Low Branch Wins

You may have been placing bets against me but I pulled one out of the hat. All three of my packages were in Dalton when I arrived! It was like Christmas morning. Wait, there is one more for you to open. I had a huge box of food that I had mailed to myself from Delaware Water Gap, new shorts from Chubbies and a new merino wool hiking shirt that Bryan bought for me. The shirt is supposed to be smell proof. We will see about that.

I crashed here in Dalton at a pretty sketchy hotel. Well, the only hotel. I went to Wal-Mart and then got myself reorganized and all my gear cleaned. I love washing out my pack and doing laundry. It makes me feel ready for the next hundred miles of Vermont. Astronaut, NC’Ice and Jellyfish camped about five miles down the Trail and I am going to hike the next few days solo and meet up with them again in Wallingford, Vermont. I’ll miss their company but I think the alone time will be nice too.

I am sitting outside on the sidewalk waiting for my breakfast and for the post office to open. The locals here in Dalton treat thru hikers like celebrities. So many friendly people are stopping to hear about the hike and give recommendations on the town. I love these little trail towns and they love their hikers. The businesses are really missing the normal rush of hikers they would get around this time but I told them they should be getting twice as many next year.

I heard from Jitter yesterday and she is back on Trail! She texted me from Dragon’s Tooth. I’m so glad the is back but I’m too far north to have any chance of hiking with her again. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about Pennsylvania. I am headed out know for a particularly pretty stretch up to the Vermont border. Massachusetts has been wonderful and looking forward to the beautiful but muddy section through Vermont.