Date: 2015-07-27
From: Stealth Camp on Porcupine Ridge

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

I swear my plan was to hike 17.6 today. And I was totally on schedule to do it. But then Southpaw caught me before I left the last shelter and that was the end of that!It's not even August yet, but the sun is definitely coming up significantly later than it did just a couple of weeks ago. I heard Mary and Michel talk as I was leaving (6:47) but they hadn't emerged from their tent.Because I was not entirely sure where on the ridge our camp had been, I paid close attention to time so I could deduce how far we had been from the next shelter. A couple of hours in, I ran into what I think might have been another couple of French Canadians who told me I was about a mile away. It was a little more, so my estimate yesterday had been pretty good.Even though it was now 9:30, there were still two hikers at the Goddard shelter, as they just had a short hike back to their car. We chatted for a bit while I snacked and checked text messages. Still no signal strong enough for more than that and in fact that was the last time I had any signal all day!Three tens of a mile beyond the shelter was a fire tower that's open to the public, so I was excited to finally get some views! Unfortunately it was quite hazy so the views were a bit muted but it was still nice. I took a wacky 360 panoramic picture, we'll see how it comes out.My hike today basically took me from one shelter/snack spot to the next, and the Kid Gore shelter had both a picnic table and a view. I took a long, shoes off break and had lunch before climbing back up to the ridge towards the final shelter of the day.Vermont so far has been very Green Tunnel-y, so my mind wanders a bit. Today I was trying to come up with limericks about the AT and hikers I've met, but so far I only have one partial one to show for the hour or so that I spent. I'll report back when I have something worth sharing. Another thing that took a lot of time and energy was swatting at flies. Today was the day of the flies. They seem to like to fly above and behind my head and no amount of arm or pole waving gets rid of them. I even tried to quickly stop and turn around to fake them out, but I couldn't see any! (Go ahead and laugh, I'm sure I looked like I totally lost it, but if nobody is there to see it, does it still count?). Revenge was mine when I killed one, though not until after it bit me on my arm. Those bites hurt!I passed a beautiful beaver pond (fortunately not the drink water source for the next shelter) and arrived at the Story Spring shelter. And 10 minutes or so later, Southpaw shows up!A Southbounder told us about a nice camp site a few miles past Stratton Mountain tomorrow. We quickly determined it was only 16 miles away, giving us a manageable distance tomorrow when we need to climb Stratton (the highest point in Vermont, looking mighty imposing on my elevation profile). A short time later, the Texas hiking family showed up in dribs and drabs, along with Parkay, Clover, M&M and Mya, Laces, Outro and Adios, a hiker I hadn't met yet named Shark Bait and Pain Wizard. Except for Pain Wizard they all stayed here. At Lizzie/lollipop's request, I took her place playing Hearts with her two youngest brothers Tigger and Mud Magnet, and Parkay. They had to explain the game to me first and then I lost spectacularly. Beaten by a nine year old.After we go over Stratton tomorrow, there is a pond, so there may be swimming in my future. And then we'll have a Nero into Manchester Center on Wednesday for much needed showers and laundry. And hopefully some Wifi!Maybe we'll even eat some town food while we're there. Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?