Date: 2017-06-19
From: Wilbur Clearing Shelter, MA

To: Congdon Shelter, VT
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

It had rained a little overnight, a precursor of things to come. My shirt and shorts as usual were as wet as I left them. I ate the rehydrated pasta from last night - it worked well. I was on the trail by 7:13. Today was a day of milestones. Almost immediately there was a punishing 2,000-foot descent into the town of Williamstown, but just as I started it, I broke through the 600 miles to go mark. Yaay! I stopped on the far outskirts of town to enjoy a Pop-Tart before re-entering the woods to begin a 2,200-foot ascent. A resident had placed benches and chairs for hikers to use. Freebird caught up with me and I let her go ahead. No sense trying to stay ahead of a 23-year-old. But at 9:37 the first drops of rain began to fall, and I overtook her as she donned rain gear - jacket, pants and gaiters. I of course just soldiered on, as wearing rain gear just gets me as wet as the rain does, but smellier.Soon, there was a thunderstorm going on. It was to continue until close to 5pm with a couple of breaks. I soon came upon a very rocky uphill section, highly reminiscent of Pissha (regular readers know what that means). So treacherous was it, that the ATC had blue-blazed a trail to the west as a bad weather bypass trail. Naturally, given that there was heavy rain and lightning, I opted to...stay on the white-blazed trail. I was expecting Freebird to show up but when she didn't I assumed she'd gone around me via the bypass trail. The storm was at its fiercest as I crested an intermediate peak before the summit. I hurried down the other side to get off the exposed ridge. The storm abated and the sun even showed its face for a while. I went into the Seth Warner Shelter for a seat while having lunch, and Freebird soon showed up. Turns out that she did not take the weakling bypass trail, but just delayed going up on the ridge while the storm raged. She said she was thinking of staying put for the day. I kept going.There was the peak to scale and the storm came back, right over me, lightning crashing within a mile of me on two occasions. The rain was heavy. I was placing a lot of faith on statistics, specifically on those that say one is far more at risk driving to the grocery store that being out in a lightning storm. I barely paused at the second milestone, the crossing of the Massachusetts-Vermont border. Yaay 2! I certainly wasn't stopping to take out my already misbehaving phone for a photograph. I dashed across an exposed stretch of slope where a powerline was strung. On the summit there was no marker, view or any lingering by me for sentimental considerations. Thor was busy banging his hammer and sending the sparks flying from Valhalla. I passed another pond with those croaking frogs. By now the rain had turned every path into a stream and every depression into a pool. Mud was everywhere. But at least it seemed to keep the mosquitoes away. I decided that, based on first impressions, Vermont is a swamp masquerading as a state. It was truly liberating to be released from the need to pick my way carefully, hopping from rock to rock or slithering along downed tree-trunks in an effort to stay out of the wet and keep my boots dry. There was no point. I just sloshed through water, squelched through mud, happy as a clam. There were oodles of my friends out cheering me on - the little Eastern red-spotted newts. At one stage I sank in mud that came above the top of my left boot. Shrug. Immerse boots in next river to be crossed. Nice clean boots. Socks likely very clean too, at least until next mudfest. Came the third milestone, as I blew past the 1,600 miles traveled point. Yaay 3! The third high point, Consultation Peak, again featured a resurgence of the storm but after that, as I descended towards the destination shelter, it got eerily quiet. I was a bit concerned when the trail headed to a river that was heavily swollen by the rain, but it veered away.The shelter popped up well before I was expecting it (very unusual, that) and there were four hikers in the shelter. Splash and Superman were a couple just one day into a hike when she hurt her knee, so they had spent the day at the shelter recuperating. Intrepid and Ref were the other two. All were non-teenagers and delightful conversationalists. I realized that trying to find a dry spot to pitch my tent on was going to be tough, so I...stayed in the shelter. I had an upper bunk, and was quite comfy there. There was one light snorer, but two Ibuprofen PMs helped me pass out. Tipperary