Date: 2004-07-27
From: Governor Clement Shelter

To: US4 (Sherburne Pass)
Miles today: 10.6

I think I failed to mention that I broke through the 500 mile to go barrier yesterday. And in a couple of days I'll have covered over 1700 miles of trail. That is a long way to walk even on a good level surface. It is know wonder why I don't see very many NOBO's lately. Anyway, back to today: We survived our stay at the Gov Clement Shelter in spite of all the warnings about the place. Wingfoot's book says "Notice! overnight stay not recommended by Green Mountain Club". Seems some of the locals get a bit roudy and harass the hikers. We had a good crowd at the shelter and we had decided that roudy locals would qualify as a protein source and would be fair game. We were ready but no target presented itself. So instead, we had to content ourselves with a trip to the Inn at Long Trail. This is one really great place for hikers. It is very unique and I recommend a stay here for anyone visiting in this area. But I am getting ahead of myself again... We slept in this morning. There is something about the sound of heavy rainfall hitting the roof of a shelter that makes you not want to get out of your sleeping bag. I slept close to ten hours last night. I did wake up about five times when I rolled onto my left hip. The bruise from where the boulder attacked me yesterday is very tender. I'll have to remember to try to hike upright from now on. I've spoken to some hikers who said they had seven falls in their first month of hiking so I guess I'm doing ok. We set out after breakfast well after 9AM. It was pouring down rain - which seems to happen everytime we have a major climb. The trail was uphill from the time we left the shelter. Mud, rocks, and now a new twist - roots. We hiked through a massive tangle of slippery roots that seemed to challenge you to find a place to place your feet. If the root wasn't exactly perpendicular to the ground your foot was going to slip. So we climbed through this tangle of roots at what seemed a snails pace. With the bad weather we didn't bother to go to the summit. We stopped at Cooper Lodge - which is really a shelter and took a short break. It was chilly and damp and you could see your breath. And we were soaked from the rain and sweat so we moved on quickly. We passed many nonexistant vista's and eventually reached US 4. From there we walked uphill about a mile to the Inn. I was so relieved to find they had rooms available. We checked in, showered, changed into dry clothes, and ate a nice hot, hearty meal. That was followed by two desserts. We were able to do laundry and catch up on phone calls and had time to chat with other hikers. Everyone was happy to have found a dry place to stay. This place could make a bundle if they rented out boot dryers - mine are soaked inside and out. I sealed them the other day so the wax should keep them nice and wet for the next few weeks or so. Tomorrow we will be leaving the Long Trail and heading more to the east toward NH. I hope to get there early on Friday to pick up my mail drop. The plan for tomorrow is to sleep late , eat as much as we can, and hike about ten miles. Sleep and eat - you never get enough it seems. Today, as WW and I were walking up US 4 we were photographed by a newspaper reporter for a Rutland newspaper. The photo may run in tomorrows paper. The caption could read "Two old goats walking in the rain - don't they know better". Anyway, Goodnight from rainy Vermud,Lwop