Date: 2012-05-17
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: few clouds

The thunder and lightning of yesterday evening lasted about 40 long minutes, then a steady rain continued all night. We had a very wet tent to pack this morning. We stirred awake at about 5:30 am this morning. We awoke to a foggy, damp, miserable looking day. It was 41 degrees this morning. We carried our gear to the shelter to pack up in drier surroundings. We didn¢t leave the shelter area until 7:20 am due to first morning disorganization and packing the wet tent. Rocky¢s thermarest was also wet and it had to be cleaned of spillage in the tent. We found a young man had come into the shelter during the night. He was a young section hiker, Tress, and had walked to the shelter last night in the rain. He had a gigantic pack, which he estimated at 50 pounds. He said he started with 80 pounds, but had left food and his "water repellent" tent in another shelter. We enjoyed chatting with him while we packed up to leave. After we had walked about 15 minutes the sun poked through the cloudiness for the first time. By 8 am we were walking in a cool, sunny day. It was a perfect hiking day at first. The first part of the day¢s hike was over rocky trails, much of it with a running stream. Trail conditions seemed to improve after we crossed the Hell Hollow Bridge (photo 81).We stopped for lunch early at 10:40 am at the Little Pond Lookout. (photo 83) We also dried out the tent and Rocky¢s air mattress while we ate our peanut butter and granola bar lunch. Soon a young southbound (SoBo) couple came by. They were students at the University of Vermont. We enjoyed talking with them and exchanged information on trail conditions.After we packed up and left our lunch spot the bugs became quite annoying. We didn¢t stop to rest much after that as the bugs would swarm us. Despite the bugs we did stop near the start of the two mile climb to Goddard Shelter. As we rested, we were passed by Lone Duck, who was on his way to Katahdin. He started the Appalachian Trail on April 1, 2011, but had to end his last year¢s hike in New York state due to illness. After we resuming walking the climb to the shelter became steeper and buggier. Despite our haste to get to the shelter, the going was slow due to the steepness. With about half a mile to go Swamp Fox went on ahead to get the tent set up in the shelter so that Rocky would have immediate respite from the black flies. However as he neared the shelter the bugs disappeared. This was surprising and quite welcome. Swamp Fox arrived at the shelter at 2:57 pm and Rocky arrived about 15 minutes later. Lone Duck had already arrived at the shelter and we enjoyed sharing AT talk with him. Unfortunately for us he wanted to go further on this day and tent along the trail. He would have been great company in the shelter. Because of the altitude of the shelter (3560 feet) and the relative coolness, 55 degrees when we arrived, the tent would not be necessary for bug protection. However, we anticipate a cool night, with temperatures close to freezing. We set up the tent in the shelter for some increased warmth. This is a beautiful shelter (Photos 85, 85) and was erected in 2005. It is in excellent condition. There is good water here, a clean privy, benches, a porch overhang, and a great view from the front of the shelter (photo 86). We were done eating dinner by 5 pm. It doesn¢t look like anyone else will show up today so it will be a quiet night for us.