Date: 2005-07-02
From: VT 9 

To: Summit Glastenbury Mountain
Miles today: 10.4

start: VT 9 (Bennington)finish: Summit Glastenbury Mountain (firetower!)miles: 10.4day: 117Boy, what a perfect day for hiking, or even just lazing around in the woods.  The high today is 77 degrees, with a light breeze.  The sky is deep azure blue with big white puffy clouds.  No haze at all.  The bugs are mainly absent, and it's supposed to get down in the high 40s tonight.  Woohoo!What's even better, or worse depending on perspective, is that I need to hit the post office in Manchester Center, 40 miles away, and they're closed until Tuesday due to some holiday or something.  OK, I know it's July 4th, but I usually don't know what day of the week it is out here, which is how I got in this pickle.  So even though it's contrary to my nature, my best option is to just slow way down for the next few days.  There are many advantages to this: saving my feet; camping on nice mountain tops; and being in Manchester Monday afternoon for a thru-hiker July 4th get together, going to see fireworks and maybe hear some music.  That big mountain in Maine isn't going anywhere.So, it's 2:30pm and I'm sitting by a wonderfully noisy brook about 3 miles up and out of Bennington.  Sunlight filtering through the green leaves reflects off the clear, cool water and moss covered granite rocks.  I packed and left The Autumn Inn, never to return, and resupplied at Henry's Market nearby.  Then I quickly hitched a ride to the Blue Benn diner, one of the best breakfasts I've ever had.  Really good home fries!  I stepped out of the diner and the same fellow that drove me there was coming back the other way and picked me up again.  He gave me a ride all the way to the trail.Tea Break was still in the room when I left, and he didn't show signs of moving too quickly.  I'll probably see him later today, or tomorrow.  At the trailhead I met some thru-hikers I hadn't yet seen: Sheera, Ranger, and Finn.[later, at the firetower...]There are a lot of people on the trail this weekend, with only a few of us thru-hikers sprinkled in.  I got into a zone, I guess, and climbed Glastenbury Mountain without realizing it.  I was at the shelter when I thought I was about 2 miles away.  I'm not used to taking these long breaks and can't gauge mileage by my watch today.  The shelter's spring was great, nice and cold.  The shelter itself was jam packed, mostly weekenders, but Senator, OPa, and section hiker Slow Walker were there.  Finn came by and moved on.  Senator asked if I'd been to jail.  Hah!  He'd obviously been talking to Rescue.  I assume Search, Rescue, Turtle, Cocoa Bean, and Goldilocks are all ahead, as I did such small miles.  I don't know about Snail - depends on if he got an early start.  I haven't seen Tea Break yet.  I hope he gets to the road by noon tomorrow where Stumpknocker is meeting us (with trail magic!) on his way to Maine.So I reached the top and a foursome of 40-something section hikers are here, out for the weekend.  Nice folks, a bit used to seeing thru-hikers and interested in my trip.  I climbed the firetower around 6:00, came down once to pee, and I'm back up here for the night.  The top is quite high, a platform about 7 feet square, with a 2x3 hole in one corner to the stairs.  The floor is rough planks with spaces in between that air whistles through.  The sides are about 3 feet high, rust covered steel plating bolted onto the firetower uprights.  There appears to have once been a glassed in upper wall and a roof, but they're long gone.  So I'm wide open to the sky and the wind.  It's crystal clear and MUCH more breezy than down below on the ground, and the sun will be setting soon.I ate my cold dinner of smoked kielbasa, Vermont cheddar, bread, a donut, a small yellow squash, and a Charleston Chew.  I'm still hungry, though.  I hope Stumpy brings lots of stuff tomorrow, because I may eat tomorrow's food tonight.I wonder how cold it'll get up here, on a windy firetower at 3748 feet when in town it's supposed to be 48 degrees?  I wonder how warm I'll be in my quilt?  This may be the best campsite ever.