Date: 2016-08-07
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: clear sky

As of this writing it is September 1st and I am in Port Clinton PA, so you can see that I am more than 3 weeks behind on the online blog. Sorry about that. Moving forward I'll start each entry stating where I am and the date that I'm writing the entry to give you a better understanding about where I currently am on the trail. Back to Vermont - Slept pretty well and was up at 5:30, ate breakfast, hit the privy and was out on the trail before anyone else got up in the shelter at 6:45. The day started with a mile of level terrain followed by a 2 mile 1500' ascent up Stratton Mtn. Just starting the climb, I met Optimist and Purplemist, a Nobo couple in there 20's. We talked trail for 5-10 minutes until a very sleepy looking Butterfly (another Nobo) came by. Her appearance broke the conversation and I was off again on the climb up Stratton. Like the other mountains in Vermont, the trail up Stratton was well graded and pretty easy. Compared to the mountains in Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont was proving to have mountain trails that were nicely graded and well kept. I think that I may start putting in longer miles. At the top of Stratton there is a fire tower, which I climbed (nice view) before moving on the the 5 mile rolling descent and 2 mile easy 700' climb up to Story Spring Shelter, the next leg of the day. I had been feeling really empty for a while and ate lunch at the shelter. The last 7-8 miles had been a lovely walk through a mature forest of oaks, maples and sycamore trees. along the way I passed a string of a dozen Nobos in a 10 minute period, an indication that I was getting close to a shelter. At Story Spring Shelter I looked at what I had left in my lunch reserves and realized that I didn't have enough lunch supplies to get me to Dalton, my next mail drop. I was going to have to meter my daytime provisions. When I initially planned my food drops, I judged what I would need based on my normal appetite not realizing that it would change as dramatically as it had. I find that I need to eat something every few hours now. What was a normal breakfast of oatmeal would keep me going until lunchtime (11:30-12) normally. I burn through that in two hours now and find that I'm hungry and feeling empty by 8-9. I left Story Spring still hungry and realized that I would be walking hungry into Dalton. I would need to buy extra provisions in the mail drop towns moving forward. Leaving the shelter, I had 8-9 miles left with three rolling climbs up and over Glastenbury Mtn and down to Goddard Shelter. The afternoon was a nice walk through big birches, sycamores and maples with an occasional patch of oaks. I passed a few marshes along the way and did a little off trail exploring to see if I could get a few good photographs and found a patch of purple pitcher plants in bloom, a few clusters of them - beautiful. Moving on I passed Kid Gore Shelter with 4.5 miles left and was feeling really hungry. I drank the rest of my Nuun hoping that it would hold me for the remaining miles. I felt a little weak on the final climb up Glastenbury Mtn, stopped to climb the fire tower at the top and then moved on down the short distance to Goddard Shelter. Once there, I looked at my maps - 3 days to Dalton, and looked through my food supplies again. I was good on breakfast and dinner, but lunch and daytime snacks would be an issue. Avalon, a sweet Nobo at the shelter asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was short on calories for my lunch provisions. She said that she bought a bag of cashews that were unsalted and didn't like them, offered them to me. I was moved and accepted here offer. Wanted to give her a hug, but didn't want to come across as a creepy old guy at the shelter. I thanked her a few times. This was a good size bag of cashews would go a long way to solve my daytime calorie dilemma. My new backpack has expandable pockets on the hip belt which is perfect for daytime snacks and that's where I stuffed the nuts. With the sun going down (thru hikers call it hikers midnight) I called it a day and was asleep by 8:30.