Date: 2005-08-04
From: Near Happy Hill Shelter,VT

To: Near Wintturi Shelter, VT
Miles today: 20.4

20.4 miles todayNear Wintturi Shelter, Vt. I slept really good last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw there was no moon and it was pitch black out. I woke up about 6:30am and brewed my coffee and ate 2/3s of the 9 inch round sticky bun I packed out of Hanover yesterday. I finally got packed and was hiking by 7:30. Forty minutes into my walk this morning, I found good water. There wasn't any near the shelter. I climbed Griggs Mountain and then went down into the small village of West Hartford. I had always eaten breakfast there before, but Rick and Tina's Restaurant was closed. It looks like they're out of business. I kept walking and crossed the White River on an old iron bridge. I walked back into the woods and had 2 hills to climb...Bunker Hill and Arms Hill before I got to Thistle Hill Shelter where I ate lunch. Buhda came in while I was eating. He's trying to do his first 20 mile day today. I hiked on when I was done eating. I ran into the first nobo of the day, Lonestar. I stopped and foraged for some red rasberries and some blackberries whenever I saw some. I ran into another sobo by the name of Moose Charmer. I ran into an old friend of mine at 12:30...Mailar and his friend, Cliffhanger. It was too bad we weren't at the end of our day and camped in the same area. He was going to Cliffhanger's cabin tonight. Hey Chief, Mailar had a great idea for The Gathering in October. He said that you could pick me up in southern Virginia and on the way to Hanover, NH, you could swing by Maine and pick him up. He didn't think that was asking too much...Maines not that far out of the way. He also said that you owed him since you bailed when it started to snow earlier this year. Ha, I'm surprised you waited till the snow before you went home to momma. ;-)))  Anyway, see you in October. I hiked on after talking to Mailar and got to keep hiking through some fields that had lots of wildflowers growing in them. It was kind of nice to get out in the open some for a change. I got to Woodstock-Stage Rd at 3pm and walked 1 mile to Teago General Store. I really wanted a coke. I had a couple hotdogs, a Gatorade and a coke. I ordered a ham hoagie to go thinking about how good that would taste for dinner. I was sitting out in front of the store and a girl by the name of Mary Jo came in and got some gas. I asked her for a ride back to the trail and she said; "Sure."  This new sleek shaved hiker look is working much better getting me rides. ;-))) I saw Buhda again. He was getting tired and wasn't sure if he was going to make 20 miles today. I hiked on and ran into Thumper, O'Conner and Packman...all nobos. Thumper said there was water at Wintturi Shelter. That was good because I didn't have much left and it didn't look like there was any streams before the shelter. I hiked on to the shelter and met Quioti and Knees. A hiker I had seen shortly before the shelter by the name of Too Obtruse had been looking for Quioti. It turned out that he was her boyfriend and they didn't connect tonight. After I had finished dinner, Buhda came walking in. He made his first 20!!! He was pretty happy, but pretty tired and said tomorrow was going to be under 10 miles.