Ways to Improve Hanover NH

[Tin Man]

I agree with Jack 100% on this one. Don't blaze both sides of the street, or at least not the same color. It might be interesting to blaze one site of the street white and the other side blue -or- Jack's suggested altenate route. The kiosk could then say: whiteblaze hikers are pure, please be kind; blueblaze hikers are trash, please don't feed them.

[neighbor dave]

help me with my memory jack,
isn't there an A.T. sidewalk plaque on the east side of the street, on the corner near the expensive hotel?
the street isn't that wide where if one were to walk on the east side,(todays A.T.) that they wouldn't be able to see those establishments on the west side, maybe even better. plus i think most if not all hikers spend a better part of a day, if not more, on both sides of the street.
i hope this has everything to do with making it better all around for everyone and not some kind of marketing tool.
again, just my opinion/suggestion, not at all looking for a debate.

[Lone Wolf]

i don't get it. for decades the majority of folks attempting a thru-hike don't make it to hanover and the ones that do have no problem gettin' around and finding stuff. why the urgency all of a sudden?

[saimyoji]

Originally Posted by Lone Wolf

i don't get it. for decades the majority of folks attempting a thru-hike don't make it to hanover and the ones that do have no problem gettin' around and finding stuff. why the urgency all of a sudden?

i posted this back in like post # 3 or 4, but someone found it fit to delete.....its all about money. Hanover is feeling the pinch, and wants to pinch as much out of anything they can. we only here about hiking pinch from jack, but i'll bet there's alot more pinch going on in Hangover than we know.

are they looking to pinch thru-hikers? i doubt it, they're too smart up there to believe that can really get much more from thru hikers, but they know they can capitalize on the fact that the trail goes right through their sleepy little town.......

[The Weasel]

If they want to 'pinch' the most money from hikers, they'll blaze the trail for thle side opposite the most hiker-useful stores. That way, hikers cross the street (which isn't really a big effort) to get to those stores, but still use the less-necessary ones on the "blazed" side.

This whole concept is giving me the giggles. I understand Jack's point about confusion if both sides are blazed. But it seems to me to sort of be urban planning gone to the extreme to be making a major effort in deciding which side of a small town main street to paint white marks on. But if it makes Hanover and a few hikers happy, wonderful.

TW

[Jester2000]

Originally Posted by Lone Wolf

i don't get it. for decades the majority of folks attempting a thru-hike don't make it to hanover and the ones that do have no problem gettin' around and finding stuff. why the urgency all of a sudden?

With all of the recent threads about unneccessary rescues and abuse of Spot devices, I would think this would be obvious.

[The Weasel]

Originally Posted by Jester2000

With all of the recent threads about unneccessary rescues and abuse of Spot devices, I would think this would be obvious.

Hanover is going to charge for rescuing hikers who get lost because they are on the wrong side of the street and got confused by multiple blazes? Wow.

TW

[Jester2000]

Originally Posted by The Weasel

Hanover is going to charge for rescuing hikers who get lost because they are on the wrong side of the street and got confused by multiple blazes? Wow.

TW

My original reply to Wolf's comment was longer, but I moved it to the humor forum because it was too far off-topic to be in straight forward.

[vthiker]

Originally Posted by neighbor dave

help me with my memory jack,
isn't there an A.T. sidewalk plaque on the east side of the street, on the corner near the expensive hotel?
the street isn't that wide where if one were to walk on the east side,(todays A.T.) that they wouldn't be able to see those establishments on the west side, maybe even better. plus i think most if not all hikers spend a better part of a day, if not more, on both sides of the street.
i hope this has everything to do with making it better all around for everyone and not some kind of marketing tool.
again, just my opinion/suggestion, not at all looking for a debate.

yup. the plaque is on the east side.
even so, I like Jack's idea of moving the trail to his specs. It does seem to make more sense for all the reasons he states.

[The Weasel]

Originally Posted by Jester2000

My original reply to Wolf's comment was longer, but I moved it to the humor forum because it was too far off-topic to be in straight forward.

Your post in the humor forum wasn't the truth?

TW

[Jack Tarlin]

First of all, nobody is trying to "pinch" hikers here.

The people that started this whole ball rolling had one goal in mind, and one only, and that was to improve hikers' stay in the town of Hanover, period, so that when they left, they'd do so with a good feeling about their stay here.

None of the people involved with this have any hidden agendas or secret plans....if, for one example, the idea was to "pinch" money out of hikers by putting up showers or whatever and charging them for it, well this could have been done many years ago.

Honestly, considering how often we hear about how "positive" long-distance hikers are, and how upbeat they usually are, the ammount of negativity on this thread from its outset, i.e. the carping, whining, suspicions, accusations, etc.....it is frankly astounding.

Some folks in town decide they want to do things to improve the lot of visiting hikers, and they encourage the hiking community to offer suggestions and ideas.

But people who've never been here, or were perhaps here once, years ago, immediately assume that the folks who proposed this initiative have all sorts of dark motives, i.e. "pinching" money from poor unsuspecting hikers.

Absolutely amazing. Some people here really need to get a hobby or a life.

[Tin Man]

Originally Posted by Jack Tarlin

Absolutely amazing. Some people here really need to get a hobby or a life.

Now that's funny. Anyone who has hiked thru Hanover probably spent less time in Hanover than it took to read this thread and probably gave it about 1% of the consideration over all these 'issues'. At least I know I did.

[Creaky]

Good idea, Jack, for the clear set of reasons you mention. This would also be slightly smoother for people who turn left at the top of the hill to go to the DOC, and who eventually need to head down Main Street. As to the plaque in the sidewalk near the Inn, if Hanover wants to keep it right on the trail, it's easy enough to just move it across the street in front of C&G -- or put it in front of the municipal building near a new kiosk.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" would have us still carrying canvas packs. Thoughtful improvement is good.

[superman]

In 2000, I just paused long enough in Hanover to buy some north face hiking gloves. Winter and I shared a Ben and Jerry's ice cream cone. Then we hiked on for 5 miles. I live about 10 miles from Hanover. Occasionally Pat and I will have breakfast at Lou’s. When my son was an undergrad at Bentley College I used to go to the track events in Hanover. It's a nice enough town but as a trail town it’s nothing special. By the time a thru hiker gets to Hanover they can figure out how to get through it.

[jersey joe]

Jack don't sweat the negative comments about what you and the town are trying to do. It is commendable to try to help the people passing through your town. And asking the opinions of people on whiteblaze proves that you are truely interested in what the community is looking for. The arguements that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" or "hikers can figure it out for themselves once they get to hanover" are old, stale arguements that serve to do nothing by stifle progressive thinking.

[The Weasel]

Jack:

Leaving aside some of the humor - successful or not - you're doing a good thing here, for your town and for the trail as it goes through it.

I just noticed, in looking at Norwich Town's website, a reference to the "Upper Valley Trails Alliance", including a pretty cool photo of an AT sign at a trail intersection. I know they aren't the trail maintainers, but they have some detailed references to both the AT and Hanover. It doesn't look like it is purely a VT group. Perhaps they can join in some of your ideas.

http://www.uvtrails.org/about/mission

Good luck; keep on keeping on.

TW

[Lone Wolf]

Originally Posted by superman

It's a nice enough town but as a trail town it’s nothing special. By the time a thru hiker gets to Hanover they can figure out how to get through it. [/font][/size]

that pretty much sums it up

[neighbor dave]

i think the sidewalk plaque should be "on" the A.T.
i wonder how much it'll cost to move it?
i don't think moving the trail from one side of the street to the other will improve the hikers experience, make any difference to the town,or businesses.
the street isn't that wide, long, or confusing to navagate.
in my opinion, this is little more than switching which shoe you put on first each morning.
again, just my opinion.
you all are looking for suggestions and opinions, correct?

a photo of the street
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10108782

[Jack Tarlin]

I am indeed looking for ideas, Dave, and I'm glad to have yours.

I just think it makes more sense to have the Trail on the side of the street where there are more things for hikers, more places of interest to hikers, more places that over the years have welcomed hikers, etc. On one side of the street, there are all sorts of these places. On the other side are exactly two, Lous's and the pharmacy. For all sorts of reasons (that have been mentioned several times now), especially if there's an info kiosk by Town Hall, it makes a lot more sense to have the Trail on the other side of the street. This also includes Lebanon St. where the present Trail goes by NO businesses, as opposed to the suggested other side of Lebanon St., which would bring the Trail by all sorts of eating places, an ice cream shop, an Outdoors Store, etc. In short, moving the Trail slightly makes a lot of sense.

[Chance09]

i just want to say that every time i read the title of this post and see it on the right side of the main page i swear it says "Ways To Improve Hangover" not Hanover. Completely off topic i know, just wanted to say that.