Date: 2003-08-24
From: Manchester Center, VT - Clarendon, VT

To: Manchester Center, VT - Clarendon, VT
Miles today: 36.0
Weather: clear sky

Manchester Center, VT - Clarendon, VT36 miles (1671.1 total miles)After a quick stop and an unexpected change of plans, we left Manchester Center at about 1:00. We filled up with lunch, and cruised on. The hitch was a little hard, but we finally got a ride from 2 ladies out shopping for the day.We hiked up immediately. About halfway up Bromley Mountain we stopped at the site of a future shelter. They were hard at work building a new site for us. We continued on, and hit a ski run on Bromley Mountain to the top. There was a warming hut on top where we stopped for a break. I tried to call my sister just for the novelty of calling from a ski mountain, but she wasn't home.We left on a steady descent, then back up to Peru Peak. It was getting late, so we found a nice spot to put up our tents. We saw moose tracks around, but no moose. The wind kept us up all night.We were up and out by 6:45 on day 144. We climbed briefly over a short peak, then descended way down. We passed a shelter early in the morning. Many of the shelters in Vermont have a fee due to "high use", so we tried to adjust our schedule to hit the free shelters.We followed a lake shore for a while, then up over Baker Peak. It was a gentle climb until the final steep, slick rock formation. The it was a gentle descent again. The shelters in this area were very close together, and we passed 2 waking down the ravine. We stopped at the third for lunch.We continued down, and found someone handing out sodas. He seemed more to be looking for a party than into "trail magic", and seemed disappointed when we drank our sodas and left. We passed 2 more shelters, headed up over our final peak of the day, and stopped at the Greenwall Shelter. There was no one else there. The mosquitoes were unusually thick, so we tented out again.We were out early again on day 145. We headed down 1.5 miles to a road crossing where we were to meet Henry, Linda, and my friend Philippe. We got there early, and decided to hitch into town for a real breakfast. We waited on the quiet road for an hour before someone picked us up. Henry and Linda met us in town for breakfast, and we met up with Philippe on the way out.We were doing a 7 mile slack. It turned out to be the most beautiful day I have seen since North Carolina. The sun was out, but it was fairly cool. There was hardly a cloud in sight, and the views were great. We hiked about 3 miles up, then 4 back down. It was a wonderful hike without our full packs on. We went into town for lunch, and said goodbye to Philippe. Then we did another 3.5 mile slack. This was much steeper, but still beautiful. We came back to town to do laundry, resupply, and have dinner. We crashed for the night on Henry and Linda's motel room.Thanks so much to everyone who wrote, concerned that I hadn't updated my journal in 6 days. Thanks to Philippe for coming out to hike for a day. Really, the weather isn't always as nice as it was when we hiked. And thanks to our personal trail angels Henry (Slack Master H) and Linda for all you do for us. Vermont is gearing us up for the big mountains. The hills are becoming harder, and I am set to receive my winter gear again soon. Things are moving at an amazing speed now. It feels good to be cranking out miles, and watching my goal get closer and closer. 501.6 miles to Katahdin!