Date: 2008-08-18
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Cooper Lodge
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: few clouds

We woke up this morning at about 6:00 and laid in our sleeping bags for about 15 minutes before finally getting up. Bogey & Slim had set up their tent next to us, and they were pretty much packed up and ready to leave when we finally emerged from our tent. We wished them well for the rest of their journey and then headed over to the shelter to make some breakfast. By about 8:00 we were back on the trail heading to Killington. Shortly after leaving, we came upon a nice pasture where there were a bunch of cows grazing. We then came up to Lottery Road. There were some open views to the north, but I couldn't make out Killington because it was still pretty overcast and hazy. In about another 2 miles, we came to Lower Cold River Rd, then to the ford over Gould Brook, where we met about a half dozen thru-hikers who were taking a break there, just laughing it up and enjoying themselves. We continued on to Upper Cold River Rd, and stopped in the middle of the road for a snack. At this point on the Appalachian Trail, you are only 500 miles from Katahdin - a nice milestone. Continuing on back into the woods, we began a long, slow ascent up towards the Governor Clement Shelter. Apparently, there have been some past problems with local partiers at this shelter, so the Thru-Hikers Companion does not recommend that you stay here. The shelter is on what looks to be an old logging road, so apparently locals are able to get here pretty easily. Moving on past the shelter, the trail climbed steadily up the logging road for about a mile before branching off to the left back into the woods. From this point, we began the long climb up to Killington. This climb was a little tougher than I expected it to be. After about 2 miles of steady climbing in the woods, we started to skirt the side of the mountain and the footing became rather difficult. There were lots of large roots and rocks and tight squeezes around and between trees that along with the wet trail, slowed us down quite a bit. Finally, within about a mile of the lodge, we broke into more open and rocky terrain. We kept thinking we were just about at the lodge, but Killington has a few peaks, and of course we had to cross them all it seemed before we finally reached the lodge at about 1:00. We plopped ourselves down on the nearest tent platform above the lodge and made ourselves some tuna sandwiches on flat bread and gorp for lunch. We had just settled into eating our lunch when out of the blue we saw Bulldog coming down the trail from the summit with just a day pack. What a surprise to meet up with him again. He sat with us and he told us that after he left Manchester, he hiked for a bit and then hitched up to Rutland for the Trail Days Festival. After that, he had hitched over to the Killington Gondola and taken the gondola to the top. He just happened to be coming down when we saw him. His knee was feeling better, but he was trying to take it easy for awhile just to be safe. He told us he was going to continue on down to Rt 4 and the Long Trail Inn, where he'd be spending the next couple of nights, so we knew we'd be seeing him again later on tomorrow when we get to the Long Trail Inn. After saying goodbye to Bulldog, we considered setting up our tent on the platform for the night, but we had heard earlier that there might be a bad thunderstorm rolling in tonight, so we decided to get set up in the lodge instead. I don't know how old the lodge is, but it's obvious it's been around for a long time. The inside is rather dark and dank with mossy stone walls and a stone floor. Chipmunks are constantly running in and out all of the time searching for food. Ann wasn't too keen on sleeping in here (her face on the picture says it all), but it's a good thing we did, because it wound up pouring all night. After we got set up in the lodge, we decided to walk up the steep trail to the summit of Killington to take in the views. The weather on top was windy and hazy, but we could still see pretty far. We've had so few open views while in Vermont, this was a nice treat up here. From the summit, we found a short side path that led us over to the top of the Gondola and the restaurant at the summit. We went inside, and took advantage of the men's and lady's rooms to wash up a bit. There was a lot of tempting looking food there, but as you know if you've ever bought food in a ski lodge, it was very expensive. We hadn't brought any money with us anyway, which was just as well. We relaxed in the restaurant for awhile before heading back down to the lodge. Until about 6:00pm, we were the only ones in the lodge before a couple of thru-hikers came in. By about 8:00, the lodge was full of thru-hikers. One of the young ladies had a hammock with her, and she was attempting to hang it on a couple of rather small nails that weren't too securely attached to the bunks. Seeing a disaster waiting to happen, I asked her politely if she was interested in finishing her thru-hike. Had she attempted to sleep in the hammock, I'm sure she would have come crashing down onto the stone floor immediately and hurt herself. She did the right thing and thought better of it, deciding to sleep on one of the bunk platforms instead. As we laid in our bags listening to the banter of the thru-hikers as they cooked their dinners, we could also hear the rumbles of a fast approaching thunderstorm. Soon it was pouring with thunder crashing, lightning crackling, and wind whipping the rain into the open lodge windows. The thunder and lightning didn't last for too long, but it did rain almost all night. I wonder how the trail will be tomorrow - quite wet I imagine. Tomorrow will be fun because we'll be going to the Long Trail Inn for another small dose of pampering. We'll also be passing Maine Junction, where the Long Trail and Appalachian Trail go their separate ways. Can't wait to get the Inn for some good food and a shower.