7/10/06 Thistle Hill Shelter to Velvet Rocks Shelter (16.1mi)

PICTURES:
1. 0645: Dan as we were crossing some rolling hills approaching VT14.
2. 1021: Oldest Shelter on the AT (1918)... It was rebuilt in 1998... Nice job...
3. 1023: A wonderful water source just behind this shelter...:)
4. 1044: A nice section of trail leading to the Connecticut River...
5. 1222: Front: Dudley, ?, Swamp Donkey.., Me, Dan all on the bridge over the Conneticut river at the VT/NH state line...

The entire camp was bustling at 0600... Dan and I were the first out at 0630... We had a rather easy day ahead with a planned stop in Hanover, NH. for lunch and more blogging... The walk was uneventful throughout the morning, again with frequent ups and downs of 200-500 feet, just enough to get you sweatty and keep you that way...
:(... At 1000, we stopped at the Happy Hill shelter for water and took a pic of the first AT shelter, recently renovated... They did a nice job with the upgrades but not with the mosquitoes, and after getting our privy, water, and snack breaks we decided to continue on before we lost too much blood to continue... LOL... After some more hill climbing, we found ourselves finally decending to the Connecticut River, dividing VT from NH. At 1200 we entered Hanover completing 14.5mi in excellent time. We met some other north bound thru-hikers on the bridge and had some pictures taken to commemorate the event...2 states left... :)... Dan and I soon moved on into Hanover finding first Ramundo's Pizza, where we stopped for some fantastic pizza and cold soda. We then stopped into the Public Library so I could do some more blogging...:)... LOL and thats what Im doing now... Later we will get some dinner before completing the day with a hike to Velvet Rocks Shelter, just 1.5mi North of town...I made it to the shelter at about 2100, just before I had to get my head lamp out ... I started out in the shelter with 4 other hikers but after about an hour of swatting mosquitoes, I decided to break out the tent. I then had a restfull nights sleep...