Date: 2017-07-27
From: Emily Proctor shelter

To: Stark's nest
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained all night last night and the wind blew. This made it difficult for me to get continuous sleep but I was very glad to have shelter and not be getting my gear all wet. I woke at 5 o'clock in the morning but when I looked at the blowing mist outside the shelter and heard the rain still falling I decided to sleep a little longer. So I actually got out of my sleeping bag and slowly started getting ready for the day around 6:30. I made oatmeal coffee for breakfast and treated some more water and reviewed my map. After breakfast I packed up and actually got going on the trail about 8:15 a.m.Well my gear was not soaking wet, the things I have worn yesterday we're all sweaty and my socks and boots had gotten wet because of the amount of water on the trailer self. These things did not get directly rained on during the night but although I hung them on a line to dry there is no drying and air that is obviously over saturated. So everything was still damp in the morning I chose to wear a damp long sleeve shirt which was what I had Warren on Tuesday because today appeared to be cooler than yesterday and I chose to wear my rain gear as well. It took awhile to get warmed up as a headed up the trail since I was pretty much sore and stiff everywhere after 2 days of strenuous hiking through areas of fairly decent elevation gain and loss.I was glad to have my rain gear on as it was impossible to avoid contact with the vegetation on both sides of the trail and this was soaked with water. It was no longer actually raining but the wind was still blowing water off of the higher tree branches as well. The day started with a steep climb and soon enough I was a top mount Wilson.Then I descended the other side and around 9:45 I was at the summit of Mount Roosevelt. From here I found an overlook with a fantastic view to the south and despite the clouds, there was enough visibility that I could see most of the surrounding Valley including Mountain Wilson to the south where I had just been.Just before noon it started raining again in Ernest I was already wet from water on the foliage so this didn't really make any difference. Right about noon I arrived at the Cooley Glen shelter. Pictures. I stopped, rung out my wet shirt, and had lunch. I decided to go on and try to reach the Battell shelter, 7 more miles today. I put my raincoat back on as I had started to get a chill well sitting in doing lunch I signed the log book and then I headed out about 12:45. I had just under 1 liter of water but ironically with all the water coming out of the sky there were no documented water sources between here and the next shelter. So my one liter would have to suffice or I would have to find a way to collect some run off. I was glad that I stopped for lunch today and I was energized afterwards and reached the summit of grant Mountain about 10 past 1 p.m. about 1 mile in 25 minutes or faster than 2 miles per hour uphill all the way. This was a dark contrast to the way I had felt this morning and yesterday afternoon. I think waiting until 3 p.m. to take a lunch break yesterday while trying to hike for and fast really kind of wore me out. This afternoon felt different but in the interest of not repeating just today's situation by deliberately backed off on my level of effort.I am concerned about how I'm going to get my mail drop in Jonesville. The post office has hours of 12:45 to 4:45 on Friday that's tomorrow. It also is open 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Saturday. It is close otherwise. I am currently about 35 miles from Route 2. So I can't get there tomorrow. I don't think I can get close enough tomorrow to be able to get to the post office before 10 a.m. on Saturday. I call the Post Office to see what my options might be but the lady I spoke with was a by-the-book person although she was trying to be helpful.About 1:45 I meant to southbound hikers. The first was a young woman in her 30s in a Yellow Rain. The second was an older gentleman probably in his sixties wearing shorts and a white synthetic t-shirt. He stopped to talk to me for a while.He did not explain their relationship but he said that when they reach Killington they will have completed the Long Trail. I explained my progress toward Long Trail end-to-end as well as my AT hike. He said that they live south of the Shenandoah Park and they do Trail maintenance there. He invited me to contact him at Marktrails@gmail.com when I get in that area.About 230 near the meadows I am at a big black dog and then a young woman with a small Camelback day pack in her thirties. I said hello and she said hey how you doing? I said jokingly well the wolf scared me a little bit and she said yeah I get that a lot. We stopped and talked for a few minutes. She and her dog are in the process of taking the 5 big Peaks on the long trail. She had hiked mount Ellen earlier today and was headed towards Mountain Abraham where I had been yesterday. We told each other good luck and then I continued northbound.The Meadows itself was on remarkable. Just a couple of clearing send some open rock face., not far from there I came to sunset ledge which was impressive. I could not see anything sir the fog be on the ledge but it was obvious that going over would be a long fall. From there the terrain got more rugged in fact on both sides of Lincoln gap which was shortly ahead the terrain was the most difficult I had encounter yet on a long trail.I reached Lincoln Gap at about 315 p.m. after I was about a half-mile up the other side toward Mount Abraham the girl with the dog caught up with me from behind as I was stopping with my pack to remove my raincoat. They have been trying to reach Mount Abraham and had accidentally been going the wrong way up the southside of Lincoln cab instead of the North. I continue to climb and at about 4:45 p.m. I reached the battell shelter where I refilled my water bottles I also applied some Neosporin to a couple of chafing spots that had been irritated by The Continuous sweaty wetness of yesterday's hike. I wondered about why in what was now 1200 miles of hiking I hadn't had this problem before. I guess I had not been hiking so hard on terrain that was so difficult and whether that was so warm.I continued toward the summit of mt Abraham and about a quarter mile from the peak I meant the girl and the dog again. They were headed back down to Lincoln gap after summitting Matt Abraham. This time I learned that the dog's name was moose and the girl did not have a trail name yet; so I suggested moose's mom and she seem to like that. After a few more minutes so pleasant conversation we continued our hike and at about 5:15 I reached the summit of Mount Abraham. I paused only for a moment to look around there was a small Alpine vegetation area there. I continue it on and a few minutes later I met a South going caretaker who is tent I had seen near the battell shelter. She asked where I was going to stop for the night and I told her either Glen Ellen Lodge, stark's nest, or theron dean shelter, though I realized I'd be hiking with a headlamp as those spots were between 5 and 7 miles and it would be dark in an hour and a half or two. She recommended not staying at the Glen Ellen Lodge because it's .3 miles off the trail down a very slippery slope. She also said that Starks Nest is only a mile further and would be very nice place to stay. And she said that on Mount Ellen which was 3 miles ahead at the time there is a ski patrol Hut for the Mad River Glen ski area that I could use as a bailout if I decided not to keep going past that point. I asked her about her job as a caretaker and learned that it's a summer job for which she is paid a little more than minimum wage. I thanked her for doing it and we wished each other well and I continued on my way. Later I took a picture of one of the water Bar trenches she had told me she was proud to have finished.At about 6 p.m. I reached Lincoln Peak which is the top of one of the chair lifts of the Sugarbush Ski Resort. I took some pictures and was lucky enough to capture a view of to the east well there was a very brief break in the clouds. Then I continue North. About 6:30 I came to the top of the Castle Rock chairlift another part of the Sugarbush Ski Resort.I took a picture of a trail sign indicating the directions of a number of black diamond and Double Black Diamond ski trails. I had some difficulty figuring out which way the Long Trail went but eventually I was able to follow it down the Middle Earth Trail until it went back into the woods at quarter-mile later. Sometime later during my Ascent of Mount Ellen I heard thunder. Not just once but several times and it like it was just a head and maybe coming closer. I checked the weather app on my phone and then my radar app. The radar showed a distinct Red Storm cell headed directly for the little blue dot which indicated my location. I considered my situation. I could continue forward and tried to climb over Mount Ellen and out of the way but that would put me at high elevation directly in the path of the storm. I could try to go back and shelter in the ski patrol Hut I had passed about nine tenths of a mile earlier but the track of the storm on my radar app seemed to show the center of the storm would pass over that spot. I checked the elevation profile for the terrain I was hiking and determined that going back would not bring me down significantly but going forward would bring me up significantly. So I chose to Simply get off the trail and shelter in the woods. I hastily rigged my tarp between two trees and sat underneath it to get out of the rain that hit intensified with the arrival of the storm. This was around 7:15 p.m. I estimated given the progress of the storm sale shown on my radar app over the last hour that it would pass by my location by 7:45. I patiently just sat and listened to the Thunder until it seemed farther away to the South East. Then I gathered my stuff back together put my tarp back in my pack and continued hiking.It got dark  about  an hour later.  Or I should say dark enough that I had to use my headlamp to see adequately.  I don't remember what time it was that I got to Stark's Nest ski patrol Lodge at the top of Stark Mountain bat the Mad River Glen ski area, but it was after 9 p.m. and it was dark. Shortly before I got there I met another Northbound hiker who was hiking with a headlamp. I learned after we both got to start Nest that this was Laurent from Montreal Canada. He is an ultra marathon runner and has recently picked up fast packing. Today he hiked 34 miles. We both said stuff out to dry inside the ski patrol Hut at the top of Mad River Glen ski area that is known as Stark's nest. And I set up my sleeping bag got some water and cooked a freeze dried dinner. This was a Paleo meals to go Savory chicken something or other. I was not impressed. I was however filled and I made a cup of tea to top off a nice dinner. A long day.