Date: 2004-10-21
From: Mrs. Gorp's hiker hostel, Wallingford, VT

To: Mrs. Gorp's hiker hostel, Wallingford, VT
Miles today: 14.6

14.6 miles todayMrs. Gorp's Friendly Hiker HostelWallingford, Vt.I looked at my watch at 6am and couldn't believe it was morning already. I wasn't ready for morning yet. Mrs. Gorp and I stayed up for the ballgame last night which Boston ended up winning to go to the World Series. It was after midnight before I got to sleep. Yep, I was thinking of you John Galt...you finally got a win!! I started hearing noises downstairs and then smelled coffee and then bacon, so I figured it was time to get up. Mrs. Gorp was busy making breakfast when I got downstairs. She had the coffee ready, bacon cooking and pancakes on the griddle, and a smile on her face!! Hikers sure know what other hikers want!! Hippie and I sat down and had a fantastic breakfast and even had local Vermont Maple Syrup for our pancakes. While we were eating, Mrs. Gorp also baked some chocolate chip cookies and packed us three each for the days hike. Like I said yesterday, hikers are the best!! I can't thank Mrs. Gorp enough. She talked us into hiking today and coming back one more night, so I told her I wanted to take her and Larry out to dinner. Hippie and I left in the two trucks and took my truck to Rt 103 and then headed back through Wallingford on our way to start walking from Danby-Langgrove Rd. and stopped and got a couple sandwiches for lunch. We got to the trailhead and decided to sit inside the truck and see if the sleet would stop. It didn't stop, so we went ahead and started walking at 9:35am. It started sleeting harder and ended up lasting for about three hours before it turned to rain. It was sticking to the bog bridges and some on the side of the trail, but other than that, it all melted. It was a nice walk, but seemed to go slower than usual. We stopped at Lula Tye Shelter and took a break until we started chilling down. There was actually a couple that stayed there last night, but we never ran into anyone on the trail. We hiked on and came to Rt 140 and Mrs Gorp was waiting on us with a thermos of hot chocolate!! That was a nice surprise. We stopped and talked to her her for about 20 minutes and then we started walking again. It had stopped raining for a short time, but on the way up Bear Mtn it started raining pretty good and then turned to snow for a little while on top of the mountain. We kept going and Hippie got me going on catching falling leaves. She had been bragging about catching 10 leaves in the last few days. I started trying and found out it was much harder than it seemed. They come down slow enough, but they flip and flop all over the place. I ended up catching two and didn't even break my neck trying. We stopped and took another break at Minerva Hinchey Shelter. I saw some coins, but Hipie got them before me...60 cents!! She took MY 60 cents and wouldn't give it back. We hiked the rest of the way to the truck and went by Clarendon Gorge just before we got to the truck. It was still raining, so it felt real good to get in the truck and turn on the heat. We left Hippie's truck at the trailhead where we parked it this morning and will pick it up tomorrow at the end of our hike. We got back to Mrs Gorp's home and got cleaned up and sat by the fire place to warm up. It was great to come back here and it was very nice of the Gorps' to let us come back again. I wanted to take them out to dinner to thank them for being so nice to us, but Mrs Gorp wanted to cook for us tonight and spend the evening inside the warm house. She made a delicious eggplant parmisan with salad, vegetables and some very good bread. We even had brownies with ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. I'm putting on weight while I'm staying here even though I'm walking everyday. We ended up watching a little tv and talking the evening away. I got tired and went to bed at 9pm and sacked out in a hurry. I can't thank Larry and Mrs Gorp enough for their hospitality. They really made this part of the hike a memorable one. I don't know how or when, but I will make it up to them somehow. Thanks you guys!!!Another great day on the A.T.