Date: 2012-07-16
From: Wintturi Shelter 1715.8

To: Thistle Hill Shelter 1727.4
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: light rain

Today was a short hike, and looked like it was going to be easy, but were we wrong! We'd forgotten that southern Vermont has an east/west grain, with ridges in between. With seven ridges ranging from 400 to 1000 feet each to climb, today's hike was not so easy. Four miles into our hike, there was a farm a few hundred yards off route, with soda, raspberries, ice cream, and assorted other goodies, so we stopped. I Heart was already there, drying out her tent and other belongings from yesterday afternoon and evening's rain. We joined her for some soda, raspberries, and black raspberry ice cream. Yum! While we were there, we waved to a young couple who were being dropped off to start their day's hike. We left before I Heart since she was just starting to pack up, and said to go on. As we walked back to the trail, we saw Dickle walking down to the farm store, then saw Johannes taking a break by the trail. We started ascending the first ridge. Soon we caught up with the couple we'd seen at the farm store: they were from Germany, and were camping at the Thistle Hill Shelter, as we were. We said we'd see them there. The trail today alternated between fields and forest, then descended to roads, each with a ridge in between. When we got to Cloudland Road, a few miles from the end, we walked a quarter of a mile up the road to the Cloudland Farm. The sign said it was closed, but the wife came out of the house and said she would sell us sodas and ice cream. Then we met her husband. He said that Banjo was up at the picnic table by the house, not feeling well. We got our sodas and ice cream and went to see him. He had not felt well all day, and couldn't drink water, so his dad was driving north from NYC to pick him up. Hopefully he would be back on the trail soon and we would see him when he caught up with us. (Random note: Young guys in particular were faster than we were, so it was likely that he would catch up with us eventually.) We walked back to the trail after finishing our delicious chocolate/almond ice cream, and hiked up Thistle Hill, then descended the other side to the shelter. Along the way we saw a mole. When I tried to take his picture, he looked very serious as he scurried along, until he found his little hole. He was so cute, and I was sorry I frightened him. We were the first there, but were soon followed by Dickle. He had decided not to go on as planned after all. Then 2 Tall and Good Grip, (the young couple from Germany, section hikers back for their second hike on the AT, who we'd passed earlier), then Byline, who was hiking with Dickle. We were really tired. When we read the log, we discovered that others had found the day tough as well, so we didn't feel so bad. I Heart was apparently camping further north on the AT, but we never did see her. Water was getting scarce at some of the shelters, and this one was no exception. It came from a tiny dribble off some rocks. It was excellent water, but took a long time to fill our Platys. Later on, Johannes came in. He seemed so happy to see some folks who he could talk to in his native language, German. We feel bad for him. He is clearly intelligent, but struggled with the intricacies of English, so it was wonderful to see him in an animated conversation, even though we didn't understand what they were saying. Later on, the person who had had Bobcat's phone came in. We were all a bit extra careful, just in case. Life is great when you can finish a tough hike, get water even in a drought, and have nice people in and around a shelter.