Date: 2006-10-02
From: Arlington Stratton West Wardsboro Rd

To: William B Douglas Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: broken clouds

Sunday, October 1, 2006, travel dayIt rains steadily all day. Amoeba and Zig Zag drive through ME and NH to Rte 91 South in VT. They exit at #6 and head towards Manchester. Set Zig Zag¢s car at the Rte 11/30 trailhead and take Amoeba¢s to the Arlington Stratton West Wardsboro Rd Trailhead.First time trying to sleep 2 in the Element. It works fine.Monday, October 2, 2006 Arlington-Stratton-West Wardsboro Rd (Kelley Stand Rd) to William B Douglas Shelter, 11.7 miles plus 0.5 blue blaze trailZig Zag starts hiking at 7:35, Amoeba at 8. The plan is to hike only to Stratton Pond Shelter so there is no rush.Zig Zag's wearing her old boots. The traction is poorer but they keep her feet drier. Amoeba has opted for dry feet over traction too, hiking in worn-out Highlands instead of Beaches.Trail is wet after all yesterday¢s soaking rain. VT mud is more slippery than ME's. The soil particles seem finer.50 degrees by Zig Zag¢s thermometer. Feels warmer, maybe because there is little wind.Hobblebush, birch, beech. Yellows and greens, very few reds.Norway spruce.Blazes so fresh the paint looks wet.Chickadee chipping.Fir and mountain ash.Maples with yellow and brown leaves. Not typical of sugar maples, but maybe they are under stress this year. The Eastern tent caterpiller infested maples in western MA. Maybe in VT too? Second-growth leaves may not color up orange and scarlet.Amoeba picks up a few beech nuts for Purple Rose.At the top, a big Hello to one of the caretakers, Jeanne. Amoeba and Spinner had met her in 2003. Jeanne had told them about Bicknell¢s thrush.How are the thrushes? asks Amoeba. I keep trying to shoo them, replies Jeanne. I tell them it¢s time to go back to the Dominican Republic. But they haven¢t left yet. Their food supply here must still be OK.Jeanne says the loons are still on the pond. Later they¢ll migrate too, to the ocean for the winter. In spring they¢ll return to the pond.The cabin she and her caretaker husband Hugh share is on the National Register of Historic Places, Jeanne says, as is the Fire Tower. There are 8 more fire towers in VT. You can learn more about the fire towers through the Fire Tower Lookout Association (FTLA), she says.On their way down the mountain they meet Hugh. Today I¢m cleaning muck and leaves out of the water bars, he says, and I¢m fetching drinking water.A fine use of time, thinks Amoeba.Yellow and green striped maple.Greens, golds, browns and infinite yellows, some shaded, some lit, some 40-watt, some 1000-watt. At every turn there¢s a photo. Another Counterpane Fairy day, walking through the colors, heart singing, storing up the brilliance for another year.For reds, oranges and pinks, they¢ll have to hike elsewhere (or maybe return here in another week).Toad, blending in perfectly with its surroundings.Zig Zag finds a pretty lunch spot beside a stream with bubbling sound and a kind of circular waterfall. Amoeba joins her. Today¢s lunch is a lobster roll she bought yesterday in Bath ME. Tomorrow's will be a BBQ pulled pork sandwich she bought at the same place.Who says you need a stove to eat well on the trail.You can eat very well without a stove, especially if you're flexible about expiration dates.Leaves are falling but Amoeba doesn¢t feel like playing the catching game today. Instead she thinks up new categories.Leaves she could have caught if she¢d been standing under them when they fell. Her score in this category is many millions.Leaves she could have caught if she¢d tried. Her score in this category is several thousand.Either way she¢s got a big score. :-)))Hello to a couple and their dog.Hello to SOBO Jaws.Hello to Robin the caretaker at Stratton Pond and to 2 couples from Jacksonville VT out for the day.Zig Zag and Amoeba decide to push on to the William B Douglas Shelter. This will get them out earlier tomorrow and give them head starts on their long rides home.Hello Twinkletoes, flipflopping, Springer to VA, Katahdin to VA.Hello to 2 brothers section-hiking. One from Alabama, one from Massachusetts. They hike together on the AT about 2 weeks a year and have compiled about 700 miles so far.Amoeba¢s feet are sliding around inside her Crocs. They¢re waterlogged and muddy. Not safe. Not walkable. Without friction between socks and the inside surface of the Crocs, they can¢t be hiked in. She washes the socks and wrings them out.Easy 0.5 to the shelter. Shelter by 5:30, just the 2 of them. Dark by 7.Register has an interesting entry from Johnny K: Made a special trip to this shelter because it is the 34 mark. Now have 14 to go.Goodnight.