Date: 2005-07-09
From: Cooper Lodge

To: Back Home Again Hostel
Miles today: 10.6

Miles hiked today : 10.69.5 AT miles + 1.1 roadwalk milesI woke up this morning at 5:00 a.m., packed up, and hiked out with Opa at 5:45 a.m. It had rained throughout the night and didn't let up during in time to begin hiking. In fact, the rain continued to fall all morning with varying levels of intensity. Slogging was the order of the day, as the trail was flooded. I had several slips, but no falls, thankfully. I reached Churchill Scott Shelter at 7:40 a.m., having covered 4.4 miles, and found that only 2 people had stayed the night. This was a litle disappointing, as our group had speculated that the shelter would be full with Long Trail (LT) and AT hikers. It turns out that the LT hikers had continued on to go to a party at The Inn at Long Trail. I stopped for a 25 minute rest break before contnuing on.I reached Maine Junction at 8:50 a.m., which marked the end of sharing trail with the LT. At 9:20 a.m., I reached Sherburne Pass Trail and at 10:15 a.m., I arrived at Gifford Woods State Park. 5 minutes later, I reached VT100 and roadwalked to the Killington post office, arriving at 10:35 a.m.I picked up my maildrop and as I walked out of the post office, Turtle and Michael arrived at the post office. They hadn't left until 7:00 a.m. and had high-tailed it to make it to the post office before it closed. I told them that Opa and I would meet them at the deli / grocery a couple doors down and went to get lunch and to do some grocery shopping.While paying for my deli sandwich and groceries, a couple in line asked me questions about my trip and I gave them some information for an overnight trip they were planning. They asked if there was anything they could do to help and I when I mentioned that my friends and I were trying to get a ride to the movie theater in the next town, Rutland, they loaded the 4 of us into their truck. They didn't know exactly where the theater was, but dropped us off in the downtown area. Opa and I hadn't had time to eat our sandwiches and Michael and Turtle were hungry, so we all stopped to eat.After eating, I repacked my foodbag and got directions to the movie theater, which turned out to be only a few blocks away from where we were dropped off. Michael and I went to see "Fantastic Four," which was a major letdown, while Turtle and Opa went to see "Bewitched," which was also disappointing.The rain began to heavily fall as we left the theater and Turtle suggested we go to a coffee shop across the street to see what the weather was going to do. I suggested that if we were going to hang out at a coffee shop, that we should make arrangements in town, as it was another 6.8 miles up the trail to he shelter. I figured that it would be best to either get moving or stay the night, since we still had to hitch back past Killington.I contacted the Back Home Again Hostel, which is run by the 12 Tribes Community, to find out their rates and it turned out to be donation based, so we decided to stay the night there. Upon arriving at 3:30 p.m., I was greeted by Zerahshamur Morel, whose first name is Hebrew for "preserved seed." We were shown around the hostel and Turtle was pleased to find that she had a room to herself, as males and females are required to sleep in separate rooms. Soon after arriving, Michael discovered that his wallet was missing, so I walked back to the movie theater with him, though the next screening was in progress, so we weren't able to search for his wallet.We headed back to the hostel, met Turtle, and the 3 of us proceeded to the laundromat. While our laundry was washing, Michael left to return to the theater to search for his wallet after the movie let out. After our laundry was done, Turtle and I returned to the hostel to meet Michael and Opa for dinner. Unfortunately, Michael was unable to find his wallet, though Turtle is loaning him some money until he is able to replace his bank card and such.We went to an excellent Italian restaurant called Sappy's, where I had one of the best meals of my life. To make things even better, Opa picked up the check, which was very kind of him. After leaving the restaurant, we walked to a coffee shop, where I bought a chai tea latte for myself and a cappucino for Michael. Our group returned to the hostel and chatted for a bit before turning in for the night.Bedtime at 10:50 p.m.