Date: 2018-06-15
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Miles today: 0.0

Fri Day 124 6/15 unmotivatedI woke up to the rain on my tent. I wasn't motivated to jump up and get ready. It it wasn't like me but I fell back asleep. I woke up around 4:30 I could hear Ibex packing up her hammock. I had to pull myself together to take down my tent in the rain and pack up in the rain. Everything is heavier when it's wet. I'm not as excited about hiking in the rain after 2 foot infections. We got a late start at quarter of 6. Our goal was Manchester Center which was 18 and a half miles away. We estimate our arrival time to be 3 to 3:30 p.m. We would resupply there and based on how we are feeling possibly zero. It was a very cold, wet morning. This is the first time since early on that's my thumbs actually hurt from being cold. I had just sent home my last hat and I had no gloves. The start of our day was a long gradual 4 miles up Stratton Mountain the highest point in southern Vermont. Stratton Mountain was the emotional birthplace of the Vermont Long Trail and then that led to the insight to build the Appalachian Trail. It has quite a place in Appalachian Trail lore. It was good we were hiking uphill or we would have been very cold. I am really not carrying my cold weather gear anymore. This was a heads up for me that when I come back after Alaska I'll have my hiking fleece, Gore-Tex gloves, and a solid hat. I'm hoping to get away with my 25 degree bag for as long as possible. I'll have to go through some cold nights before I start carrying a heavier zero bag that I had at the beginning of the trip. I'm really spoiled about not carrying a lot of weight. Even with the base weigh 15.5 Everything feels heavy. I think my level of total fatigue is increasing. I just seem to be tired all the time. So when we get to the top Stratton Mountain we smell smoke. That's interesting because there's a cold wet mist blowing strongly across the mountain top. We come across a private shelter of the hiking club that maintains The Long Trail and the AT in Vermont. We stopped to put more clothes on for the downhill which will be cold cuz you're not working that hard. Jean and Hew pop out of the nice private shelter. They've been working on maintaining the trail for 50 years. We stop & talk for 15 minutes. They would have talked for hours but I was getting colder by the minutes. There was a fire tower here as well but in the driving cold misty rain it had no interest for me. As we're hiking off of Stratton Mountain Gandolpho passes by. He jokes about about the time I gave him sandwiches in the Shenandoahs. Then he askes do you have any sandwiches today to give away?? It's a good laugh and he goes on. We are hiking pretty steady. We cameled up on our water supply to start the day. We're looking to hike the whole 18 and 1/2 miles in without stopping again for water. We r carrying 1/4 of a liter for the day. 1/2 a pound. It's so cold it's not like we're sweating. Couple hours later Gandolpho also passes us again. He had stopped at a shelter for a snack. We actually hike along a little bit together. We get to the next shelter and he said he was going to get lunch. The shelter turns out to be a half a mile off the trail. We just sit right down there at the shelter sign w/o taking another step. We are pretty much eating everything in our food bag. We're not hiking in hungry but we are hiking in light. We head out a little before Gandolpho finishes. Red Bird catches up to the three of us by then. He wants to get into Manchester Center by 2 p.m. to catch the World Cup game. So he walks and talks for a minute as we walk. He then proceeds to run down the trail at a brisk pace backpack and all. We are all impressed. He moves much faster on the trail. At this point we're walking on a fire road together. When the trail breaks off and gets back to a single file Gandolpho picks up his pace and is gone. He's going into Manchester Center as well. We arrive in Manchester at 3. We are right on schedule. Takes about 2 minutes flag down or hitchhike a ride into town. The driver is nice woman who is an organic farmer. She drops us at the grocery store. We resupply and call a cab. The cab is there as we're checking out. We get a ride to Sutton Place which is where Gene and Hue recommended we stay right in the heart of town. We going to town for dinner and the main street is closed off. They're having a street fair of some kind tonight. So we get to experience Manchester Center Street Fair with live music and lots of local people hanging out and enjoying the evening. There was an amazing guy who was entertaining in front of the band. He would both w juggling and balancing with a big hoop taller than he was. He would roll upside down and could roll around in this hoop and do amazing things never losing his balance. It was quite a piece of local entertainment. It gets past hiker midnight and we have to crash.