Date: 2005-08-03
From: Lost Pond Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: clear sky

Hopeful:   We're listening to running water again as I write tonight from the tent next to a stream here at the Clarendon shelter site. It's a mile up from VT 103, and up it is, we went straight up the rocks to get here, after eating a full meal at the Whistle Stop Restaurant, just 1/2 mile off the Trail from the road crossing. But that's the end of the day. The beginning was at 6 AM when Red Wing's watch alarm sounded, we wanted to get back into the habit of earlier starts. On the Trail by 7:15, our first stop was near beautiful Little Rock Pond. Again, to us it was a lake, but here they call them ponds. Here we ate a hearty "2nd breakfast". Overall, today was a day of being well fed. It was also another day without seeing any other NOBO (northbound) thru hikers. We have been tracking Hairball and Snowbunny in the trail registers and they keep challenging us to catch up. Our first chance for that may be tomorrow. We're aiming to stay at the well known "Inn at Long Trail" and it sounds like they'll be there too.   Somewhere between 2nd breakfast and the Whistle Stop Restaurant, we oohed and ahhhed at the awesome Vermont forest. It continues to be beautiful, with soft ground (although the trail is typically covered with roots and rock where the soil is washed away, so you do have to watch your step), and evergreen trees. We felt strong hiking except going over Bear Mountain. It was a humid and hot point in the afternoon and I wore out quickly. It's the 3rd mountain that we've been on of that name (one in New York, one in Connecticut, and now in Vermont). We came to the road around 4 PM, the southside has a gorge and suspension bridge with what looked like a great swimming hole. It was a warm day and very tempting, but we talked ourselves out of it because sometimes getting wet seems like too much work. Or maybe I'm just not spontaneous enough?? The Whistle Stop Restaurant was a good place to go. They has HUGE ice cream cones, but very small cheeseburgers (Red Wing ate those in the opposite order from the way that I mentioned them). I had a Vermonter, since we're in Vermont, which was a hot turkey sandwich with Swiss cheese and cranberry sauce-- unique and tasty. As if that weren't enough, we arrived at the shelter after the mile hike up and found Piper, a local guy, cooking for hikers. Sadly for him, none had shown up this evening until we came. He had hauled in his pots and pans and even a Dutch oven to make brownies and corn bread over the fire! He did, however, have an alternative route to the steep one the trail takes here, I must add. The main meal was beans, rice, barly, veggies, salmon, and seasonings all cooked together. I wouldn't mind getting the recipe. We had a nice long talk with Piper, and enjoyed some bag pipe music which sounds amazing in the woods (he got his name from the instrument that he plays). We also enjoyed mini baths in the stream, and greeted Harmony and Rad Walker, Long Trail hikers who are also tenting here tonight. An older local gentleman stopped by on his 4 wheeler, which we understand he does on most evenings, to make sure that no hikers were in need of anything, and to chop wood, cut grass and generally keep the place clean. Overall, it was an interesting and eventful evening... and now we're going to get some sleep.