Mountains Under Foot

Hi MUFaddicts!

I finally caught up the photos to the current journal entries (Day 96)! Hazard is slowly but surely trying to finish the rest of his journal entries so we can share all of the remaining photos. Stay tuned and check back often because there is much more to come!

Regards,

K

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 96: August 13, 2009
Travel:
From: Rutland, VT
To: Wintturi Shelter, VT
Beginning: 12:15pm
Ending: 9:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 19.9
b) other – .2 to shelter tonight
c) AT Mile Marker – 1710.3 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Sunny and hot, beautiful all day.
PM: Got chilly after dark.
People: Tim, Ranon?, Two pounds, Angry girl from shelter.
Animals: Angry girl from shelter?
Money: $12 resupply, $2 laundry, $12 for new Leki tips, $2 bus ride to trail, $1725 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up feeling refreshed and well rested. Good sleep works wonders on the moral. We decided to walk down to the 24 hour Price Chopper for resupply since it was too early for the Cafe downstairs to be open and we wanted to make sure we left town with enough time to hike and not repeat last night. Our resupply was only to get us 46 miles to Hanover so it was fast and really cheap. We went back to the bunkhouse and dropped off the food and then collected our laundry so we could have that rolling during breakfast. We went downstairs and saw that breakfast was a spread of quinoa, feta cheese, diced tomato, and a cucumber and red onion salad. There was wheat bread and orange juice served as well. While Spoon and I ate, Tim came strolling into the Cafe looking for us. He brought us Snickers bars and asked if we needed a ride to the outfitters or anywhere else. He even suggested that if we wanted to skip the work for stay, he would settle our debts here and get us to the trailhead. Unfortunately our clothes still needed to dry and Ranon, the head honcho around here, sat down near us and started asking us about what kind or work we’d be interested in. Apparently a U-Haul van was coming that needed to be unloaded so we agreed to help out with that. I walked with Tim out to his truck and he wondered where we would be tomorrow and I told him our plans. He said excitedly that he was starting a day hike a few miles north, heading south, from where we would be starting in the morning and that we would cross paths. He wondered, “If I had an extra Gatorade and snacks do you think you could take that extra weight off of me?” I told him I imagined we could handle that task if we bumped into him. Pumped that we would get a 3rd day of magic from Tim, I went inside to tell Spoon the good news. I think I can blame the U-Haul for taking up our time and not allowing us to move our clothes over to the dryer because when we finally got our clothes drying we had more time to kill. We figured it would be a good idea to spend that time in the library up the street checking email and uploading pictures/journals. Rutland was the only town we actually had to go through the process of filling out paperwork to get a computer access card before being allowed to get on the computers. Once we had spent enough time on the computers for our clothes to be dryed 2-3 times over, we headed back to the Cafe. We collected our clothes, packed our packs, and searched or a way to get back to the trail. Lucky for us a bus leaves from behind the Cafe and has a stop where the AT crosses the highway, but it was scheduled to leave really soon. We still wanted to try and get some repairs done for our hiking poles as Spoon’s pole needed some kind or superglue or duct tape to keep the top half from sliding off the bottom half and I had broken both of my tips simultaneously yesterday and I was worried about damaging the poles further without replacements. The lady in the outfitter next door hooked us up quickly and we bolted for the bus.

PM: Two pounds was on the bus as well and she was returning to the trail further south than where we got off, so we never saw her again. We didn’t waste any time getting moving down the trail and a mile down the way was where the Long Trail and the AT split. The Long Trail heads north towards Canada and the AT heads east towards New Hampshire and the White Mountains. The trail took us down to Gifford Woods State Park where we stopped and had lunch. The trail continued around to the edge of Kent Pond. It was one of those beautiful days where you can see the sky reflected in the water and it did a great job in distracting me from keeping an eye on the trail. We skirted around the pond and then headed to a relocated section of trail that eliminated the road walk on Thundering Brook Road and River Road and added a wheelchair-accessible bridge over the Ottauqueechee River. Just after the bridge we began our climb up Quimby Mtn. where we ran into a cooler labled “Thru-hikers Only”. “Hey that’s us!”, I exclaimed, and ice cold trail magic was had by the both of us. It was days like this where the sun shined really bright and the views were breathtaking that really made Vermont stand out among some of the other states. The next couple of hours however took us over a rollercoaster-like series of mountains that wore me out. One part even had a ladder to climb down the sheer embankment. Before we knew it, it was getting dark and we were in for another late night. Thankfully the trail had gotten much easier so the nighthiking wasn’t a complete nightmare. However when we got to the shelter around 9pm and started to unpack we awoke and disturbed a demon from within. Yes, it is poor hiker etiquette to come into a campsite late and make noise, yet it is in even poorer taste to continually verbally attack and slander us even after we apologized and ceased to make noise. The butting of heads between this ball of anger and us really destroyed the mood that night and made me really not want to wake up and possibly have to deal with her the next morning. Sadly I don’t think any of us handled things the right way that night, so a lot of bad feelings were floating around.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 95: August 12, 2009
Travel:
From: Greenwall Shelter, VT
To: Rutland, VT
Beginning: 8:30am
Ending: 9:15pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 25.2
b) other – .3 to trail from Greenwall, .2 to and from Clarendon for lunch.
c) AT Mile Marker – 1690.4 cumulative
Weather:
AM & PM: Sunny and hot.
People: Topshelf & Geeza, Tim Jones, Fiddle (Pico camp), Not-so-crazy, Two Pounds.
Animals: Furry ground creatures.
Money: $0, $1697 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: The sun shined brightly on our lazy morning. We were the second to last pair to leave the shelter, but since we are so fast on the trail we ended up passing everyone who left before us. As we surged up yet another Bear Mtn. passing people along the way, I was surprised at how well graded this portion of trail was. Once over the top of Bear Mtn, the trail continued to be really easy until we started descending into Clarendon Gorge where it got slippery steep. I blame the pine needles and wet rocks. At the bottom, the Mill River raged under a really narrow suspension bridge that bucked wildly as we stomped across it. On the other side was a short climb to VT 103 and a water drop. Spoon filled his Platypus from the water jugs on the side of the trail while I waited and took pictures of flowers. Once I topped off my Camelbak, we crossed the highway and cruised up the next mountain. At the top we met a couple named Topshelf and Geeza. They had gone 1/2 a mile down the highway this morning to the Whistle Stop Corner Restaurant for breakfast and gave it high remarks. Unfortunately we couldn’t afford to go back and pick up some food no matter how good it sounded. But since it was getting close to lunchtime we hastily hiked to Clarendon Shelter for lunch.

PM: Clarendon Shelter was a huge shelter built on the edge of a grassy clearing that got a lot of sunlight and even had a glass window on the back wall of the shelter. Very classy. For weeks the bottom of my pack has been rubbing my lower back so badly, the skin is gone and it has become very painful to walk sometimes. For 95 days I had packed my bag a certain way and now was the time to try something new. I took my clothes bag from the main compartment and switched it with my sleeping bag in the bottom compartment were the rubbing was occurring. Thankfully this solution actually worked and from then on the severity of my packrash was lessened. A couple of miles down the trail we crossed Lower Cold River Rd. where a pickup truck was sitting on the side of the road. A gentlemen by the name of Tim Jones greeted us and offered us ice cold water and cookies. While we indulged in the super cold water and snacks, Tim asked us about our journey so far and he was thoroughly impressed with how fast we were going. He told us about the cache of cold sodas at Upper Cold River Road provided by Madhatter(?) to congratulate us on having only 500 miles left to Baxter Peak. Since we still had a long way to go we said goodbye to Tim, but not before getting his card just in case we really got into a pickle. Right where Tim had told us was a cooler full of Coca-Cola so we had another break to take in refreshments. At this point the clock was really against us and unless we made spectacular time over Killington, we were in for some night hiking. Thanks to the deep mud, slick rocks and roots, and seemingly endless climb to the top of Killington, we made horrible time. Once at the top we even took the wrong trail down and ended up out on the bare ski slopes of Killington Resort. Once we figured out where to go and started making our way toward US 4 we were exhausted from slogging through the muck and it was apparent that we were going to be in for a long night. Since we didn’t have any more food it was imperative that we got to Rutland or else we’d starve. Night fell and we still weren’t anywhere close to the road and it wasn’t until shortly after 9pm that we broke free of the woods and landed on the shoulder of the highway. The traffic was pretty light and even worse for the traffic going toward town so I pulled out Tim’s card to call in a favor. I caught him right as he and his wife were headed to bed, but he understood that the chances of us getting a hitch out there was close to zero at this time of night and he agreed to come take us into town. Tim dropped us off at the Back Home Again Cafe which had a hostel upstairs. We thanks Tim and his wife over and over again and then went inside. A bunch of thru-hikers (including Two Pounds) were sweeping and mopping the floors and no one of any authority seemed to be around. Thankfully a hiker named Not-so-crazy took care of us and brought us ice water, told us where to find the bunks, and showed us to the delicious pizza laid out for the hikers. I pretty much ate, showered, and passed out on the comfort of a mattress and sheets. It was truly a long day.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 94: August 11, 2009
Travel:
From: Bromley Shelter, VT
To: Greenwall Shelter, VT
Beginning: 8:40am
Ending: 7:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 22.6
b) other – .3 to shelter tonight
c) AT Mile Marker – 1665.2 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Little spurts of rain here and there. Misty and wet at the top of Bromley Mtn. Then the sun came out after we dropped some elevation.
PM: Sunny and cloudy skies all day. Warm. Around 5:30pm a flash thunderstorm soaked us and then the sun was out right afterwards.
People: Bugman & Two Pounds, Yukon Rasputin, Hot Sauce and Ishmael, Jane from Maine.
Animals: Moose tracks! But no moose.
Money: $0, $1697 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up to a misty morning, ate, then packed up our still moist gear. Since the shelter was perched on the side of the mountain we still needed to get over the summit. As we got near the summit, the trail took us onto a ski slope (there was no snow) and we hiked up this ski slope to the summit of Bromley Mtn. At the top was a lodge, observation tower and high speed ski lift that wasn’t in operation of course. Since the weather was still nasty we didn’t spend any time wondering how odd it was to be on top of a ski mountain in the summer. We started heading down as a girl named Two Pounds was taking her leave as well. We just had to ask how she got the name and the story goes that she once carried two pounds of cheese on the trail, which is pretty crazy by hiker standards. After tackling Bromley we had to go up Styles Peak and Peru Peak. Although the sun came out Spoon was feeling pretty down and out. His motivation for hiking was lacking and at the top of Peru Peak Spoon requested a rest break and we pulled out snacks and hydrated. After laying in the sun for a while we made our way down to the shelter which for a pay site wasn’t very special. We decided to just have lunch there while we had access to a picnic table.

PM: While eating we realized that we recognized two of the hikers relaxing in the shelter. It was none other than Kendra and Wes who we met on day 3 on Blood Mountain and are now Hot Sauce and Ishmael and thru-hiking SOBO just like they said 91 days ago! It was cool to hang out with them and see how they were doing as thru-hikers almost 2 months into their hike. We wished them luck on their hike and continued on with our sunny day. Baker Peak was a highlight as we got to climb up a bald rock face to the summit and got fantastic views at the top. We thought the flawless afternoon weather would last but around 5:30pm a flash thunderstorm soaked us for a good 20 minutes and then the sun came back out like nothing happened. As evening fell we passed quite an unusual sight that I can only describe as a rock cairn garden. I imagine hikers over the years have come by and made their contributions to the area. There were precariously stacked rocks everywhere, piles that seemed to defy gravity, and even a rock arch. It was really very impressive. When we rolled into camp, there were already a lot of people there that had set up a tarp over the picnic table and already started a fire. We met Jane from Maine who was finishing her week long hike with her family. She has been gradually hiking the trail one section at a time and was going home tomorrow. That meant lots of food that they didn’t need to carry out with them. She fixed us hot chocolate, gave us snacks and other food to put into our dinner, and generally took care of us. It was like having your mom out on the trail. After getting a full belly and drying out our sweat soaked clothes next to the fire, it was time for sleep.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 93: August 10, 2009
Travel:
From: Story Spring Shelter, VT
To: Bromley Shelter, VT
Beginning: 9:00am
Ending: 7:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 23.1
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 1642.6 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast and wet everywhere. Hiked to the top of Stratton Mtn in a mist.
PM: Sunny and I saw some blue sky peek out for a bit.
People: One guy from the shelter last night, new guy from shelter tonight (SOBO sectioner). Catherine! Crocstar.
Animals: Mini-bear! (Chipmunk), Wolf prints.
Money: $0, $1697 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: The wind was whipping hard all night and the rain seemed to fall continuously as well. Thankfully when the morning came, everything seemed to have calmed down. Croc had taken a beating from the weather last night as the whole hammock system failed him. The rainfly wasn’t set up properly so the rain got in and soaked his sleeping bag making sleep very difficult. Pretty much all of his gear ended up getting wet and things weren’t looking up in terms of the weather as the cloud cover stayed pretty thick all morning. So he was plowing through cigarettes during breakfast, clearly having a rough time. This was one of the few days where we were the last ones out of camp. We had three and a half miles of easy terrain before we got to the base of Stratton Mountain. During the steep climb as we gained elevation, we disappeared into the clouds and the mist. Once at the top, the wind cut through my clothes and the visibility was so low that it felt pointless to be on top of the mountain. We had a hasty lunch while talking to the caretaker living in a shack on top of the mountain then made our way down. Since we had entered the Green Mountains at the MA/VT border the GMC (Green Mountain Club) has many caretakers present on the trail, mainly at high use fee campsites, to educate hikers about Leave No Trace practices and perform Trail and shelter maintenance.

PM: On the north side of Stratton Mountain 1500′ down was Stratton Pond, the first of many fee sites. The trail followed the shore of the pond for awhile and all along that section of trail was the evidence that a pack of wolves had traveled on this trail recently and taken drinks from the pond. Dense paw prints were everywhere and they continued for quite awhile up the trail. It is not uncommon for animals to use the AT much like us humans do for traveling long distances. Late in the afternoon the sky cleared up and the sun decided to make an appearance which drove my spirits higher. Even if the muddy trail persisted, it felt great to finally have things start to dry. I was in a good mood so I gave Catherine a call to see how she was doing being back home in NC from Alaska. So I went, dodging mud pools with my poles in one hand and the phone in the other until I came upon Spoon and Croc at the trail intersection for William B. Douglas Shelter where I told her I’d have to call her back. Throughout the day Croc seemed miserable and toyed with the idea of stopping early to dry out and get some sleep. He decided this shelter would be a good place for him to call it a day and since he didn’t need to go into Rutland for resupply he figured he would catch up in the next couple days or at least by Hanover. We said goodbye to Crocstar for now and wished him well. He would be racing against the clock to get to Hanover before noon on Saturday by stopping early. Spoon and I pushed on and I called Catherine back. By the time I got to VT 11/30 my phone battery was getting low so I said goodbye and made the final two miles up to Bromley Shelter. On the way up I was passed by a fellow who without any prompting told me that the shelter was 50 minutes away. Having just passed a sign that led me to believe I was no more than a mile away and not sure I heard him correctly I retorted, “15 minutes away?” He confirmed the 50 minute estimate and instead of arguing the point I just kept walking. Exactly 20 minutes later I arrived at the shelter. Bromley Shelter had a massive lower sleeping area plus a loft and a huge covered cooking area with seating all around. With only one other hiker we got to spread all our stuff out to dry overnight and have plenty of room to sleep. I had the whole loft to myself.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 92: August 9, 2009
Travel:
From: Bennington, VT
To: Story Spring Shelter, VT
Beginning: 12:45pm
Ending: 7:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 19
b) other – 2 miles to Price Chopper
c) AT Mile Marker – 1619.5 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast all morning with dark clouds rolling in.
PM: As soon as we got on the trail it started to rain. Walked in a cloudy mist for awhile too. Rain let up for a few hours in the late afternoon, then cranked back as soon as I start cooking dinner
People: Chris, Arla, Josh, Bookworm, Frankenfoot, One-step, man in suit hitching out of town, our hitches around and out of town. Crocstar.
Animals: Not even animals can stand the rain so they were in hiding.
Money: $5 breakfast, $25 resupply. $1702 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up in Chris’s garage feeling really good from the night’s rest. We had to find a way to get across town to the grocery store for resupply and find a place for breakfast. Chris told us that a bus service runs from a stop near his house, so we grabbed the flyer with the bus schedule and headed out. We got to the bus stop with plenty of time and scraped together 50 cents each for our fare. The time for the bus to arrive came and went and we were perplexed as to what the problem was. Well today is Sunday and the bus doesn’t run on weekends. Perfect. The three of us then walked down the street to the gas station so Crocstar could get his coffee and to see if we could bum a ride. That fizzled out pretty fast so we had to just start walking. The map in the guidebook made it seem like it wasn’t too far but it ended up taking forever and we had to stop for directions at least once. By the time we got over to the highway that the grocery was on we were pretty hungry and the only option was a McDonald’s. I felt bad for eating there even as a thru-hiker. Afterwards, we made our way to the Price Chopper to resupply to get us to Rutland. While standing in line I guess the lady we bummed a savings card from figured we were hikers and while Spoon and I sat on the curb waiting for Croc to come out she walked up and handed us a package of cookies and said, “Just imagine that these are from your mothers.” We thanked her profusely and unfortunately she was going the other direction or she would have given us a ride. After Croc came out we stood on the street corner with the sign we made from a piece of cardboard we found in the store. We must have stood there for 30 minutes with people ignoring us. One car asked us how much money we had (to pay them for a ride) and one guy even offered us some ding-dongs (cream filled chocolate pastry) which we happily accepted. We were out there for so long that I went into the Wendy’s behind us and asked for some cups of water. After changing locations, it wasn’t long before we finally got a ride. Once we got back to the house we repackaged our food and listened to how upset Bookworm was that he saw Boofer get a ride from an attractive female. She was loading his backpack into her trunk and he flashed a thumbs up to Bookworm. Whatever that thumbs up meant, Bookworm was jealous. Side note: We never saw Boofer again. After we were all packed up we thanked Chris and Arla for their generosity and kindness and made our way down the street to Four Corners where the outfitter was and best chance for a hitch out of town. Croc picked up more Deet while Spoon and I perused the store shelves. Then it was time to look pretty and find a ride.

PM: It is important to note that the town of Bennington is full of life sized moose painted in all sorts of artistic fashion. There’s the pirate moose, the corporate moose, the hiker moose, the Van Gogh moose, but we choose to stand next to the hippie moose to boost our chances of success. It really didn’t help because we waited around for at least 45 minutes before a couple of guys in a big SUV picked us up. They had moved up to Vermont from North Carolina and commented on how similar they were except for the snow. As we drove out of town toward the trailhead it began to drizzle, but even as Led Zeppelin came over the radio, I couldn’t help to be bummed out about the miles ahead. Much like our descent straight down to the road, the climb back out was steep. Once we got to the top the clouds had rolled in and a fine mist blew all around us. A long miserable hike in the rain followed where I passed some cool looking ponds and climbed a few mountains but on days like these you just fall into a zombie hiking mode that blocks out most of what’s happening around you. When I finally got to the shelter I came upon a swarm of hikers, most of which I had never met. Spoon and Croc informed me that the shelter was full so we got to work on setting up the tarp tent for the first time. There were probably 3-4 other tents up around the area but we found a decent spot and within minutes we had shelter. Spoon went to help Croc set up Spoon’s hammock and rainfly since Croc had sent his tarp home to try out the hammock instead. I went back over to the shelter to use the picnic table for cooking, but no sooner did I have everything set up did the sky open up and start raining. I scrambled to collect everything and get it over to our tent for protection. Spoon was also frantically trying to get his pack and gear under the vestibule. Once we got settled, I finished cooking from the comfort of the tent and besides slinging the dirty pot water into the woods after cleaning we didn’t move. How come every time you get a new tent, the first time you set it up, it is in the rain?