Date: 2004-09-02
From: The ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂSecret ShelterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ (.9 south of Governor Clement

To: Thundering Brook Rd.
Miles today: 15.7

Before leaving the Shelter this morning, I was reading through the Logbook and found the following entry by ¢Mr. T¢ and ¢London Len¢ who have been traveling with ¢Scorch¢ and ¢Chicago Rob¢¢¦¢TOO BAD ABOUT SCORCH. CHICAGO ROB, HOPE YOU¢RE BACK SOON.¢I¢d have to conclude that something happened to ¢Scorch¢ and that she¢s out of the final assault on Katahdin, at least for this year. I do hope she¢s okay. I gather that ¢Chicago Rob¢ went along with her to wherever¢¦For me, today was a wonderful day to wander the trail. After yesterday¢s 20 mile ¢burner¢ hike, today¢s hike was I have less than 16 miles and even though much of it was spent going up and over both Killington and Pico Peak, the day was cool yet sunny and perfect for this kind of a hike. It was true, ¢Easy Does It¢ kind of day.The trail to the summit of Killington wasn¢t as well built as the one going up Stratton, but it was fairly benign. I could see my breath in the early-autumn air right up until 11:00 am when BOB finally won out over the pockets of cool, damp forest air hiding in the hollows and nooks of the backside of this famous ski mountain. I enjoyed my lunch on one of the tent platforms near Cooper Lodge near the Summit, then spread out my sleeping pad and took a solid half-hour nap.I woke up as ¢Reverend Doctor Dan¢ (a VA Baptist preacher who has been section leading to the AT for many years now) passed by, en route to the Blue Blazed side trail to the top. I joined him and after a short, steep scramble through a dense thicket of firs and ferns, popped on the top of Killington to be greeted about 25 children and their brightly dressed parents, all of whom had ridden the gondola up there from the other side! It was a bit of a shock to the system to go so suddenly from the deep Vermont woods to the frantic scene of vacationers on sugar highs! What a contrast.After climbing back down my rabbit hole, I lollygagged my way down the north side of Killington, leap-frogging ¢Reverend Doctor Dan¢ several times as first he¢d stop, and then I would and so on. It turns out that he has hiked with ¢Patches¢ from GA during the course of his sectioning which only proves what a small AT World it really is (I hiked with ¢Patches¢ and his wife ¢Saint¢ back in NC and they drove me into Franklin from Winding Stair Gap in early April and have since been in touch with him a couple of times on the internet.)Around 4:30 I realized that I needed to get it into gear if I was going to get to the Mountain Meadows Motel on the other side of Kent Pond before nightfall, so I focused on ¢shaggin¢ butt¢ for the next hour and a half and completed the 4.6 mile journey including the climb and decent of 1000¢ high Deer Leap, in time to take in a beautiful sunset across the pond.My friend and ski-buddy, Dick Hurd, drove up from Boston this evening and arrived at the motel just after I finished my second helping of Shelly¢s homemade beef stew. He¢s going to join me for the last few days of this section I am looking forward to his company. The Mountain Meadows is an unexpected treasure of an old dairy barn converted into a ski lodge and summer vacation spot with nice facilities and a most hospitable atmosphere. When will start out tomorrow, Dick and I will be heading East across the State instead of North along the spine of the Green Mountains. I expect the terrain will be different from what I¢ve experienced these past few days. Who knows maybe the Trail will be a bit less muddy and more hospitable to walking? One thing¢s for sure: It¢ll be whatever it¢ll be and there¢s nothing we can do to change that!