Date: 2018-07-20
From: Story Spring shelter

To: Spruce peak shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: clear sky

Another beautiful night last night.Chilly but great for sleeping.Heard some crunching noises around my tent.Probably a deer.Was too tired to even lift my head to look.  Really nice weather again today.Very crisp and clean air.Such a difference for me when it¢s cooler.Feel like I have way more energy and ambition. Trail was beautiful early on today.Lots of little streams to cross and everything is so vividly green here in Vt..Came across a husband and wife that were doing trail work.They have been doing it for 50 years on the Long Trail/AT.Super friendly and shared some history of the trail with me.After that hiked with Wayward for a while.Really cool guy,hope to talk more with him.He hikes SO fast though.I would die trying to keep up with him.  Made it to the top of Stratton mtn pretty early.Really like this one .Has a fire tower on top .Stunning views.I met Santa and Poppa on the top of the tower.They are from Switzerland and were some of the friendliest people I have met so far.Santa is thru hiking and Poppa joined him for a big section hike.They both had that super white blonde hair and the big blue eyes that I picture Swiss people to have.Next was the climb down to Stratton pond which I was really looking forward to because I remember it being beautiful from when I hiked the Long trail.Had lunch with Numb,Santa,and Poopa there.After I went in for a nice cool dip.Cant even describe how great it felt.Was like a huge release and my whole body just relaxed with no more pain.Stayed in for a long time.Wish I was still there right now! Next stop was Prospect rock.Puts you on top of a huge cliff that drops way down.Awesome view of Mt Equinox with Manchester center below.Nice lady came along with her dog and asked us all about the trail so far.She was interesting to talk with because she has done some long distance cycling which is something I would like to get back into after all of this.  Another sweet section of trail brought us to our finish for the day which is Spruce peak shelter.This shelter has great memories for me.When I did the Long trail I stopped here for lunch .There was an AT hiker zeroing here and a couple from Venezuela.And a southbound AT hiker.We just all hit it off and ended up talking for hours.The Venezuelan girl gave me my Long trail trail name here.She named me Dreamweaver because I slowly was making all of my dreams come true.I will never see any of them again but it was a day I will never forget because we all connected so easily  and it was like I had known them all forever.Tonight it¢s just Numb and I .Its a beautiful log cabin shelter with a wood stove and a sliding barn door on front.I can¢t believe we are the only ones here in this amazing place!The only thing that would make it better is some beers.I will have plenty of them tomorrow though because our wives are coming to visit us for the day. Weather looks really bad for almost all of next week.Gonna need a miracle to get through it all  ¢I¢ve got a feeling and it  won¢t go away oh noOne more thing I¢ve just got to sayI need a miracle every day !!¢-Grateful Dead