Date: 2008-06-14
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter VT

To: Kid Gore Shelter VT
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: broken clouds

Day 118 ¢ Saturday June 14 ¢ Kid Gore Shelter VT ¢ Miles Today: 12.8 Total Miles: 1612.7Brakeman had an exciting evening last night; Grasshopper slept through it all. Apparently we pitched our tent on a path that is used by 2 beavers to travel between their dam/den and their wood source. Brakeman heard them go back and forth all night long. The first time they approached the tent, they stopped short of the tent and Brakeman could just imagine them saying, "What the heck is that big orange thing in my way?" They then moseyed on around us, banging their tails as they went. Unfortunately it was quite a sleepless night for Brakeman. In the morning when Grasshopper woke up she looked over and there's Brakeman sleeping with his headlamp on. He¢d been checking out the situation most of the night. He didn¢t want to shine the light directly at the beaver¢s eyes so he never really got a look at them. I think he just likes to sleep with his headlamp on now. Perhaps he¢s afraid of the dark.Today is the first time that Brakeman has ever said that he is ready for a zero day - his body is wearing down and his knees are tired of braking. Quite unbelievable that Marathon Man Brakeman himself needs a break. For now we¢ll probably push on through Manchester Center and take a night or two in Hanover to rest. We'll have to wing it and see what happens. We saw tons and tons and tons of moose poop and some moose prints in the mud today, but no moose. We got confirmation from others that the scat we are seeing is moose scat. According to the registers, moose have been sighted in this area. We're going to try to keep out eyes peeled in the boggy areas and around ponds to see if we can't find ourselves a moose. Grasshopper saw a red fox on the trail ahead of us but it went running up the trail before Brakeman was able to see it.Today, the humidity arrived. We had a couple isolated thunders in the afternoon, but no rain. We got to camp about 2:30 and immediately had to dive for our leggings as the black flies were just all over us. They are out in volumes, especially at the shelters. It's probably horrible wherever you stop, but the shelters seem to be overcome by them. We're in our tent right now and literally counted over 200 black files at the end of our tent where the rain fly comes down the wall. Grasshopper has about 6-8 black fly bites right along the hairline on just one side of her face. In addition to the black flies, we, of course, still have mosquitoes. And then, within the last couple days, the biting deer fly arrived ¢ like a horse fly, but smaller.   We are getting eaten alive! It's like the TV reality show where contestants have to lay in a see-through tank filled with snakes and critters to see how long you can last. The AT has taken on a new dimension. It's not just the miles now; it's survival. We're going to have to get a T-shirt that says, "I gave blood".We're at the shelter with a 70-year-old section-hiker, who is coming down homestretch on completing the entire trail! Congratulations to her. I believe she has New Hampshire and part of Maine left so she's actually not too far off where we are. I believe she started hiking sections of the trail in 1996. We ate our dinner sitting on the top bunk in the shelter where the black flies do not appear to have found yet. Yeah! The uncooked stuffing tasted fine, however, Grasshopper did not seem to have her normal appetite and seemed lethargic. Mind you, she still ate her normal helping, but gave a few extra bites to Brakeman. One of the register entries noted that somebody could see the Whites in the distance! We could not see them today, as it is quite gray and cloudy. The shelter also mentioned a porcupine that liked to visit the shelter at night and chew on the wood platforms. We could see the evidence! We mentioned this to the 70-year-old lady section hiker and she promptly moved her belongings to the upper bunk!For the last couple nights, Grasshopper has experienced restless foot syndrome - like electric nerve shocks firing through her feet and interrupting her sleep for hours. I think we're both feeling a bit tired from the heat, the bugs, the restless nights due to beavers and restless feet so hopefully things will settle back down here again soon. We do know that the black fly season ends in early July so maybe we'll zero for a couple weeks. Just kidding!We are hearing that this evening, or possibly as late as 1:00 in the morning, there's to be a good thunderstorm. It's about 6:00 and the storms haven't come yet. We've pitched our tent at the only tenting spot at this shelter. I'm not quite sure if it's a really good site for a strong rain but we did what we could and we shall see how we survive. A little cool breeze is coming in our rain fly opening. We¢re going to call it a night here soon. The weather forecast for the next few days is calling for humid days with afternoon storms likely at any point in time. Sounds like we have our work cut out for us for a while. Goodnight from over 1600 miles! WOO HOO!!