Date: 2015-07-07
From: The Lookout - mile 1718.2

To: Podunk Brook
Miles today: 20.4

Although we could have used the extra rest, we got up at 5 am and went to the roof deck to watch the sunrise. It was cloudy but we could see the pink and then golden rays as the sun came up. It was very peaceful. We packed up and set out. I met Green Tortuga in the side trail to the Lookout. He has been ahead of me in the trail registers by a couple of days. He signs the registers with a green turtle stamp and a sticker promoting his websites. Some hikers find the self promotion annoying and I have seen their "enhancements" to his turtle stamp in the shelter registers. He had camped an hour away because he takes pictures for his website so he doesn't hike after the light is gone and couldn't make it to the Lookout like he wanted. We hiked the first 6.1 miles faster than expected and arrived at VT 12 just after 9 am to find Freebird and King Coleman and Sherpa Shel and her dog White Blaze. Freebird and King Coleman are supporting their daughter Red Titan on her flip flop thru hike. KC even quit his job to do it. They had trail magic cookies and shared some lemonade. Sherpa Shel was out supporting her husband Jingles on his thru hike and lives in NH. We sat and chatted with them and ate cookies and Sherpa Shel gave me some peanut butter pretzels. It was a nice break and we were glad we didn't stop earlier as planned ... There was supposed to be a view on Ascutmey Mountain but it wasn't that great.We moved on around 9:40 and had a steep climb up Dana Hill. We reached Pomfret Brook and decided to ford it. So I had a chance to clean my Crocs again against the sand and rocks. In a bucket on the other side were some cans of Sprite. More trail magic! So we soaked our feet a little longer and enjoyed the soda. We dried our feet in the sun on the side of Pomfret Road and then had another steep climb. After seeing mostly green in the a northeast, we have started seeing more wild flowers on the peaks and in the field crossings which has been nice. Our goal was Cloudland Market, 0.2 miles off the trail. However the sign at the road said they were only open Thurs, Friday and Saturday. AWOL said they were only closed Sunday and Monday. We decided to walk up anyway and at least try to get water if there was a spigot. A car pulled up just as we were staring at the closed sign. We approached and it turns out the owner said he had soda and ice cream and he would let us buy some. So we went in only to discover he had Vermont Natural Soda and no ice cream. So we bought sodas and sat on the nice wicker chairs on the front porch, drinking our sodas and eating from our food bags. After over an hour break, we decided we should get moving since rain was forecasted after 2 pm and it was already after 2 pm. The trail walked the edge of an open field and I suddenly felt a sharp sting and burning pain in my left ankle. I looked down and saw a bee flying away. It hurt and burned a lot. I am not sure if I have been really stung by a bee and definitely not within the past 25 years so I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to stop in the field but it hurt to walk. So I decided to try to hike it off and see what happens. It hurt for a little longer and eventually the burn went away. I then lost my balance trying to navigate through a big mud patch and both shoes ended up in calf deep sucking mud. Fortunately it was thick and not soupy so my sock was muddy but not wet. I caught back up to Andreas and we kept going. As we passed some section hikers looking at what I thought were cords sectioning off the forest,it turns out they are tubes for piping syrup out of the nape trees! After 6 miles we stopped at the top of a summit where there was a bench and "Sit, Relax and Enjoy" carved on the seat. We sat down and I saw there were wild raspberry bushes in front of me. I had seen a few wild raspberries earlier in the day and eaten 4 but most weren't ripe. These bushes had many small ripe raspberries on them. I started picking and eating. They were delicious! Not super sweet but not too sour. Andreas finally tried one and started picking them too. Soon we had to get moving since it had not started raining yet and we still had 5 miles to the shelter. We moved on and descended into a road which we hiked 0.4 miles and across the White River to VT 14. As we were about to turn left, a man across the street on the right waved to us and asked us if we wanted soda and watermelon. You bet! So we headed over to his porch. Randy and Bobbi were there. The Hart Family has been offering soda to hikers since his nephew hiked the AT in 2002. Last year they hosted 1100 hikers! Today they had seen 22 hikers which was amazing to us since we did not see anyone but Green Tortuga and some southbound section hikers. But we recognized many of the names entered in their register today ... Phantom, Click Clack, Kiwi, Hot Pants... They even had a stamp for my passport. After a root beer and 2 slices of watermelon, we reluctantly left just as it started to sprinkle. It was a short sun shower. We had to keep walking on asphalt up VT 14. We passed a dog who as soon as he saw us from his front porch, he jumped up, grabbed his frisbee and ran over to the edge of his yard and dropped the frisbee over the wall to the ground where we were walking by. I told Andreas to throw it. The dog chased it down and we waited for him to bring it back to throw again but the dog just laid down with the frisbee in front of him but away from us. Based on the dog's expression and body language, I told Andreas, "He didn't like how you threw the frisbee! You've been fired!" We hiked under I-89 and finally back into the woods up to Podunk Brook. We were short of the shelter but had heard many hikers were headed there from the Hart family so we decided to camp next to the Brook and set up our tents before it started to rain. I almost staked my tent in deer scat. What is going on? A poop conspiracy in the woods? Fortunately it didn't start to rain and we were able to cook dinner. Triple trail magic and really nice breaks. Not a bad way to end our last day in Vermont!