
What would not have made MLB happy was this shelter on the Appalachian Trail. We were day-hiking this section, so sharing the shelter with 6 smelly, sweaty guys and maybe a porcupine and some mice was not in the cards. I’m not saying that her idea of roughing it is the Hilton, but these accommodations were definitely not “on her programme”, as the Brits say. (The piece of line hanging down next to Suzanne is for hanging your food bag out of reach of rodents and small mammals.)
Our time in Vermont at an end, I dropped Suzanne off at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, so she could fly back to The Villages and spend a week with her mom. She and Ruthie have the same birthday, August 1st, so every year they spend that week together, while Rudy, Gretchen and I hike, play poker, drink beer and smoke cigars… (well, maybe not the last activity, anyway). Suzanne seemed to like the birthday flowers that the puppies sent her. Somehow my piece of her birthday cake never made it back to me; maybe the TSA inspectors ate it. 
The White Mountains of New Hampshire are impressive, steeply rising to 5,000-6,000 feet, far above the lower valley floors. This was the view on I-93 headed north to my campground in Carroll, NH. 
I used this time to hike, bike and hike some more. On a hike near the Ethan Pond shelter in Crawford Notch, NH, I met three delightful and lovely young women from Oz, Muddy Duckling, Fire Bear and Red Back. They live in Perth, Western Australia, one of my favorite places Down Under. They are thru-hiking the AT, and have only 350 miles to go until they reach Mt. Katahdin, Maine. We laughed about running into the same weird thru-hiker (who shall remain anonymous) hundreds of miles apart; he has a reputation for smoking in the shelters, passing out due to heavy drinking, mooching food and asking other hikers (me among others) to boil water for him, since he wasn’t carrying a lightweight stove. Your trail reputation travels quickly in this relatively small community…
This sign is designed to give day hikers pause as to whether they are really prepared for the sometimes extreme weather for which the White Mountains are infamous. Mt. Washington for decades held the record for highest winds in the US, 231 mph. It can be 70 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and snowing on top. Unfortunately, we didn’t have good weather on the day we planned to visit that peak; we’ll save that for our next visit.
2 Comments
Anonymous
Ah the life in rural New England. It's rough in some of these places were people struggle to make a living. I do miss that area some for there was so much variety (mountains, coastline and major cities all within a few hours drive. I am blessed to have those experiences and memories for sure.
Did you see much damage from flooding up there? Brad
Ty and Suzanne Giesemann
Brad, No, I did not seen any damage, at least not from recent flooding. I had been scheduled to hike the Long Trail in 2011 when Hurricane Irene shut down the state, and had to hole up in the Adirondacks for a few days until the roads in NY were safe. VT and NH are beautiful, but the forests are so dark and gloomy compared to the West… I'll take the Sierras and Rockies for backpacking. Cheers, Ty