Date: 2017-07-13
From: Hwy 4, Yellow Deli Hostel in Rutland

To: Stealth camp beyond Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: scattered clouds

It¢s raining. I can hear it from inside the Yellow Deli Hostel where I¢m dressing for the trail. I¢m putting on what Frodo calls my ¢skimpy running shorts.¢ The last three days I¢ve been carrying my 10-ounce hiking pants in my pack and wearing these 3-ounce nearly-too-revealing nylon running shorts. I think the last time I wore shorts while backpacking was in 2006. Why?Let¢s play AT Trail Jeopardy. ¢I¢ll take apparel for $400.¢ The door opens, the clue is ¢25.¢ Buzz. ¢What¢s the difference between the usual rainy day temperature on the AT versus the PCT and the CDT, in degrees Fahrenheit?¢When the bus from Rutland dropped me off at the side of the highway early today ¢ there¢s no bus stop, the city bus just pulls over onto the shoulder ¢ the temperature was over 60°. On the PCT or CDT the temperature when it rains can easily be in the low 40s or worse.¢I¢ll take apparel for $1000."  ¢The clue is 5,000 to 10,000."  Bzzz. ¢How much higher are you on the PCT and CDT than on the AT when it rains?¢ (Frodo: Does it really matter if it¢s raining? That doesn¢t affect the elevation!)Today I probably averaged just over 2000 feet in elevation, even including a brief kiss to 4000 feet on the top of Killington. The low spot for the entire CDT is higher than Killington! So when it rains on the other two trails I¢m often many thousand feet higher.(Frodo: Okay, it¢s just one of those snarky days. But, ummm, neither of these clues or questions is about APPAREL.)How¢d those shorts work out today? Just fine. My legs got wet but they weren¢t as bad as wearing wet pants. Even when I wear my rain pants, if it rains for hours my hiking pants eventually get soaked through. I¢m seriously thinking about not carrying my hiking pants. (Frodo: I can just see all the hikers and townspeople you encounter rolling their eyeballs. Those are really skimpy shorts. And see today¢s Zits comic strip: http://www.trailjournals.com/j... )We spent six miles climbing Killington. There was no view from the top. This is the new norm. In The Presidentials, in The Whites, you rose above treeline and had views to the horizon. The last time the trail rose above treeline was at Mt. Moosilauke. For the rest of the AT we will never rise above treeline. There was good trail tread today. And something new. Just before we left the AT yesterday for Rutland, we joined up with Vermont¢s Long Trail. It was the first ¢long trail¢ in the country, begun in 1910. The AT joins it for 105 miles. (The Long Trail is 272 miles long.)  This means that today we were not only seeing AT NOBOs, but also Long Trail NOBOs.500! Today we passed pur 500-mile point. We have hiked on the AT for over 500 miles. I had a late lunch after 10 miles at the Cooper Shelter. (The sign on the privy said it was the Cooper Pooper.) Moose and NOBO the SOBO were heading out before me and I said, ¢Look out for Grey Wolf.¢ I hiked parts of the CDT with Grey Wolf, and he also helped us host PCT hikers for three weeks in April 2016. He¢s now hiking the AT NOBO. Shortly after I started hiking again, ¢Is that you?!?¢ I heard. Grey Wolf got a long hug, but we both had miles yet to hike. I¢m fading. After 17 miles, at 7:00 pm I set up a stealth camp. My eyelids are so¢¦ heavy¢¦.