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.
