Date: 2016-06-29
From: Stratton

To: Stratton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

It's my last night at the White Wolf in Stratton. I came in beat up on Monday night happy to take two zero days while rain and thunder was forecast. What actually happened was a bit more complex. The line of storms did appear to the northwest on Tuesday but didn't move across Stratton that day. Some say it did late that nigh but I never heard it or saw any signs of heavy rain the next day. Wednesday was cloudy and the threat of rain was there by lunch time. It was at the Looney Moose diner that I heard there had been 7 inches of rain north of us and flood warnings were in effect on the mountain. Later that afternoon the rain started here but may be clearing as expected tonight. It looks like those Sobo that headed south on Monday up the mountain might have lucked out this time. There was no way of knowing which way it would go. The couple I met at the Looney Moose however, who decided to start hiking north around noon probably didn't fare as well. But they also probably didn't see thunder and lightning, just rain. Since Bananas and Biscuits had started in Georgia on February 1, they have certainly seen worse. I heard them say 11 more days til they finish. Way before I will. I figure more like 14 for me because I will stop at Monson to collect myself for the 100 mile wilderness. During my stay here I have gorged myself. It's not unusual; I just feel like documenting this stop. On Monday night I had a 16 oz prime rib with corn on the cob, red potatoes, and a hot fudge sundae for dessert. The grocery across the street was still open after supper so I picked up some potato chips, popcorn and a few sodas. The next morning I returned to the store for breakfast food. My first purchase was deviled eggs, cantaloupe, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, and apple strudel. Oh yeah, and a bag of Bing cherries; way too big a bag but they were cheap. An hour later I came back for a box of Oreos, Cheese Nibs, a quart of orange juice, a quart of limeade, and a large Gatorade. I was set for my two day rest. Unfortunately I also wanted to buy some tee shirts to send home and pad out my maps and long underwear that I was sending home. That put me in the general store and I left there with a pint of pistashio ice cream and a sugar cone. All of a sudden I couldn't fit everything in my small fridge. I repackaged the watermelon and cantaloupe out of their rind. And left out some of the sodas. Now I was set. Until dinner. The grocery had sandwiches so I got a roast beef and was tempted to by a small container of smoked shrimp. It got me thru the night. By that night it was obvious I wasn't going to finish all the fruit. And the shrimp was not as expected; very smoked, salty and hard to eat in quantity. I munched on everything Tuesday night and woke up Wednesday with lots of food to still eat. So I had a fruit breakfast, finishing off the cantaloupe, watermelon, apple strudel, raspberries, and some of the blueberries. I had plenty of snacks in the room but took off for the Looney Moose at lunch to have some lobster stew and another hot fudge sundae. I brought home a grilled cheese for later. Because I had leftovers I packaged up the remaining Oreos, popcorn, and cheese Nips to take up the mountain. I went back to the grocery for some caramels and Swedish fish for trail snacks. During the afternoon I finished most of the blueberries and made a dent in the cherries. I had drunk the limeade on Tuesday so I worked on the orange juice on Wednesday. The ice cream but the dust also. Knowing Thursday was a hiking day I had a prime rib sandwich with fries for dinner. Now I am full. There are a few potato chips left, a few blueberries, and about a pound of cherries. The remaining orange juice will go down with my Thursday morning meds and I will chug the quart of Gatorade just before getting into my shuttle. Most of the smoked shrimp will go to waste; I'll know better next time. I think I have taken in enough calories to get me over the next mountain. Too bad the same methodology won't work for the 100 mike wilderness.