Date: 2005-06-25
From: Dalton, Mass MP 1554

To: Manchester, VT MP 1637
Miles today: 0.0

Hey everyone! New photos! Thanks Dad. Trailwise, I'm in Manchester Center, VT now. But RIGHT NOW I'm in a library in the one-horse town of Underhill, VT (Mapquest it!) which is about 2.5 hours north, driving. Here's what happened... When we (Shorts, Four Cheese, Sweet Cheeks, and I) came to the VT RT11 road crossing, we met "Kollege Boy"'s mom at the parking lot! She invited us to come home for the weekend to take a break from hiking! "Well don't twist MY arm" I said.   Shorts, KB, SB, Snowdog, and I arrived last night (Friday, June 24) and are eating, drinking, and being merry. I just finished cutting the grass at a scenic little church with Mr. Manz (KB's dad) and now I'm at the library giving you the news. We hiked up Mt. Greylock the other day... a very steady climb with a rewarding sunset view on the summit. I'm in Vermont now and have another hundred miles or so till the New Hampshire border. We're back in the big mountains again... The White Mountains and the Presidential Range are coming up soon. It's the middle of June and it STILL gets into the low thirties at night in the higher elevations. You never know what's gonna be around the next bend. There I was, hoofing up Stratton Mountain in southern VT.... when the other way comes Moses (Seth) walking the other way with his grandmother! He was home in Massachusetts and had taken his granny out for a ten minute walk to show her the AT....and there I was! Moses and I hiked together pretty steadily for like 1500 miles in '03. What a reunion! I don't believe in coincidence. Thanks God, for setting that up. Recently i've been trying to do no more than 22 miles and no less than 14 miles a day. There's no reason to rush, especially now in the pretty parts of the trail. Other hikers are sharing the same sentiment as well. "Only 4 weeks left till the end!!! Man, is it that close? I wonder if I can stretch it out as much as possible" is something I've been hearing a lot lately. HA! We've started to hit some WONDERFUL-smelling pine woods with some of the freshest air and drinking water you could imagine! In another two weeks I'll be doing some serious 3000' elevation gains up into "above treeline" territory! I'm very excited. Only about 550 miles to go! I've met my first southbounders this week... including two who attempted to start June 1 on Katahdin. The mountain was closed the whole first week of June due to snowy conditions (yah, I know!). I guess winter just didn't want to let go up north. So Rob Bird, if you're reading this, the southbounders might be late this year. I wonder if Brad Boston started sucessfully. He's probably hiking south right now.... My old friend Paladin is probably 3 days ahead and slowing down. Some new people I've met have been: Metric, Flash Gordon, and Squid. OH MAN! I saw Bayley (Day Tripper) again! She hitched from Great Barrington, Mass (she was right behind me) all the way to her house in northern VT for one night and decided to hike south through VT, her home state. So three days ago, I passed her in the woods. How fun! I hadn't seen her since Hot Springs, NC an eternity ago. This trip has been extremely fun so far, but I don't care what trail you're on, what the weather is, or how old you are... Hiking is HARD WORK! I think I'll get mommy to send my Ipod-device to New Hampshire somewhere. It'll make the hills go by more smoothly. Stay tuned!