Date: 2005-07-20
From: Donby-Longgrove Rd

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Danby, VT to Clarendon ShelterOne of my best days yet today! Started the day with a hearty pancake breakfast (with real Maple syrup) at the Alpenrose Inn. Then Annie drove us back to the forest service road where we finished our slackpack yesterday and were hiking by 9:30. Just forty-five minutes into the morning we came upon Little Rock Pond. The pond is the idyllic picturesque scene we've been envisioning and dreaming of for months. It is a glacial pond with perfectly clear, cool (but not frigid) water surrounded by spruce and beech trees. There are large quartz rocks on the far side of the lake to which we paddled a canoe and jumped off of into the water. The lake has no algae or growth of any sort anywhere on it's surface and has a rocky bottom. There's a beaver who's built his den next to a small spruce island on the north end of the pond.We'd passed the caretaker for the area on his way down. When we came upon the serene pond, we were fixing to take a swim and long break when Iron foot came walking south on the AT towards us. Turned out that the caretaker keeps a canoe in the lake and gave Iron foot the OK to use it. Iron foot told us about the rocks we could jump off of, and before we knew it he was chauffeuring us across the lake and we were having a grand time. After jumping and swimming for awhile, we paddled over to explore the beaver dam and the island. There used to be a shelter on the island, but it was too highly used and the impact on the area was severe, so they (GMC) dismantled it. It must have been a spectacular place to camp. When the grand tour and explorations were done, we paddled back to the shore, and got to hiking; exhilarated, refreshed and happy. I was thoroughly reminded of what this thru-hiking thing is all about.Rest of the day was smooth and we even ended up going a few miles past where we'd originally planned to camp tonight. Part of the motivation for the extra miles was to hit the Whistle Stop for dinner. Boy was it worth it! Got a great ride back from a very friendly couple who live close to the AT/LT here. The last mile from the road up to the shelter was straight up, but we had our first expansive view in Vermont. The vista was of the Taconic Range and the Green Mountains we've come over thus far. The sky was gold-blue and the air sort of shimmered in the evenings low sun.We arrived to a very busy shelter. There is a pseudo boy scout/camp group taking up the shelter, a few Long Trail hikers, Iron foot and Airbus here. We could hardly believe it when Iron foot told us that Airbus was here since last we knew he was weeks ahead of us. He ended up having to go back to the U.K. because of Visa issues and was furloughed from hiking for three weeks. The last time we saw him was Harper's Ferry, so it was great to catch up.The camp people are a little different. One of the leader guys has a gun and was teaching the kids about gun safety and history of the fun and ammo. Then apparently he took the kids down a sort of old logging road and fired a couple shots. Apparently it was a safety demonstration. Never the less, guns out here make me nervous, especially with a bunch of young kids. Then Gravity and I were walking down to the stream to clean up when we saw one of the young boys doing pull-ups in the nude, with the assistance of one of the camp leaders. Kid was probably ~7. Maybe the leader was his dad, brother or uncle or something. Just no really what you'd expect to see. I'm not inferring that there was inappropriate behavior cause it all seemed OK in terms of how the kids were acting/ Just really, really weird.All in all, a great day, with kind of a bizarre end to it.Danger