Date: 2014-08-20
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Tucker-Johnson Shelter
Miles today: 17.4

It was a relaxing morning and no one seemed to be in a rush to break camp early, knowing there's a bit climb ahead usually makes people move a little slower. We had to climb Killington Mountain which was about a 2600 hundred foot climb over approximately three miles.    The hike early on wasn't too bad as there was a reroute of the trail that brought us to do some road walking, they were rebuilding a bridge that was destroyed by Hurricane Irene. So we took a 1.5 mile stroll through the backroads of Vermont before we re-entered the woods and took a lunch break at the Gov. Clement Shelter. The shelter was one of the oldest on the trail, built in the 1920's but still looked good for it's age,it's amazing how well these things were built.    We ate some snacks and then were off to conquer this mountain which left us huffing and puffing at some points but overall it wasn't a crazy hike up. What was a crazy uphill was the .2 straight up rock climb to the peak of Killington which had spectacular views of the mountains. We took the hard way up by hiking and the tourists that were up there took the easy way by taking a gondola ride to the top. Killington Mountain is a popular ski repeat in the winter time but have found a way to make some money by charging people for a gondola ride to the top. What's even better is that they hikers get a free round trip ride in the gondola and Atlas and I weren't passing that one up. It was a unique ride down to the base of the mountain and our hopes of getting some food there were squashed when we made the rounds and saw everything was closed. Somehow we missed the new lodge/restaurant that was built on the top of the mountain so off we went up the gondola back to the top and hurried to the restaurant only to step in there and see they were closing in ten minutes and the kitchen was closed. There's nothing sadder than seeing such delicious food sitting there mocking you while you stand there and can't do anything about it. With our heads down like Charlie Brown we left the restaurant and stood outside defeated, it was an emotional roller coaster that left us without a meal. One of the chefs took pity on us and came outside with a giant peanut butter cookie which lifted our spirits,it was an extremely nice gesture on his part and brightened our day.    It was getting late in the day and we still had about seven miles to go so we put a little pep in our step and headed on. There were a few shelters we could've stopped at but we wanted to keep on schedule. At this point James and Delaware split from us and I wasn't sure if they were ahead of behind but we usually meet up with them at night. Thankfully we were going downhill for a majority if the remaining miles and we made great time even getting some trail magic in the form of Capri Suns.    We got to the Maine Junction which is where the Appalachian Trailand the Long trail to their separate ways which the LT heading north and the AT making an sharp right turn west. The shelter we were planning on staying at was burnt down in 2011 and according to the guide book was slated to open this year but not so much. The good thing was the tent sites and privy were still there so we hiked the Long Trail a half mile and camped there. We would've stealth camped on the AT but the terrain was steep and not to great for setting up a tent. The weird thing about where the Long Trail and AT split is the Long Trail uses the same exact blaze that the AT uses which could be really confusing if you weren't paying attention. When we arrived at the shelter site, there were a lot of people there including another school group. This group was pretty messy and had their gear spread out all over the place and took up another spot to do their cooking. Luckily we were able to get a tent spot and set up camp right when the sun was setting. We ate dinner in the dark and listened to the school group while we ate, it was pretty entertaining. We went to bed early and once the sound of rain hitting the tent lulled us to sleep.