Date: 2008-06-19
To: At last!
Miles today: 0.0

The day that I have been waiting for has finally arrived! It is the day that I will hit the Appalachian Trail, not with a simple daypack, but with one containing everything I will need to survive outdoors with for four days. I usually struggle to find a reason to get out of bed, but today, I had no problem- even at 5am! With not even a sip of coffee (another of my internal battles), Erik and I were all packed and ready to hit the open road by 6am¢¦ our destination?- the Green Mountains of Vermont!       The town in which I live is located in a peculiar place, as far as the major highways go. In order to travel west, I must first drive south, then north, and then south again. This route necessitated merging onto the highway on which my brother was killed before we could head west, past the small town of my childhood, where the scenery became softer and greener, with gentle rolling hills and meadows. Rain clouds had teased us throughout the length of our drive, drifting in and out the entire way, but as we reached Vermont, the sun was shining down upon us! We were welcomed to this tranquil state by a particularly beautiful visitor¢s center, where we stretched our legs and were tempted by some Green Mountain coffee. However, we kept strong and focused our thoughts on our adventure ahead. Who needs coffee when you are about to drink in the beauty of nature? Our trailhead was located on a remote road, which was lined with apple orchards reminiscent of ¢The Wizard of Oz.¢ The day could not have been more perfect. My heart began to skip at the sight of the brown and white AT sign when we pulled into the trailhead parking lot! At last, I was here! I jumped out of the car and ran over to it. Yellow butterflies fluttered about. The temperature was pleasantly cool; perfect weather for hiking. What more could we ask for? While Erik stretched, I snapped photos of our surroundings, too excited to take the time to do anything slowly and methodically. He convinced me to eat a juicy plum before we completed our final repacks and we started up the mountain at 10am.        In planning our itinerary for this trip, I tried to fit in as many sights as possible; in this case, two mountain summits, a beautiful pond, and 40 miles of trails. We would head northward first, then travel south for a couple of days, and then north once more to return to our car. Since we had four hours of driving to do before we even got to the trail, I planned the first day as a short one of 7 miles.I didn¢t know how strenuous the climb would be- especially with a heavy pack. But, as we started up Stratton mountain, I was pleasantly surprised to find it not nearly as hard as I had imagined! The trail had an easy grade, and was beautifully kept. How could anyone NOT want to walk this path? I was surprised that we hardly encountered another soul the entire day.      The first forest-dwelling creature that we stumbled upon, was an orange salamander. Erik pointed it out and I turned around to see it tumble off a small rock, limbs flailing, landing on its back, with its soft belly exposed. It did not try to upright itself very quickly, and I found the whole episode extremely amusing. Erik joked that ¢In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!¢, reminding me that this was once the highest form of life on earth. We would see many more of these amphibians along the way.         It wasn¢t long before I spotted the caretaker¢s cabin, and then saw the metal base of the fire tower! We had arrived at Stratton summit, enveloped in the pines. It was much chillier up there, so we had to set about our order of business, quickly. First, set down our packs; second, take pictures, and third, grab our food bags and head up the fire tower stairs to seek shelter from the wind! There were no great views to be seen that day, as the clouds had settled in. But with our itinerary, we would get another chance the following day. A couple of bumblebees, sluggish with the cold, had also sought shelter in the loft. Carefully stepping around them, we sat on the floorboards and took out our packets of tuna and tortillas for lunch. I was completely content. I never could have imagined how good such a simple meal would taste. Despite the cold and the clouds, it was a perfectly satisfying moment. Before descending back down, we had some trail mix with pieces of chocolate in it for dessert! Yum!       I had read about the gondolas on this mountain that take you down to the town below, and given that we were already half-way done with our mileage for the day, and that it was still early, we decided it was worth it to take the 1.6 mile excursion to see them. We followed the side path towards the east, slaloming among poles and netting that were likely set up as some type of biological investigation. We saw a couple of clearings that were probably former gondola stations, before arriving at the current one. When we stepped out of the woods, it seemed as if we had arrived in Switzerland! The air was crisp and clear, the view of the surrounding mountains was expansive, and the red paint of the buildings created a magnificent contrast against the soft blues and greens of the grass, mountains and lakes. Even the architecture and signs looked European.      The gondolas were not yet in operation for the season, so we just explored the area a bit, having it all to ourselves. It was so cold that my fingers were numb, and I could hardly manage to work my camera! This was the one time on this trip that I wished I had brought my gloves. We found an old gondola seat that was set out for a bench and climbed on top, without a care in the world. I was thankful for the black leather, as it helped warm my hands. After a few minutes of rest, we were off again- this time to Stratton Pond, where we would camp for the night. However, we would have to descend 3.2 miles of trail before getting there.      I never look forward to the down hills on a hiking trip. They hurt my body too much. My toes get battered and bruised from hitting the fronts of my shoes, and my quads work overtime as they try to brace me. Afraid of falling, my pace slows. Up hills, on the other hand, I can¢t get enough of! I love working hard, I love bounding toward my destination¢¦toward my reward. Down hills feel like a let-down to me, signifying the impending end of a trip (at least in the White Mountains where you can spend a whole day climbing up them and returning down). So, it was slow-going again, or so it felt. Descending this side of the mountain, we encountered our first thru-hiker- a south bounder, by the name of Fox. He had started in Hanover. Our interaction did not last as long as I had wished, but was pleasant. He carried a Mexican blanket and blue tin cup and used a wooden walking stick. I found myself with a newfound interested in observing the gear the other hikers were carrying and comparing it with my own. I did feel a bit silly with my high-tech Leki poles, when talking to Fox. Did I really need such futuristic instruments for a simple walk in the woods? Maybe he had the better idea¢¦      We had the trail completely to ourselves again until we encountered a group of trail maintainers, most of whom were splitting rock in the woods to our left. They were constructing a path of stepping stones in this particularly mucky area of the trail. As I pondered the placement of my feet, I suddenly heard a voice toward my right. I looked over and saw a seated figure whose face was covered in mosquito netting- a rather frightening sight, at first. I couldn¢t see his face, so I felt uncomfortable looking at him. By this time, I had been hoping to see the shelter at any moment, so I asked him if we were close. He just pointed north and said it was ¢that way, up the trail¢ (still a good half-mile away). I was getting tired and kept wanting to see the shelter just ahead, but I only saw trees¢¦         Finally, we arrived at the sign for Strattton Pond Shelter. It was located about 150yds off the trail, and I had to muster up the energy to get to it. I had read about how these short side paths seemed to require extraordinary effort to a tired hiker, and now I was experiencing this feeling myself! What a nice shelter it was, though! It was a very spacious, two-storied one with a loft. The first thing that I did was look for the trail registry, where the hikers passing through or staying overnight express sentiments on their minds. Sometimes, they include poems, quotations, or witty thoughts. To me, it was like a secret treasure trove. I was also interested to see whose names I recognized. As I poured through the entries, I saw for the first time, the handwriting of many of the hikers of whose stories I was following on Trail Journals. This brought a whole other dimension to their journeys for me. In a way, I was following in their footsteps.         We looked around the shelter and I pointed out to Erik the mice-proof hanging devices for food bags (wouldn¢t this be prime bait for the bears?) If I weren¢t so afraid that these menacing rodents would chew through my new gear, I might have stayed in the shelter. But I preferred to take the safer route and camp.             Onward to the pond we went. We saw one platform by the water, but I had read in the guidebook that we were supposed to camp at the North Shore tenting site. I thought it was, at most, a tenth of a mile away, but we walked and walked around what seemed to be the entire perimeter of the large pond. By this point, our packs were digging into our shoulders. We were both drained and fatigued, and I (re-)discovered that when you don¢t know where your destination is, the smallest distance can seem like an eternity. Finally, Erik had us drop our packs, and walk in search of our elusive site without the extra burden. It was here that I saw the first black snake of the trip, slithering off the trail in front of me. Once we finally found the platforms, we concluded that the first one by the water was actually a more desirable place to camp, as it was isolated and was the only platform that had a view of the water. ¢¦Back we went, re-tracing our footsteps, but with happier hearts this time, knowing that we were finally in reach of our resting site for the night. As our minds relaxed, our energy lifted, and we were more able to take in the beauty around us.       Luckily, our site was still free when we returned! We first set up our tents, and then I went for a quick dip in the pond, even though it was cold, as I already had my mind set on it. The only problem was, without a towel, I had to get my rain pants and fleece jacket wet in an attempt to dry off, and the air was only getting colder. We filled our water bottles in the nearby stream (and heard two loons skimming their wings along the surface of the water), treated it with Aqua Mira drops, and then started boiling water for our first dinner of whole-wheat macaroni and cheese. It takes 20 minutes to purify water with this method, and 15 minutes to get a boil from the pot of water with my tiny ion stove. We set up our tents in the meantime, and then ate our dinner on a log by the pond. It wasn¢t as tasty as I expected. I was suffering from a pounding headache across what seemed like half of my brain. I think from all of the excitement of the day and from drinking too much water, I had depleted all of my electrolytes. I layered on my rain jacket and hat to keep warm, leaving nothing more to add (a bit of a worrisome thought).   After cleaning up, we grabbed our journals and headed down to the pond¢s edge and enjoyed the setting of the sun.         The bugs drove us back to our respective shelters (me in my tent and Erik in his bug-hut), and we finished journaling inside. I had all of my layers on and was still cold, causing me concern about being out in temperatures lower than this. Maybe I wasn¢t cut out for this living outdoors¢¦ For the entire night, I kept my hat and fleece jacket over my thermals, tucked into my 20 degree sleeping bag. Later, I found out that it was in the 40¢s that night. Erik said he would be up at first light, but neither one of us slept much during the night. The platform was hard! I loved the lightness of my ultra-lite therma rest when I first bought it, but I hated it during my first use of it! It felt like it offered no padding at all. I couldn¢t fall asleep on my back, and whenever I turned to my side, my shoulder and thigh bones countered in great pain to the hard surface below. This being my first night out in the wilderness, I was also extremely attuned to any nearby animalistic sounds. At one point, I thought I heard something on our platform, trying to get at our food inside of the bear box, but it just turned out to be Erik, shifting in his sleeping bag...