Date: 2006-07-13
From: Manchester Center VT

To: Lost Pond Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

We had a relaxed morning at the Sutton house hostel. We had planned to hitch back to the trail around 11 so we caught up on sleep and journaling. It's amazing how nice it is to be in a nice dry house when it is pouring for hours on end outside. It makes a real bed feel even better! Coyotebec, Tinkerbell and I went to Up for Breakfast again since it was so good yesterday. After that it was time to get packed up and meet Hindsfeet at the bookstore. It should be noted that Manchester Center has an amazing bookstore. You could literally spend hours in there. It was still raining when we left the bookstore at 11. We have not had to try to hitch in the rain so we were a little worried that nobody would stop. Not to worry - we had a ride very quickly.Back up on the trail, we started north in the misty rain. Everything was saturated, so we were walking in water almost constantly. There were small creeks cascading down the trail. It reminded me of a certain EBAG Eagle Rock Loop trip (but not cold). The 15 we had to cover would have been pretty easy if the trail were dry. We spent a lot of our energy dodging puddles and mud. After a while, there was no use trying to keep the shoes dry. We were ankle and calf deep in the water for a lot of the afternoon. Uggg... Hopfully this water will drain out by tomorrow. The state of Vermont is beautiful though. The smell of Christmas from the pines is everywhere. There are stream and lakes and moss covered rocks with dense northern forest. I would like to come back someday. Maybe for a bike tour though More tomorrow...Gumby & CoyotebecThis entry marks our 4th Full Moon Report. We've been on the trail now for 4 months and have now covered 1636 miles. We've finished all but 3 states and it is starting to feel like we are closing in on our goal. Physically, we feel pretty much the same as a month ago. We are able to cover 18-20 miles a day and we don't feel the need for zero's like we used to. Becky has had sore feet since Damascus - and I have joined the club. I guess there's just no way around it. We are going to have sore feet when we are putting in this many miles. The problem is mainly just behind the ball of the foot and just in front of the heel. Mentally, we are still enjoying the trip. We miss home, friends and family though. I know that I look at our mileage and calculate the weeks a lot more than I used to. Mentally it is fun to see the mileage remaining drop from 1200 to 900 to 600 and now to 543. Hiking the AT is definitely about patiently chipping away at a goal. You just can't get there quickly. One thing that's fun we've noticed lately is the reaction of town people when we tell them where we have hiked from. The look of amazement is priceless. Another thing that is a little different is that I feel like we are truly part of the environment when we are out there. Before, I felt like a visitor most of the time. The comfort level is definitely a lot higher. The biggest problem I have had mentally at this point is "staying in the game" when we are getting close to the end, but not close enough to really feel the elation of getting close to our goal. We have about 3 weeks of hiking left before we hav! e to leave the trail for a week for the Outdoor Retailer Trade show. When we return, I think we'll have 10-14 days left to the finish. I am looking forward to the OR break. Tink and Hindsfeet are going to visit a camp in New Hampshire while we are gone. This is a place Hinds used to work. Then we plan to join back up and finish together. If you are reading this, you probably have been following our progress for a while. If you wouldn't mind, we could use some email encouragement to get us through the next 3 weeks. Email us at hiking@epuck.com. Gumby & Coyotebec