Date: 2006-09-13
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Bennington - Chris & Arla's Home
Miles today: 14.4

I awoke around 5:30 to a gorgeous sunrise. The shelter faces due east and the clouds were providing the right ingredients to make all of the colors pop. I called over to Ben to awake him as he had questioned the night before about whether we would get a sunrise view and I did not want him to miss it. But what made this sunrise more amazing than others was that I did not have to get up to view it. I just laid in my sleeping bag, nice and toasty, and enjoyed this spectacular transformation of color as the sun rose above the mountains. I tell ya, this is my kind of alarm clock!Tom woke up in time to enjoy the view and once the sun actually lifted above the mountain range, we all began to stir with the routines of morning: breakfast, toiletries, packing up, etc. Tom is the first to leave and he and I make tentative plans to meet for dinner in Bennington at Madison Brew Pub around 8. Then Ben heads north. And of course, lastly, I leave the shelter and head towards town. While we had been preparing to leave, the sky did begin to sprinkle. The forecast is for possible scattered showers today and storms tomorrow, so Tom and I really want to make it to town so that we are not hiking in the rain tomorrow. Of course he is heading back to Dunwoody as his section hike is over, but even though I will continue to hike south, I am sure that I will spend most of the day in town working on all my town chores. The rain is not bad, actually the leaves on the trees make good umbrellas and I am really wearing my rain jacket for warmth more than to stay dry. My first trail mile marker is Glastenbury Mtn and it's fire tower. I cross paths with some fellas heading north and ask one of them if there is a view from the tower even with the rain. He says yes, so when I get there, I climb to the top. I do get to see a 360 degree view but it is a misty view. Nothing as spectacular as the Whites, but I can see where I have been and where I am going and that is always nice. It's freezing up there with the wind blowing, so I head down pretty quick.At the base of the fire tower is something that I have not seen before on the trail and that is "Do Not Enter" signs. I believe that these are for the snow mobiles that also have trails crossing the top of Glastenbury Mtn. Next mile marker is the Goddard Shelter. It is a brand new shelter and is really nice. It was built in dedication to a hiker that was killed in a car accident. I stop to read the journal as I am trying to get information about the free hostel in Bennington. Before long, I am freezing! I can't sit long in this type of weather. Tom had left me a note that he took the blue blaze trail as it gets you closer to town.Back on the trail. This shelter is the last place to get water for almost 7 miles. I am good to go though. It is pretty much down hill to town. Of course, that does not mean that I am constantly walking down hill. But the overall decline in elevation means that the temperature rises and I begin to warm up. I am glad that I am heading into town today because I am out of lunch food. I do stop a few times for snacks and eat what I have left which eventually becomes only peanut M&M's. The next mile marker is Hell Hollow Brook and I am glad to see it as it means that I am close to being done for the day. Of course, it seems like forever before I get to the next shelter. For some reason, I thought it was just a mile from this brook, but I must have had my facts wrong because it seems to take forever. I make it to the shelter and again peruse the register for info on the hostel in Bennington. It's neat to read the entries of all the people that I have met along the trail. AHA! The Sexy Monk of Africa has left directions to and the names of the people who run the hostel! Now all I need is a quick mile or so jog to the road and a hitch to town and I have a place to stay! When I get to the parking lot at the trail junction with the road there is another hiker there waiting for his wife to pick him up. We exchange words. He seems really nice and has a cute dog. I head to the road to hitch a ride to town which I heard would be easy as this road gets a lot of traffic, but no one wants to stop. I know its around 5 and people are probably ready to get home and don't want to be bothered with the task of taking a dirty hiker to town - but certainly someone will stop. The cars just breeze right by me. I consider going back and asking the hiker in the parking lot if his wife would mind dropping me off in town. Finally, a white car pulls over and the driver, a biology field worker in a suit, offers me a ride. His name is Steve. He is very friendly and tells me a little about the tourism industry in VT. (I always ask locals - usually the folks who give me a ride to or from town - about the local industries. It's small talk, but it also gives me a clue as to what people do for a living in these small towns.) He's a hiker too and had just recently been to Gifford State Park with his wife. I ask him if he can take me to the large Victorian house next to Friendly's restaurant and he knows exactly where it is and has even heard of Arla.So now comes the true test to this hostel mission - knocking on the door to see if they are still taking hikers - it's kind of late for the hiking season. See this isn't really a hostel, it's a family that opens their home to hikers free of charge. I ring the doorbell. Arla comes to the door with a speculative look. I introduce myself and inquire about accomodations. She smiles and says she thought I was saleslady, not a hiker as she didn't see my backpack (I had placed at the base of the porch steps). She invites me in and gives me the lay of the land. Hikers can stay in their barn, do laundry for free, take a shower, use the internet and make free long distance phone calls. Everything sounds perfect. She also introduces me to her husband, Chris, and her son, Josh. Josh has Down's Syndrome and is very quiet and shy, but super sweet and an excellent pool player. By the time I get cleaned up, another guest of the house has arriived, Bluebird and her dog Jazzman. I met Bluebird, a nobo, in the Whites the day I left Lakes of the Clouds Hut. Turns out she had to get off the trail due to a stress fracture in her foot and has been staying here for a few weeks working to earn money to get home - Georgia. I tell ya, Georgians are well represented on the trail this year. Bluebird loans me some town clothes as I wasn't able to get to the post office before they closed today and I head to the pub to meet Tom. I guess that he changed his mind or maybe he came early and we just missed each other as I don't see him anywhere, but I decide to stay and have a cheeseburger, fries, and a microbrew - my standard get to town meal. (Still have not had a burger or fries as good as Marlow's, so I'll definitely be hitting that tavern upon my arrival back home!)Walking back to the house, I am reminded of what it was like to live in the city like I did when I was in college. Everything is in walking distance. It's so nice to have businesses and residential areas intertwined. However, awaking in the middle of the night to the sounds of traffic and people yelling, I am reminded of how nice and peaceful it is to live away from the areas of hustle and bustle. Bluebird and I later talk about this as I asked her if she heard the loud altercation in the middle of the night. She did not, but says that perhaps I was more aware of the loud noises as I have been used to the quiet sounds of nature in the woods. Perhaps. I do remember learning how to drown out the sounds of traffic on the connector when I lived in the dorms at GT, but still I wonder: Is there a way to have the best of both worlds? The closeness and availability of the city center and the peacefulness and privacy of property located in the "country?"