Date: 2003-07-23
From: VT12, 

To: Thistle Hill Shelter (1640') 
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: overcast clouds

"Rain, rain, go away... come again some other day..."   Aloha! Anyone want to guess what I awoke to this morning? If you guessed rain then you're absolutely 100% correct. When I awoke at 5:30 it was pouring. According to Red Beard and Curly, the campers, it started somewhere around the 4:00 timeframe. Maybe camping brook-side wasn't the thing to do after all. Anyway, it poured for quite some time. Once again it was hard for me to get all excited about getting up and out there in it. I did though at 9:15. Oh well, nothing like a real early start... just not today. I was asked today if I would recommend a stay at The Barn in Vermont. That's a hard one to answer. I can't say that I was thrilled with the place but if you need a dry shelter out of the elements with electricity, and potable water across the street, then yes, I'd recommend it. On the other hand, if you don't need those things and can continue on then I'd say pass it by. It's a mixed bag. Please don't misunderstand; I'm in no way complaining. There's someone out here offering a free place to stay out of the elements and there's no way I would knock that. It's just that I've been more comfortable at most all the other hostels. Let me sum it up by saying it's good for it's purpose but it's definitely not Lucy and the Deer Path Hostel. Not by a long shot. But then again, nor is anyone else!   I'm sure this will surprise you but the trail today went UP and down in its lovely roller coaster way. The morning portion was in the rain and the afternoon portion was in the pouring sweat. I was just as wet this afternoon from sweat as I was this morning from the rain. Hard to tell the difference.   Rain with immediate sunshine is really not a good combination. Particularly if you wear glasses!   As for the terrain, it was certainly a mixture. I hiked along with Red Beard and Curly for a short in the morning enjoying both their company and the strange diversity of the terrain. You would walk through a heavily wooded area to come to a "line" where it would become hilly pastureland to another "line" back to woods to another "line" into a pine forest. It was strange but neat at the same time. For the most part I enjoyed it... I think.   There was one portion though where I became slightly frustrated. Vermont has been wonderful regarding trail maintenance... until today. Almost from the beginning of today's hike the trail has been poorly maintained. With tons of blow downs to reroute around or climb over (new ones with green leaves still on are understandable) and overgrown vegetation sometimes higher than I am tall (5'10") off and on for miles, it can become extremely frustrating. I gave up using my poles during this time. The vegetation was too dense to use them either ahead or behind me. The roots and plants would often wrap around your legs and literally trip you. The blow downs could be so large that new trails have been made to get around them. It was bad. I tried to play trail maintainer a bit as I went but ended up giving up and accepting it. Still didn't help the hiking but the mood got better. Okay, enough moaning. There's a whole other area for that.   I'm sure you've noticed the low mileage for the day. I know I did. I arrived here around 3p and debated long and hard about moving on. My original intention had been to continue on to West Hartford and enjoy a deli sandwich at the country store there. Supposedly if you ask the owners about camping in the area they will either allow you to stay there or know of places around town where you could camp. Hummm... risky but feasible. I should go.   While mentally debating the issue I met a new-to-me hiker.   Time out... to shorten some of my descriptions I'd like to introduce you to a couple of hiker acronyms - NOBO and SOBO. In short, NOBO means north bounder and SOBO means, you got it... south bounder. From now on how about we use those terms? Especially since I'm beginning to run into lots of both. Okay by you? Good. Thank you.   Now where was I? Oh yeah, I met a new-to-me NOBO named Elizabeth (no trail name). Elizabeth has just returned to the trail from three weeks off. She has hiked from GA to Harpers Ferry this year and is now jumping in to continue her hike to ME. Say it with me... nice gal. Anyway, while we were chatting she mentioned hitting the country cafe for breakfast since they open early. WOW! An excellent idea! I'd much prefer eggs and pancakes to a deli sandwich. Decision made, I stayed. Now all I have to do is get myself up and out early. Rain or no rain, I'm getting pancakes! Wuhuu! Some people are so much smarter than I!   It's hard to tell you about all my campmates tonight because there are so many. Let's see, there are Red Beard, Curly and Elizabeth whom you've already met. We're all tenting on one of the tent sites together. There are also 5 other NOBOs (got it?) and 5 or 6 SOBOs. All quite entertaining. Crowded though.   One that does come to mind is a guy called Trukin. We chatted for a while. He was hoping for a nice young Hawaiian gal when we met. He's been reading my register entries for months now and had his fingers crossed. Fooled him! Anyway, he's also from Texas so we had lots to chat about. He's from Texas and wants to move to Hawaii. You gotta like a guy like that!   Alrighty, I believe it's bedtime. I really do want to get up and out in the morning. Besides not being a mid-day hiker, pancakes sound so good right now. There's also the fact that I can smell myself and that's bad. I may decide to try and make it to Hanover and the frat house. I'll tell you about that later. To do so though I need to get going early. Guess we'll see tomorrow, huh.   For now, you go shower again but this time for me and I'll dream sweet fresh air dreams for you in return. Take care and we'll chat tomorrow.BSandTs: sweat, sweat and more sweatAandps: left arch continues to improve but there are moments where the foot swells for a short. Also have a new bruised feeling pain on the toenail of my little toe on the right foot. Don't even know what that's all about all of a sudden.MandGs: AandPs and unmaintained trails... waah!Critter count: 7x Red Efts, 1x ugly toad, 1x cute chipmunk