Date: 2007-06-27
From: Vt 11/30

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: few clouds

I have been out on the trail group hiking for about 5 days. It is definitely different than solo hiking. Not better, not worse, just different.The group (except for one person) hikes very well together. Mel, the leader, is a hiking machine. I wish that I was as strong of a hiker as her. Even though she is older than me, she doesn't seem to have the knee and feet problems that I do. Other than Mel, the four of us seem to hike at about the same cadence. Some might be faster up a hill or down, but for the most part we are doing the same speed. It has been nice. We take breaks about every hour or so. Mel's philosophy about hills is different than mine, but I think I like hers. She doesn't stop until she is up the hill and past the hill for quite a while. Where I might have stopped going up. She says it is better not to stop on the hill so that you don't risk getting leg cramps. I think I ended up getting a better workout going up than I had been.We've worked well together at camp also. Getting group water and getting fire wood (on those occasions that we had a fire). Don't know if I would want to hike the trail with this many people, but I would have loved to have any one of them as a partner while hiking. It would have made a big difference - I think.We were all up early and the Lodge owner let us have breakfast prior to the normal breakfast start. I made sure not to eat too much food this time. The owner also told us that if we were ready to go before the normal breakfast time started that he would give us a ride back to the trail head. Sweet. The owner was pretty cool. He came from NJ to ski about 27 years ago and never left. Bought the Lodge and has loved it ever since. Johnny Seasaw is a great place. Nice people and the accomodations were a great respite from the trail.Karen, Melissa and I were in the first car load back to the trail. We noticed that the guys license plate said KATSKAT.   We asked him why he had a license plate that said Kat Skat on it. He looked at us like we had three heads. He said it said Kats Kat because the car was a Jaguar. We looked at him like he had three heads.   Apparently, we have spent too much time looking at skat in the woods.   By the time we all were at the trail head it was about 8. We were only going to do about 10 miles because of the fully loaded packs (we all had mail drops at the lodge) and because it was supposed to be another scorcher of a day.Very hot and humid again. The sweat was pouring off of me like a fountain. We had a great view from Prospect Rock. Other than that the trail was very green, but otherwise very nondescrip. We got to the shelter very early. Probably around 2.   The shelter is very nice. Double decker with a loft that sleeps 16. It was going to be another night of sleeping in the shelter because no tent sites.   I can hear thunder in the distance. We will be dry sleeping in the shelter. It is very buggy though. More so than normal. Probably because we are so close to the pond.We decided to take a dip in the pond since it was so hot. It is my first official swim on the trail. And, boy did it feel good. Don't really like to get into the water with all my clothes on, but it still felt really good. I felt 100% better after taking the swim.We have a big day planned for tomorrow - over 15. We have changed our plan so that we have a shorter day on the day we come into North Adams. We will be climbing up and over Stratton Mtn early, so that should make it a little easier. Only a few birds today. A couple of juncos and a nesting woodpecker. We ended up having a pretty good crowd at the shelter. A father and young son (The Captain and Music Box) from Brattleboro. Music Box is about 11 or 12 and is working on his hiking and camping merit badges. They are hiking from North Adams to Manchester. A woman and her two children. A girl about 13 and a boy about 11. (Lifesaver, Sunshine, and Slicer). Slicer got his name because he sliced his hand open while they were hiking last year and the mother got her name because she bandaged it all up. They will be doing the LT and will be out on the trail until July 21. It is really great to see young kids out backpacking. And, finally, a teacher from Mass (Stops a Lot) who is going from the Claredon Gorge down to North Adams. He lives in Norwood Mass. I asked him if he grew up there, but he said no he came from Atlanta. One of my buddies at work is from Norwod. Stops a Lot seems to be an nice guy and has a lot to say.