Date: 2006-08-03
From: Wintturi Shelter

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: broken clouds

The shelter this morning was fun due to all the hikers that stayed for the night. H-bomb and I got moving pretty early and left out of camp around 7:15am while most everyone else stayed around for a while enjoying the entertainment of the section hikers. You can usually tell the section hikers because they always have extra energy and aren¢t quite as stiff and sore as the thru hikers. The Wintturi Shelter was perched up on a hill and from that point down to VT-12 was mostly all down hill. H-Bomb and I had read in the shelter journal that just ahead on VT-12 was an ice cream stand and we were up for and early morning treat. As we approached the road the trail crossed a style with electric fence and then the woods opened up into a nice pastureland. We rounded the corner of the ice-cream stand only to find that it was still closed and our efforts had not been rewarded. We took a break and studied the maps of the upcoming section and found that just ahead was another place that mentioned refreshments called Cloudland Farm. After crossing Woodstock Stage Road and going through the rolling hills I started noticing plastic tubing and barrels all through the woods. I stopped and pondered the reasoning for this and with out a clue I continued to hike on. Shasta, H-bomb, and I came to Cloudland Farm Road and decided to try out the other ice cream stand that we had read about. We could see a pale yellow house less than a quarter of a mile down the road and from the directions this had to be it. We turned left on the old dirt road and passed a chicken coop and garden on the way to the house. We knocked at the door and were greeted by a woman named Cathy. She motioned for us to drop our packs on the picnic table and make our way into the store that was located beside the house. So I dropped my pack and on my way over to the store I started taking a look around. This place was really pretty nice for an old farmhouse. On the property was an all-wooden, dark stained barn with plenty of stalls inside. Attached to that was a matching smaller barn that had been converted into a store and surrounding all of this was green pastureland. It all belonged to them. The whole valley it seemed. We wet into the store and Cathy showed us around. She began to explain how her and her husband Bill run a ranch on this property and sell the all-natural Angus beef that they raise to the local community. To make this an even more impressive place they also sell items in the store that are only made in Vermont. One of those items was maple syrup. Then it hit me all of those tubes that I passed earlier this morning on the trail were tied into maple trees. Bill explained that during syrup sapping time there will be taps placed in the maple trees and all of those hoses will be hooked up to a pump that creates a slight suction to produce more sap. This sap travels through the tube and into the barrels where it is collected to produce syrup. Bill says that it take about 35-40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. No wonder pure maple syrup is so expensive. There is a lot of work involved in processing it. We each grabbed a Vermont made soda as they call them up here and a pint of ice cream and went out to the picnic table to enjoy. Cathy asked if we liked vegetables and after confirming that we did she brought out a basket of fresh picked goods for us to enjoy. They had all been picked that morning from the garden there at Cloudland and she was sharing free of charge. We stuffed ourselves and decided to pack up and push on a little further up the trail. After talking to Cathy and Bill for just a little while longer we set off back down the road. We me Jangles and Baro back at the trail head and of course convinced them that the ice cream was the best on the trail and told them to go try it out. Shasta, H-Bomb, and I returned to the trail and just after Thistle Hill was greeted by and interesting character. He went by the trail name Degaba and had a little Winnie dog by his side. The most unusual thing about this guy is he was lying in the middle of the trail and shouting obscenities as we approached. We proceeded with caution and noticed that he was completely wasted, had a wiskey bottle, and was heading south on the trail. His dog was panting with exhaustion and he had gotten drunk and couldn¢t make it any further for the day and was out of water. We scrounged up a little water for the dog but left Degaba to defend for himself since he was unfriendly. He was disoriented and his buzz was starting to ware off so I told Shasta that we needed to get moving before we encountered any more problems. We made it down into West Hartford, VT and took a short road walk through town, across and old iron bridge, and ate a late lunch under the Interstate 89 overpass. As the trail entered the wood we crossed Podunk Brook and started climbing up Griggs Mountain. There was really no significance here I just wanted to say Podunk. It made for a few laughs on the ascend up Griggs. Just on the other side of the peak was a sign for Happy Hill Shelter and since it was about a quarter to seven I called it a day and walked down the side trail to the shelter. The shelter was already filling up fast as it was somewhat small but the design was pretty cool. The bottom half of the shelter was all stacked stone and the top half resembles a log cabin with timber framed trusses. I pitched my tent out back, settle my gear, and walked down to the creek just behind to wash up and cool off from the hot afternoon. Dark soon set in and we were all in camp but Jangles. She had been having a rough day earlier when we saw her at Cloudland Farm. She had made it as far as Podunk Brook with Baro before they split up so she was safety back in the woods and had mentioned to him that she may stop early for the evening and if so would catch up with us in town tomorrow. We ended up building a nice big fire and enjoying it for a while before the evening storms started to blow in for the night. It started raining just after settling down in our tents and from that point on was nothing but ZZZZZZs. Tonight at Happy Hill Shelter: Coach K, H-Bomb, Shasta, Mike, Zan, Baro,Leprechaun, 2 section hikers, and I.