Date: 2022-07-02
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

Our first night sleeping all of us in the 4-man tent gets mixed reviews. Kudos for even doing it at all (right?). Getting to sleep was challenging. Rain was forecasted for the night so we had the rain fly on and all zippers closed. It was pretty hot inside. I opened the tent I up about 9:00 and it cooled off enough to go to sleep. The rain began at 10:30. I zipped it all up again and the temperature dropped to ¢comfortable¢. It rained constantly until we walked out of camp at about 9:00am. We were all dry and asleep at sunrise.We were able to use the shelter this morning to pack up most of our gear dry. We had breakfast inside the shelter. Then we donned rain gear and walked into the rain. The sun got to work on the clouds and the rain let up within the first mile or two. By the  time we reached a power line right-of-way the wind had gotten up to clean the clouds out. The grassy right-of-way was on a ridge top and channeled the wind down the wide hallway of trees. Cloud wraiths rode the gusts quickly to the east as we sat resting and drying out.Vermont is infamous for its mud. Heavy snow, later spring, and the shady canopy make it difficult for the trail to dry. For most of the miles today the understory was close-in over the trail: Wood Nettle, Hobble Bush, ferns, and young maple. It¢s a perfect setup for mud. Trail maintainers have done a great job building boardwalks and setting stepping stones through the worst parts. We got through fairly unscathed.We passed very close by two beaver dams today. What an incredible phenomenon! The trail in many places is a foot or two below the level of the pond and sometimes as close as arms-reach to the water behind. The tops of the earthen works curve and wind in the shallower parts, keeping a level top for hundreds of feet across the top of the dike. The front of these dams are steep, sometimes vertical, while there backs (underwater on the pond-side) are smooth, gently sloped mud.  Hornets nests are a marvel, ant hills are a wonder, even the sapsucker nests we¢ve passed, bored high into the dead trunks of trees, are interesting to contemplate. But the beaver dam, it¢s impounded waters, and the lodge-mound in the middle borders on unbelievable. Ostentatious even. Isn¢t there an easier way?!We¢re working on a plan to modify the hike a bit. My parents are on the road now, pulling their camper north to meet us near Rutland, VT. They are going to play the role of ¢support team¢ for the month of July following us north in the camper as we hike. We carefully planned their stops earlier this year so they would be close to us on the trail. Our last 10 days have put us about 70 miles behind schedule. In order to use their help while they are in Vermont & New Hampshire, we want to skip north to trail that¢s closer to them. Right now, we¢re planning on Dad meeting us mid afternoon on Tuesday and taking us to Rutland for a zero on Wednesday. We¢ll use that day to inventory gear and food (they have a lot of stuff for us). We¢ll look over maps of the trail and the road crossings. We¢ll study true Whites together. We¢ll put a rough plan together for the coming weeks. Then, on Thursday, Dad will take us to Killington VT and we¢ll start north from there. By the end of July, when they head back to Georgia, we¢ll be through the Whites and almost 300 miles closer to Katahdin.Baxter and I are in the shelter tonight to make room in the tent. This shelter has no bear box so I threw a bear bag for the first time in two weeks. There are more than 20 people around the shelter tonight - some NOBOs, some section hikers, and some Long Trail hikers.Naomi told us before we left that the trail was going to be one big obstacle course, some small, some big. What a great analogy! There is wisdom in that view: an obstacle course is designed for fun but it is also quite a challenge. We can look back and see several obstacles behind us, conquered. We can also see several big obstacles ahead, imposing. But there are also all those people on the sides cheering us on. The encouragement is awesome.