Date: 2018-06-28
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Jen's House
Miles today: 11.0

Woke up to the sky falling this morning. It was a huge storm all night. One good thing about it though is that it drowned out the noise of all the people snoring. There were a lot of people in this shelter, like at least 20 of us. It dropped down into the low 50s last night, so i was thankful for the wooden walls compared to the thin nylon of my tent. I ate breakfast next to this guy named Handy. He looked like the doctor guy from the tv show House. He was a lot nicer though, but just as weird. He wore an orange puffy jacket with duct-tape patches on the back, a black beanie with a headlamp, and cheetah print pajama pants. I learned that he did his AT thru-hike last year and came back to do what he calls "The Greatest Hits Tour". He's just going around and re-hiking his favorite sections of the trail. He apparently lives on the trail now, like just staying out here for as long as he can! Crazy. Today i only had to hike 11 miles until i reached the road that led to Manchester Center, VT. It rained the whole 11 miles. The trail was a wet, slippery mess. I fell 3 times! Was just hydroplaning the whole way there. I was planning to catch up with Skywalker, who i assumed was ahead of me all day today and yesterday, but turns out he was like 10 miles behind! We're all out here in the same woods hiking the same trail, yet somehow shit gets turned around all the time. Once you're separated, you never know where anyone is. I was able to hitch a ride into town from this nice mom who just so happened to be picking her daughter up from the AT for the weekend. She dropped me off at a grocery store to resupply. I bought WAY too much food, including chips and guacamole that i ate on the spot. I looked legitimately homeless. I was loitering outside the grocery store HARD, just off to the side behind the potted plants section. I was soaking wet, my legs covered in mud, with food spread out all around me. Every now and then an old person would walk past me and just stare while pushing their grocery cart to their car. If i had set an empty cup out in front of me, i bet someone would have dropped money in it lol. There was a laundry mat right across the street, so that was convenient. I ran into Shorcuts there, and ended up sharing a washer with a hiker named Metric. With the storm and stuff it was so nice to get everything clean. Eventually, Skywalker just showed up out of no where. He made reservations at a hostel in town that a lot of other hikers were staying at. I had initially planned to stay there as well, but i dragged my feet on the planning and now there all booked up. They gave me a phone number though and told me to call this Lady named Jen who occasionally opens her home to hikers for a fee. I called her up and for $40 she took me in!I spent most of the evening hanging out in town with Sky, Foghorn, and Twigs. Got a veggie burger, vegan ice cream - usual town routine. Word on the streets is that weed is gonna be legal in Vermont in 2 days, so everyone is losing their shit lol. The amount of weed i see hikers packing out of town sometimes is ridiculous. I don't know how these people get high everyday and still hike 15+ miles, but they do it, like literally all the time!Eventually i made it over to Jen's house. There's one other AT hiker staying here tonight. Girl named Riddler who's also flip flopping. Jen is super nice and her place is great. She's got 4 spare rooms that she uses to hosts hikers and sometimes foreign exchange students. So i got my own room and bed. Got to take a great shower with soap and do important things like floss my teeth in a mirror! Towns man, they just suck you in! I could stay here forever.