Once again, Peter Miles and I went up to Hanover and did the 4-mile stretch
of the AT where it first comes into NH from VT. Pete had heard that there
might be a lot of damage this year from last week's storm. There was.

We left Auburn a little after 7 AM and started down the trail from the road
and headed back towards Hanover about 9 AM. We made it to the beaver pond
and bridge where we found the first tree uprooted and laid over but it fell
away from the trail. Shortly, we found the first of about two dozen plus
trees that were laid across the trail at various spots. We ate lunch at
the top where we usually have lunch but we didn't get there until 2 PM.
Pete went through an entire tank on the chain saw and we didn't make it
through the last set of trees. We got to Hanover about quarter to 6 PM and
man, did those three scoops of Ben and Jerry's ice cream ever taste good!.
Lots of snapped and uprooted trees in the woods both hardwood and softwood.
We commented several times that we were very glad not to have been there
when everything was snapping and cracking. Very extensive damage
throughout the forest lands. They estimate that they will harvest over a
million board feet of pine from the blowdowns and there are already some
logs at landings along the road. All in all it was the longest day spent
on that stretch of trail and I had no trouble sleeping when I got home.

Dad W