Date: 2015-06-27
From: VT 9 (Bennington)

To: Stratton-Arlington Road
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: light rain

We're lovin' early starts. John picked us up at 5:30 AM this morning and took us up to the trailhead. Two factors contribute to our desire for an early takeoff: first, we have a long hike over tougher terrain today that will take longer, so the early start means that we will still finish at a reasonable hour; second, rain is predicted for later this afternoon. (The second factor is a bigger motivator.) All-in-all we got a good night's sleep at the Autumn Inn last night. We have heard from some hikers that the Autumn Inn is not hiker friendly. We don't agree, the manager came to pick us up at the trailhead when we called. And he was quite accommodating. However, in my opinion, the rooms are marginal for what they charge. It's an older motel that needs attention and considerable improvements. Enough said. We walked downtown and ate at the Madison Brewing Company. We've been here before and really liked it. The draft selection is great as well as the pub food selection. It's well patronized and sometimes has entertainment. And we saw several other restaurants & pizza places along the way. Today's hike was longer than average for us, but slack-packing helps a lot. We had two sizable climbs (Focus said 4k elevation change) and I was panting by the time we finished the second - it's good to build up for the upcoming Whites. There was still plenty of mud, but it hasn't rained for several days so it's not as slippery as it was. Some hikers say we're in the state of "Vermud". There were several noteworthy features on today's hike. Halfway up the first climb up Little Pond Mtn, we crossed Hell Hollow Brook. The AT Guide identifies a footbridge over the brook, but we found last year that the bridge has a bright 'Bridge Out' sign at the end and a significant sideways slant. Last year the brook was swollen from the rain. When I tried to rock hop across I slipped on the last jump and ended up wet and scratched. This time I won't say how we crossed, but we all fared better. About 10 miles into the hike we reached Glastenbury Mountain, the highest point today which sports an observation tower. Between the nearby Goddard Shelter and the observation tower, we saw probably a dozen other hikers and a number of them were climbing the tower. We were anxious to finish, so we moved on. Overall, we saw a lot of hikers on the trail today, both NoBo and SoBo. The AT coincides with the Vermont Long Trail from the MA border north beyond Mt. Killington and a lot of the hikers are doing the LT. About 14 miles in we stopped for a quick lunch break at Kid Gore shelter. The shelter wasn't far from the trail, but there were some ugly rocks that we had to negotiate to get to it. It felt good to sit on a bench for a few minutes and there was an opening in the forest in front of the shelter that offered a reasonably good view. There was a chilly breeze and Focus commented that he was glad we didn't plan to stay in the shelter, it was going to be cold and wet later in the day. The rest of the trail was mostly downhill with only a couple of uphill bumps. We had an interesting short climb up a rockfall and plenty more mud and roots. The mudholes are usually a puzzle, you can try to find a few rocks (or roots) to dance across, or you can try to skirt around the mud. In either case, a bad guess can be messy. The last couple of miles in the hike were somewhat nostalgic for us. Last year we were on this very section when we decided to quit the trail. I was recovering from Lyme and fatiguing after only 8 or 10 miles and we weren't having fun anymore. We had already decided to head for home at the next town, but I ran out of energy and barely made it to the Stratton-Arlington Road (our end point today). Last year when we got to the road, a trail angel gave us a ride to a car rental agency and we drove back home to Virginia. Eventually, last year, we returned to the trail, climbed Katahdin on Aug. 19, and I did MA and VT in Oct and Nov. Things are much different this year. This year the AT adventure will continue. But not until after we take a zero tomorrow.