Date: 2011-05-30
From: Governor Clement Shelter

To: Rutland, VT
Miles today: 10.6

Scat, Boots, and us all survived another night in the wilds of Vermont without incident. Whew! Woke up early to gentle rain which dwindled by 7 a.m.. Everyone emerged to fix breakfast. Take It Easy and I don't cook anymore(used to, then switched to ziploc bag cooking where boiling water is poured into ziploc bag full of dehydrated food)Now we just eat dry cereals or bars for breakfast. So it was entertaining to watch Scat cook up oatmeal. Eventually Scat hollered asking Boots if she thought breakfast was gonna be delivered to her in the tent. Boots strolled out of the tent ready to greet the day and have her ration of oatmeal. Both were relieved to have made it through another night and are looking forward to their hike day. Last night poor Scat went to their tent bothered by allergies, eyes reddened, coughing, and nose a'twitchin', even after lifting a cup of wine, toasting with Boots to a successful day's hike. They offered to share these last few sips/gulps of wine with us, but it was much more fun watch them enjoy the pleasures of sun-nourished grapes while we drank our Propel powder -boosted water. Well, back to my story: Scat woke up without the nuisance of allergies tormenting her. Before leaving camp, we gave the two of them each a diaper pin to use to hang wet socks to dry on the outside of their packs. They'll be put to good use in these wet mountains! Everyone in good spirits, and happy the rain stopped and the day was clinging to coolness, Take It Easy and I waved goodbye to Scat and Boots, wishing them all the best. They'll be joined later today by a guy friend who they optimistically think will give them an additional sense of safety. Hope so. It would be awful to hike feeling fearful and uneasy. Developing plans for handling various misfortunes that might befall a hiker provides me the best comfort. Of course, knowing Take It Easy is alongside me constantly is the very best! Headed out and up(always seem to be more ups than downs when hiking!)with temps initially in mid-60's. Had to first walk up a forest service road up a steady grade, eventually becoming typical trail, full of wet roots, rocks, mud, etc. So much wet, dripping greenery around us it seemed like we were moving through a tropical jungle. The sun came out as we plodded up the trail ascending Killington peak. No wind, no breeze during our 3 hour shuffle to the top. Took a couple of breaks just to have a rest from the queasiness my stomach was coping with. Continued to drink as I walked, but still my head throbbed, not with pain, but attempting to reduce my core temp--seemed like my entire body was pulsating. I guess all blood vessels were dilated trying to cool off. If we could only catch a breeze to evaporate some of the sweat that coated me and made my clothing droop heavily! Come, wind! Come, cooling clouds! No answer. My ears were quite hot, not only from heat, but because they're swollen and itchy with about 8 insect bites on each...what miserable red things they must look!Finally, after about 3 hours we summited, reaching Cooper Lodge(fancy name for a shelter that has a door and a large, no glass picture window overlooking the valley below Killington). We shed our packs, fixed Propel powder and some salt in our drink bottles, and rested next to the Lodge. Talked to the 2 college-aged hiking girls who stayed overnight in the shelter and were fixin to head out on the trail. Asked them if Rambler stayed there last night. They exchanged puzzled looks, said they didn't know, but said there was one older guy who slept there. Gee, how can two girls not talk to a shelter companion? I'd want to at least chat briefly with anyone in my shelter, just to get a sense of whether they were friend or someone to be on guard/wary of during the night. The girls headed off to finish their holiday hiking weekend. This midday break was delightful. Thanks to it being about 9 degrees cooler at this higher altitude, I felt much better, hydrated, ate lightly(didn't want to challenge my stomach), and refreshingly energized. We put on our packs, left the inhospitable, trashy(yes, can you believe that litter was all around-inside and out!) graffiti-sprayed, wet, uneven stone-floored shelter, and lumbered downhill under sunny skies with scattered clouds flitting by. We're not too happy about the sun coming out fully shining...means the day will get hotter. It gets hotter as one loses altitude anyway, but neither one of us needs to stress our body's already challenged temperature regulating systems. Take It Easy hasn't felt "right" since just before summiting. Thank goodness my head's quit throbbing. Both of us are feeling queasy, Take It Easy moreso than I. Dozens of brown frogs on and beside the trail, a typical downhill, steep in places, boggy and bog boards in others. Two healthy 20-yr old guys came bounding up the trail like mountain goats toward us. Were we ever capable of bounding up mountainsides? They said, "Hi, how's it going?" as they scampered past. We had a couple more ups, then finally could hear road sounds. Oh, we saw one Lemon Squeezer-like formation next to the trail. We had to take several rest breaks for Take It Easy's belly to settle down, and for both of us to cool. Take It Easy's stomach is threatening to be upset due to the heat. Both of us needed to take breaks to cool down. We could feel it getting warmer and warmer as we came down the mountain. Grateful for an almost steady breeze that kept us from totally being wiped out, we kept from getting more ill from heat exhaustion. Our legs feel good and strong, but our bodies just don't feel good at all. Emerged from the forest at Rt. 4 and walked over to the Budget Ski Repair/apartment building (same place where we got a taxi this past September when we'd hiked south from Hanover, NH). Sat in the shade next to the building to call for hotel room availability in Rutland, then planned to call for a taxi into Rutland 7 miles away. Within minutes of securing a $62 room at the Ramada Limited, out popped Marty, the owner of Budget Ski offering to drive us into town in a half hour or so! Yippee! Marty said he was going into town anyway because his yoga class was cancelled this being Memorial Day. Within less than an hour Marty whisked us off to Rutland, talking animately about his journey in yoga as well as the evergrowing drug problems in mountain communities. Marty is quite an interesting and entertaining guy. He dropped us off at Ramada Limited, we checked in to our room. Ahh....showers and an insect-free night ahead! Take It Easy trotted across the road to a convenience store to buy some beer to soothe our weary selves while I showered and changed clothes. Smelling clean, covered with angry red insect welts, the only clean clothes I had to wear were a pair of fake Crocs, a long-sleeved shirt, and my fleece jacket that fortunately hangs down low enough to cover the tell-tale fly of my dark gray boy's longjohns. I had spankin' clean dark gray socks to pull over the longjohns cuffs--hey, it looked like a well-matched outfit to my sore eyes! But to anyone else.. Did I look like something the cat dragged in from the mountain, or what! Take It Easy showered, too, and after a beer in the room, it was time to mosey down the sidewalk a couple of blocks to 99Pub and Restaurant for supper. We ate heartily. Stuffed full, we walked out of the dining area toward the lobby exit. Some wild-eyed woman ran up to me, calling out excitedly, "Yellow Jacket!". Low and behold, it was Scat...all fresh as a daisy-like she'd just come from a spa instead of the trail! She led us over to the table where she and Boots were about to eat their dinner. I should mention that their clothes all looked put together city-fine...unlike lazy ole me, these hikers carry a couple of outfits. I have one set each of sleeping, hiking, and rain clothes. Turns out, upon reaching the road at the base of the steep boulder descent into the gorge this morning, Scat and Boots decided to save the upcoming bouncy suspension bridge for another day. Their legs were wobbly and they knew they were lots of hours away from their destination shelter of Minerva Hinchey. Quick learners, they took up an offer of a ride to town with Popeye and his friends who were getting set to drive away from the gorge parking lot. What a small world! Take It Easy and I'd met Popeye several yrs ago outside of the Smokey Mountains! And who'd a thought we'd ever see Scat and Boots again--they were supposed to be hiking another 5 days or so before going into a town! Goes to show us that AT hikers pop up unexpectedly everywhere! We sat and talked and laughed. They bragged about how they swam in their hotel pool before dinner, and had washed their clothes. Lucky them! Arriving around 6 p.m., we'll have to do those things tomorrow(won't swim in our pool however). Scat invited us to stay in her family's cabin in the woods outside of Chester, VT for a few days while we gathered our thoughts. Her generosity is overwhelming! We'll sleep on it.Again, we left Scat and Boots laughing, sure our paths will cross again.