Date: 2008-07-08
From: Minerva Hinchey Shelter VT

To: Cooper Lodge Shelter VT
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: broken clouds

Day 142 Tuesday July 8 ¢ Cooper Lodge Shelter VT - Miles Today: 13.8 Total Miles: 1681.9We had some excitement before dark last night. We heard a stick break about 20 yards behind the tent, peaked out and saw a bear!   He was scurrying through the woods, so Brakeman did not need to throw any rocks this time. A few minutes later some casual hikers came into camp. We believe that they probably had startled the bear, causing it to scurry through the woods past us. We got out of our tent and made sure all the other campers in the area were aware of the bear sighting and to make sure they practiced proper bear safety in hanging their food. Rather than frighten the young Farm and Wilderness hikers, we approached one of their team leaders and quietly told him the news so he could handle the situation appropriately with the kids. This morning, upon seeing how the casual hikers hung their food, we had to chuckle. They hung their food 10' from the ground but just 1' from the tree trunk. Ah, bears know how to climb trees! Luckily the bear had moved on to greener pastures and didn't come through our area last night. Last night was pretty hot all night long and did not make for good sleeping, at all. It was just too humid. Because of the big hike up Killington, we decided to start a little bit earlier, even though the number of miles for today was low. At our breakfast break, we checked for voice mail messages and unfortunately had one from Grasshopper's doctor stating that her Lyme disease test came back positive this time. Luckily we have been carrying doxycycline since Georgia, in the event that one of us contracted Lyme. Grasshopper has started taking the 2-week supply of antibiotics. We just hope that our 9-month old antibiotics that have been with us through freezing temps as well as 100-degree temps are still good. We've left a voice mail message with the doctor to see if our antibiotics are OK or if we need to pick up fresh ones in Hanover. We headed down the trail with heavy hearts and Grasshopper with tears and sniffles. Let us just hope there are no long-term ramifications of this disease. The climb up Killington wasn't too bad after all. The trail wasn't too terribly rocky, but it was plenty rooty as the trail went up, over and around lots of rooty trees. But all in all, not a bad day. It was a hot day, though. It was very humid first thing in the morning and stayed pretty humid all day long. Luckily, just before we began the big ascent we came across Trail Magic - an ice chest filled with Cokes and Mountain Dew and a plastic container filled with peanut butter crackers and cheddar cheese crackers! The Trail Angel even provided us a chair! We would never have dreamed that something as simple as a chair and a coke would bring us so much pleasure. We had a little rest break enjoying the treats before our final climb of the day. When we arrived at camp, two 17-year-olds were coming down from the Killington summit side trail.   They had taken the ski chair lift into the town to a restaurant and were carrying 2 styrofoam containers of food back to the shelter. As soon as Grasshopper saw them, she was up to her normal yoging activities. A normal person would have said, ¢Hello¢, but Grasshopper said, "Oh, you've brought us lunch". It rendered them totally speechless. After a pregnant pause, we said we were just teasing. That caused them to find their vocal cords again, and they said they bought extra in case a thru-hike wanted it. Well, wouldn¢t you know that would be us! They had a hamburger and fries in one container and a salad in the other container. They offered us the salad, which had really nice lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, purple onions and a package of Italian dressing. It was very tasty. We had to eat it with our fingers though as it's impossible to eat a salad with a spoon ¢ our only utensil on the trail. We've had more Trail Magic in 3 days than we've had in a long, long time. Life is pretty darn sweet. And to top off the Trail Magic even more, the two 17-year-olds have a tradition of making brownies or cake each night and sharing it with whoever is in the shelter. Well, dang if that wasn¢t us again!   Tonight, their dessert menu was brownies. Very tasty! You probably think that¢s the end of the Trail Magic for today, right? Wrong. Hawk gave us some M&Ms! Thanks again Hawk!!The two 17-year-olds are hiking for a couple hundred miles in 24 days. They talked about how they really had to prove to their parents that they properly planned for the trip and were prepared for it. They are even doing food drops!We're camped on a platform just .2-mile short of the summit of Killington. The AT does not go to the summit and we have opted out of taking the side trail to the summit, as we think our journey from Georgia to Maine is long enough already! We¢re just trying to get these bodies to that pretty little sign at the top of Katahdin.As we rested in our tent this evening before dark, another group set up their tent on the platform beside us. Turns out it¢s the same 2 boys and their mom who camped beside us last night in two tents. They seem to hike different hours than us. We start at dawn. They finish at dusk. Unfortunately, the one kid lit up a cigarette just a yard or two from our tent. Grasshopper decided to ask him to smoke somewhere else, as Brakeman is allergic to the smoke. Instead, before we knew it, he collapsed his tent and set it up again down by the shelter. Oh well. We just wanted fresh air.On the other tent platform is an older man who we met earlier in the day by the stream, while we both took a food break. Nice guy, but very talkative. Solo hikers usually are.It's a bit windy due to our elevation, 3850', but it¢s nice as it's cooling things down. It's 7:30 and a bit above 75 degrees. Much cooler than last night. Last night we never really got into a deep sleep, so let's hope that the storms stay away from us tonight, the nice breeze continues, and that we get a great night's sleep. Tomorrow we have our biggest day since coming back on the trail. We're going to do 16.3 miles, although the terrain should be easier than today. Grasshopper got her trail legs today! We¢re hoping that Brakeman gets his tomorrow and that we're both good to go again. Brakeman typically gets his trail legs a day or two after Grasshopper. The big news today is that we dropped under 500 miles to go ¢ just 499.3 miles left! WOO HOO!! Goodnight from Killington Peak Vermont.