Date: 2007-07-22
From: Quimby Mtn

To: camped 2 miles past Wintturi Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

It was wonderful to wake up to find my tent was dry in the morning. I had hung up my hiking clothes last night and they were also dry. Recently the humidity level has been so high, nothing was drying, which meant putting on cold wet clothes in the morning. Yuck. Bugbite and I had packed up our gear and started hiking by 7:30. We hiked about 3.5 miles to Stony Brook Shelter. We found Leader of the Pack there still in his sleeping bag at 9:00. I filtered some water from the brook and we ate breakfast and talked to Leader of the Pack. A little later, Lakewood showed up. He is another fast north bounder (nobo) who started in May. We caught up on who had seen who and where. Then, HP (Hot Pursuit) showed up. He is a south bounder (sobo). We exchanged information on places to stay and trail issues. Bugbite and I left and soon ran into some more sobos, Prancer and Twix. Again we exchanged trail info. Lakewood caught up to and passed us shortly after that. I don't expect to see him again. A little further down the trail I met Brit, sobo from England, and Smoky (sobo).It was a beautiful day on the trail. Clear blue skies and bright sunshine in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon. The high today was probably in the mid 70s. It felt like an early spring day. I stopped to take a break near a dirt road and stream. Bugbite caught up and also took a break. Then, Olivier came by and stopped. He is from France. He is here for a few weeks and is hiking from New York to the NH/ME border. He has been hiking sections of the AT each year. Next, Yellow Bird, another sobo, stopped and chatted.I hiked up to The Lookout. It is an old cabin with a ladder up to an observation platform on the roof. There is a sign stating it is private property and you enter at your own risk. Inside the cabin is a note to hikers asking them to keep the place clean. From the roof platform you can see 360 degree views. Again today I could see Killington Peak. It looked so far away and yet I walked from there just over 24 hours ago. I would never have thought it was possible to walk to that far in a day.I met four more sobos today: Connor, Amanda, Teapot, and Rambo. Tea Pot is probably the second biggest guy I have seen on the trail (Gorilla is the biggest) and Rambo is a petite girl. Trail names are great.I had only met two sobos before yesterday, then I met four yesterday and 10 today. Lakewood has been asking the sobos how many nobos they have seen. They are estimating only 40 nobos ahead of us. I was shocked. I was number 181 at Harpers Ferry and I know I have passed some, but I thought there would still be 120 or so north of me.As I was hiking along today thinking of the sobos and the fast nobos, I reflected on my hike and some other events in my life. I remember reading a note on my second grade report card that said I was capable of doing the work, but I was very slow. (Not a slow learner, just slow taking my time). Then I remembered the third grade report card with the unsatisfactory in physical education, because I couldn't jump rope. I reflected on this. Today I don't pass many hikers on the trail. Many more pass me. I am persistent though and hike longer hours and four months into this hike I am almost through Vermont. I have never been a great athlete, but I always get to the finish line and enjoy the event. I have gotten pretty good at hiking uphill and am faster uphill than many who hike faster than me on level ground or downhill. I think this is because I focus on my breathing and hiking when I am climbing a hill. Other times my mind is wandering around and my body is just in cruise control just lazily following the trail.Today was a wonderful day on the trail. I can't imagine anything being any better than it was today, except of course if I had seen a moose instead of moose droppings.