Date: 2012-05-24
From: Greenwall Shelter

To: Minerva Hinchey Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

Since this was to be a short day, we didn¢t move too fast in the morning. Breakfast was a shared granola bar as we expected to have breakfast in Wallingford. The Greenwall privy is something to see. (photo 114) It has an elaborate porch (for waiting in line, we suppose), a translucent roof allowing light to enter, and handicapped bars built into the walls. We used it this morning, and there was no line (smile). It was sunny and 62 degrees when we left the shelter at 7:35 am. The Trail down to the road (Vermont Route 140) was only 1.5 miles, but it took us until 8:50 am to reach it. The Trail was rocky, slippery and had a treacherous stream crossing on the way. Our attempt to hitchhike into Wallingford was initially unsuccessful. Then we saw a highway worker stop his pickup truck a short distance beyond us. We thought he was stopping to pick us up and hurried down the road to meet him. We were elated at first, but he refused to take us into town. While we were trying to talk him into giving us a ride, an older lady, in an old Volvo station wagon, stopped and offered us a ride. She had two poodles in the car with her. Now Rocky is a poodle lover so she and our Trail Angel had a common love. She dropped us off at Mom¢s Restaurant at 9:20 am. Mom¢s is virtually at the center of town.We not only enjoyed a great breakfast there, but we also enjoyed talking with the local people in the restaurant.   Mostly we talked about living conditions in Vermont and neighboring New Hampshire. After a stop at a nearby convenience store, we walked back to the town center to hitch a ride back to the Trail. We were at the intersection at the town center at 11 am. Seconds after we reached the intersection, a young man in a pickup truck stopped and offered us a ride. He was a military veteran on his way to a Veterans Administration hospital. It turned out that he was a hiker also, and had done trail maintenance work on the Appalachian/Long Trail.It is interesting to note that we have hitched three rides so far on our hike. All three rides have been with people of modest means with older vehicles. The newer and more expensive cars and SUV¢s typically pass us by. In each of the three rides, we have offered our Trail Angel drivers a few dollars for gas. In each case they have refused to accept any money. We were back at the Appalachian/Long Trail at 11:15 am and started the climb up over Bear Mountain. This part of the trail is in excellent condition, with minimal rocks and mud. It was a pleasant walk as there was generally a breeze and there was no sun. The forest has leafed out since we started our hike nine days ago, so we have less exposure to the hot sun. Today,afternoon temperatures reached the 70¢s. It looked like a thunderstorm was coming in, but there was no rain during our walk to the shelter. On the way down from Bear Mountain, we saw some excellent rock work by the trail builders (photo 115). We reached the side trail to the Minerva Hinchey Shelter at 2 pm. This is a large shelter and could sleep 12 hikers in a pinch. The shelter also has a great deal of damage from porcupines that have chewed at exposed wood in search of salt from hiker bodies. We put up our tent in the shelter. We cooked our evening meal, cleaned up and by 4:30 pm we were relaxing in the tent. Later in the afternoon, another hiker came in. He was Rotten Rodney from Delaware, who is quite a character. He is 57 years old and his long distance hiking mileage is in the five figures. We enjoyed trail talk with him and he gave us some ideas for a future hike on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in Pennsylvania. He is continuing northward to complete another circuit of the Appalachian Trail. We invited him to call us when he gets into New Hampshire. During the night a porcupine did come into the shelter. However, before he could do any damage he spotted us watching him and wandered away.