Date: 2008-07-10
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Cooper Lodge
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today started with a moderate climb (+400 feet) up to an aircraft beacon tower on Beacon Hill. I thought I would have cell phone coverage around there, but there was none. Two very pleasant experiences happened today. Near Hermit Spring I ran across a ice chest, plastic chair, and a plastic bin with cheese crackers and a log book. Trail magic for hikers! In the ice chest were ice-cold Pepsi's and Mountain Dew's. As silly as it may sound, I got the most enjoyment out of taking off my pack and relaxing in that chair for about 15 minutes. Had a Mountain Dew and one of the crackers. Also signed the log book. Very appreciative of this kind gesture.The second experience was when I noticed a small white, plastic-coated card under a stone on the trail near Upper Cold River Road. The card had instructions to a secret shelter not far away. I hiked over to it. A very nice version of a three-sided AT shelter - with some extras. There were several cans of soda; a great fire pit with stacked wood; and odds & ends in the way of hiker supplies. Too early in the day to stay, but a very nice shelter with a lot of work that had been put into it.Okay - now for the thing that most upset me for the day. Less than two miles from the secret shelter is the Governor Clement Shelter. As I have mentioned before, a female hiker was raped there back in 2006. The problem is that a local dirt road permits driving right up to the shelter. Apparently it became a regular occurence for "locals" to come to the shelter and party and get drunk. In the past some of the guidebooks (including Wingfoot's) have a comment regarding this shelter: "Notice: overnight stay not recommended by Green Mtn Club". But no one said why. About a week earlier a GMC maintainer had told me that the shelter was scheduled to be removed - and that he thought all the flooring was already out. Wrong! When I saw the shelter today it looked the same as in 2006 - quite useable. And nothing to suggest that hikers not stay there. Given that the secret shelter is so close, there really is no reason to stay at the Governor Clement Shelter.I opted to stop for the day at the Cooper Lodge - which is really a shelter with four sides and a door. The next shelter after (Pico Camp) was half a mile off the trail.Cooper Lodge is probably not a shelter most folks will want to stay in. It's not in that great a shape. The side facing the wind has two windows, minus the panes of glass/plastic that used to be there. And the four bunking platforms are pretty funny - they lean at enough of an angle that you might well roll off during your sleep. But what is nice are the three, large tenting platforms close by. They are flat and in great shape. A little less desirable is the water source - a nearby trickle of water that has pooled into a very small area with what looked like some dead mosquitos in the water. A definite water source requiring treatment.Also at the Cooper Lodge shelter is a side trail that leads two-tenths of a mile up to the top of the Killington summit. The guidebook warns it is very steep, but I met several hikers who went up and down and said it wasn't that bad.