Date: 2004-08-25
From: Manchester Center VT

To: Killington VT
Miles today: 49.1

Gather (Adam) called 8/25/2004 @ 3:03 PM from Killington VTI left Manchester Center VT on 8/22/2004 @ 1:30 PM. Slimer is staying behind to straighten out his gear and get it back in shape. Last week was one big mess, cold, rain and lots of mud. We pretty much stayed wet and cold all last week.Weather man was calling for rain last Monday, but he missed it, Yeahhhh. Had all that stuff we need for a while. The weather has been great ever since I left Manchester VT. Nippy in the mornings. Was down around 40 degrees this morning, no humidity, great hiking weather, couldn¢t ask for better weather. 68 to 72 during the day.Leaves are starting to change colors a little, looking forward to the color change. Got into Killington VT, 2.6 miles off the trail to re-supply, eat and call home. Mom said Slimer left Manchester Center VT Monday the 23rd @ 10:00 am which means I am out in front by about nine (9) hours. Slimer is a hard charger, he will catch up by weeks end. Everything is still very expensive through here, people have lots of money around here. Nothing but beautiful homes everywhere, mostly old homes and old money I guess.Have been hiking with and met the following hikers, ¢Night-Ryder¢ ¢Chief¢ ¢De-Bone¢ ¢Little Munchie¢ (girl) ¢Impulse¢ also met ¢Slow Poke¢.Heard one hiker was lost out here for 5 days, I won¢t mention his name,he says he wasn't lost, just confused for 5 days, they found him ok.Made it to the top of Killington peak a few days ago, cold and windy up there, but could see forever it seemed.Very beautiful through here, streams, springs and wildlife everywhere. This is a hunter fisherman paradise, and it¢s within walking distance of Denton!Took a nasty tumble last week and banged up my elbow, it¢s ok now. Lots of switch backs through here, I love them. A switch back is when the trail zig-zags up the mountain instead of going straight up. Makes hiking a lot easier, but it seems to take forever to get to the top sometimes.8/25/2004Slimer called in from Killington VT 8/25/2004 @ 5 PM from the same pay phone Gather called in from 2 hours earlier.Made it into Killington VT, 2.6 miles off the trail to re-supply, eat and call home. Tried to call dad at work, got him on his cell phone. I asked him to look into getting me a pair of Montrail Trail Runner shoes. My feet are killing me. The shoes I bought in Manchester Center VT are junk, already coming apart and hurting my feet bad.I told dad if he found them to drop ship them to Glencliff NH which is about 43 miles up the trail.Met a south bounder ¢Giddey-Up¢ a very hard charging female hiker. I noticed the hair on the back of her head was really ragged. I didn¢t ask how it got that way. After a while she pulled a pony tail out of her pack, said she had a fellow hiker saw it off with a knife. Said she was seriously thinking of throwing it away to save weight.Met up with ¢Mustard¢ Night-Ryder¢ ¢Slow-Poke¢ ¢Commando¢ and Cobb-Webb¢, all very nice people. Very beautiful through here, pretty lakes, lots of wildlife.The other day near Killington Peak I met some day hikers, bugs about to carry them off. I gave them some of my deet. Really nice people, Marty Roth was one of the hikers name¢s. They gave me some good pointers about the trail ahead.Also met a hiker named ¢Chef¢, and another named ¢Carp¢. Carp was from Australia . he had a tattoo of a Carp (fish) on his back, said in Japan carp meant ¢To strive, never give up¢ that¢s a new one for me. Carp is a good guy, the other day he was in front of me and came upon a porcupine in the trail that wouldn¢t move. You should have heard Carp call that thing every name in the book, all preceded by the word Bloody this and Bloody that. All I could do was sat and laugh, finally the thing moved off the trail and let us pass.Down the trail a ways I was hiking with ¢Regular Brian¢, we were walking along a road near West Hartford, and saw where someone had dumped some, vegetable¢s over the bank. Man there was some good looking, tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. We jumped over the bank and started picking them up. Man and woman standing on their porch across the road looking at us, shaking their heads. Our guess was, they were the one¢s who dumped it. Fresh veggies, thank you who ever you are for putting it there!Few days ago when I was leaving Manchester Center I got a ride out of town to the trail head. Man told me this was the home of the Orvis Co, maker of the world famous fly fishing equipment. He said Orvis was what made Manchester what it is today.