Date: 2017-06-13
From: Kid Gore Shelter 

To: Stratton Pond Shelter 
Miles today: 15.0

I talked with the man retired from Verizon a few minutes before he left. He had a T-shirt on his head in an effort to keep the gnats away from his face. He said it appeared the gnats did not bother me too much. He asked how I was dealing with them. I told him first off, the gnats were not going to kill me. They were just annoying. I adjusted my activity to stop for as short of time as possible. I stop to eat only long enough to put food bars in my pockets and eat as I hike. I was not filtering water, but using Aqua Mira drops. The procedure is mix 7 drops A with 7 drops B and wait 5 minutes. Immediately after combining A and B, I collected water. I did not stand still waiting for the 5 minutes to pass, but hiked. My hope was for a short rain to clear the air of gnats to occur late afternoon, that is finished with an hour or two left to hike. So I would be dry by the time I got to camp. He appreciated my thoughts and left the shelter.   On the way to Goddard Shelter, I got very thirsty. I started imagining voices off in the distance. I was hoping the voices were at the shelter where there was water. I imagined seeing a privy. A privy would mean I was close to the shelter. This went on for about a mile or so, hoping I was close. Just south of the shelter, there was some of the best water on the trail. It was gushing and clean. Of course, I was very thirsty so it tasted even better. It was around noon time. My fellow hikers were holed up in the shelter, trying to avoid the gnats. It was not working.  By the time I got to Stratton Mountain, the gnats were unbearable. I was greeted by the elderly female caretaker. We talked briefly. She asked me to sign the visitor log. She said she would stop talking so I could go up the tower and escape the gnats. I left my pack at the bottom and climbed the stairs. By the third landing, there was wind and the gnats were gone. Yeah!    At the top, I met two guys who were also escaping the gnats. One of them was afraid of heights, but the annoyance of gnats was greater than his fear of heights. His feet were not in good shape, covered in tape. We chatted, enjoying the first time in days without gnats. Eventually we went down. My pack had a swarm of gnats encircling it. I did not look forward to putting on a pack with a swarm of gnats, but I did.  About 4 pm, just as I requested, there was a short downpour of rain. The gnats were gone! I was drenched. I ran into Stratton Pond Shelter. This shelter holds 16 people. Almost every spot was taken, plus the two guys on the tower were in hammocks. When I was home, several people would scold me about hiking by myself. I was definately not by myself this night.  I met Chainsaw here. He got his trail name because he did trail maintenance.  I met a couple who were 75 years old, who had been section hiking the AT for 35 years. They had set a goal to finish the AT by their AT hike by their 75 birthday, which was in a month or two. They were not going to accomplish this goal, but they would eventually finish. They had less than 200 miles to go. They no longer carried a tent or any other shelter, to keep their pack weight light. They hiked from shelter to shelter, typically less than 10 miles per day. I for one, do not have the heart to tell a 75 year old couple that they can not stay in the shelter because it was full. I would give up my spot. I think most of the AT hikers would do the same. I met their friend who also was in his 70s. The woman of the couple told a story of a few years ago. This couple went through Mahoosic Notch (amazing in itself) and she injured/fractured her foot. She found she could still walk if she carefully placed her foot on a level surface. She hiked up Mahoosic Arm (very steep solid rock) the next day to Speck Pond Shelter. The following day, she hiked to the road, where she was taken to medical attention. I believe she was only 70 at the time!  The older people retired for the night first.  The shelter was free because it was too early in the season for the caretaker to be there.  I got water from a stream that was created by the downpour. The next morning the stream was gone.