I left Goddard this morning at six forty five wearing my rain kilt. The dew last night was heavy and it was cold, some where just below fifty. I quickly warmed up the last quarter mile up Glastenbury. The top is wooded, mainly hemlocks, and I didn't feel like climbing forty feet up the fire tower. Shortly after the trail started downwards, I heard a crash in the bushes just to the right of the trail and a moose walked out onto the trail! I reached for my camera but he turned away and all I got was his backside. So cool to see a moose in southern Vermont!
I was pushing today, and got to Story Spring shelter about ten thirty. The spring there was cold and clear, so I spent an hour eating an early lunch then headed for Stratton Mountain. The long four mile climb up almost two thousand feet was tough, lots of roots and rocks. The top has another fire tower, again I didn't climb it. There's a side trail that leads half a mile to the Stratton Ski Basin gondola, but that only runs on weekends in the summer. There's a good spring just north of the summit.
The hike down was almost as tough as the climb, mainly because I was tired. I got to the shelter and dumped my gear. It's a huge place, room for sixteen at least and a porch with built in chairs. The water is a spring down almost on the pond shore, again cold and clear. The shelter has a caretaker and charges five dollars to stay but the receipt is good for two shelters north of here. The caretaker, Trail name Smurf, is a grade school teacher in real life. She gets to stay out here eight days at a time and is a very pleasant person.
Young Gun and Rainbow decided to stealth camp north of here, we're almost at the ¾ mark on our journey north. Beerman is here, and six or so section hikers.
While I was cooking supper, it started raining; lucky again!
8/15/15 - Green Mountain Hostel, Manchester Center, VT
A hiker and his dog came into the shelter last night about 2am and woke me up with an intense white light. I had a hard time going back to sleep, especially since a different hiker was snoring as if he'd swallowed a whistle.
I needed to get to Manchester before the post office closed at noon, so I rolled out of bed at 4:45, packed up, woke up the late hiker who was sleeping at the picnic table and started hiking just before six.
About a mile into the morning, I crossed a couple of small streams, trickles really. One of them was on this year's 75% point for NOBOers. I took a picture of the next stream, which has a bridge over it. Young Gun and Rainbow had tented just past it.
Despite the dim morning light (I'd started out with my headlamp), the damp rocks, roots and bogs, I made good time, so when I got to Prospect Rock overlooking town I took a picture. When I almost reached the trailhead, I was soaking wet with sweat. I stopped about two hundred yards out and stripped off right out in the woods and changed into dry clothes.
I called a cab and got to the post office a bit before eleven. No package! Another hiker I knew, Shades, was outside waiting on Jeff Taussig, the hostel owner, so I caught a ride to here. Jeff then drove me around until we found my box at the outfitter, whet is sent it, then drove me back to the post office before noon so I could bounce it forward to Hanover, NH.
We went back to the hostel, a nice two story home really, I did laundry and hung out. Jeff then took Shades am I into town for lunch and resupply. After finishing shopping, I saw Miss Janet in the parking lot! We caught up on events, mainly the recent closing a of hiker facilities after stupid drunks abused them and she gave me ride back to the hostel.
I plan on skipping my zero here, despite how nice it is, and bank it, probably to use in a week up in Hanover when it already looks like rain. I'll take the planned zero in Rutland in four days, but Beerman and I will split up there as he will not be going into town there at all. On my own again.
8/16/15 - Peru Peak shelter
I weighed myself at Greenmountain hostel and I weighed 170 pounds. I also with my pack with 1 1/2 L of water and four days worth of food it weighs 32 pounds. I think that's great considering all of the stuff I've had the temptation to acquire over the course of this trip.
Beerman and I took a late start out of the hostel today with Shades. I didn't want to leave, even though I did. The Leaving Town Blues I call it. It didn't help that I had showed Beerman my schedule and he pointed out some areas on the Whites where I was over optimistic, so I had to add in extra days. So now I'm set to finish on October 3rd instead of September 30th. I'm bummed; there has to be a way around this.
8/17/15 - Greenwall shelter
I rolled out of camp to another damp trail full of slick rocks and bogs. But the grade wasn't bad today and I made it to Little Rock Pond by lunch. I took about an hour to eat and read a book, the puddled the last five miles to here. I passed through some nice hemlock and balsam spruce stands and past the Rock Gardens where hikers have piled the rocks, even piled them on tree branches!
There were a fair number of SOBOers on trail today, and I knew one of them. Kinder is a section hiker I met down near Roan Mountain, TN. She was hiking north, finishing that section. How nice to run into her again up here, it really brightened my day.
Beerman wants to do a 19miler tomorrow to Cooper Lodge up on Killington Peak. Ugh!
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