Date: 2008-08-02
From: Sucker Pond, VT

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: thunderstorm with light rain

I slept good again last night. I do remember waking up in the middle of the night to a loon calling on the pond and this morning to some geese getting ready to land. I made 24.2 ounces of great, strong coffee and ate 3 apple fritters for breakfast. I never seem to get ready as quick as Mrs. Gorp...she was ready and I hadn't even started packing up yet. She sat there and waited. :-) We made our way back up to the Appalachian Trail and started walking north at 7:30am. It was a bit cooler out last night than it's been in a long while...maybe in the upper 50's. That felt really good! Mrs. Gorp said that if we were quiet, we might see moose in this area. We were quiet, but didn't even see any signs of moose. I read in the register at Congdon Shelter after we got there that some hikers had seen moose a couple months ago, but no mention of any lately. Mrs. Gorp thought that maybe they calved low around here, then moved into the higher mountains when it got warmer out. We walked on after I signed the register and left a note for some friends that are hiking the Long Trail. I said hello and congrats to Frogcaller and Xmas. I didn't waste my red ink writing Chief's name because he wouldn't see it. ;-) I saw a sobo coming towards us and found out his name was Medicine Man. We talked a while and he said there would be other sobos coming by soon. They all went to a hiker feed in Bennington last night. We talked to Spanky for about 20 minutes, another sobo, and then Mercury came walking by. Sweet Sweet was the next sobo, then Sundae and finally, Hungarian. They were all glad they had gone to the hiker feed, but was even happier to be back out walking south. Mrs. Gorp and I got to Harmon Hill and took a break. We sat out on some rocks and while I checked email (I had data service), she went and picked a bunch of raspberries and even brought me a handful. They were the best raspberries I can remember ever having, so I started picking some too. That topped off those apple fritters I had for breakfast! :-) We could see the town of Bennington down below...our destination for the day. We finally got moving again and came to a steep downhill to the VT 9 road crossing. Mrs. Gorp said she had heard there were 500 stone and rock steps on this descent and she wanted to count them...and wanted me to count too. I counted 652 and she counted 635. My final answer is 652. ;-) We started hitching a ride to town. I could see rain getting closer from over some distant mountains, so I was hoping for a quick ride. Mrs. Gorp came through when she got a guy to roll his window down as he was leaving and she boogied a ride to town. :-) We got dropped off and walked into a deli just before it started raining. Mrs. Gorp looked at me and said; "You're feeling pretty smug, aren't you?" Hey, it's nice NOT to get rained on some of the time! :-) We ate our sandwiches and waited for the rain to slow down, then walked over to the local outfitter and met Spider, a nobo who is at North Adams, MA on the Trail, but was in town for the weekend. We walked over and got a room and I sent in yesterday¢s journal entry, while Mrs. Gorp went to the Laundromat. She is one happy lady when there's a Laundromat in town! :-) When she got back, we both walked up to the local store and resupplied for the next 3-day section, then it was dinnertime! :-) We split a large pizza, then went and listened to a live band playing in the town park. They played one song that I liked really well. Wish I could remember the exact words, but it was something like; "Put me on the Appalachian Trail and I'll find my way home." I REALLY liked those words! :-) Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)