Date: 2008-08-22
From: Winturi Shelter

To: Thistle Hill Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today was the best day yet...a beautiful, cloudless sky, lots of open views, and best of all ice cream - twice! We packed up our tent, had a quick breakfast and were on the trail heading north at about 8:00. It didn't take long today to break out of the woods time after time into open fields that afforded us beautiful views. By 10:00, we came to the top of a large field of wildflowers, where the trail wound its way back and forth down through the field, eventually coming out onto to Rt. 12. We knew that when we got to Rt 12, On The Edge Farm was only .2 mile up the road to our left. They sell all kinds of goodies that hikers like, and most of it is good for you too! Lots of fruit, cheeses, vegetables, crackers, drinks, etc. Also, they sell ice cream, so of course we each got an ice cream cone along with cheese and crackers. The owner also gave us a nice big ripe tomato for free that had a small bruise on it. We saved that for lunch. After indulging ourselves at On The Edge, we walked back down to the trail and began a steep ascent up the the other side of Rt 12. Passing through a number of other open fields and pastures, we made it to a large open field just before South Pomfret Rd at about noon. We stopped near the top of this field and just sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed a nice lunch of tuna sandwiches (with sliced tomato) on flat bread. It was so quiet and relaxing here, we didn't want to get moving again, but of course we did. Walking down the trail through this long field, we eventually reached South Pomfret Rd. At the road junction, there was a large basket full of large cucumbers there for the taking, but we decided that we didn't want to carry the extra weight so we passed on that opportunity. Later, when we got to the shelter, we noticed that someone else had brought one of those cucumbers to the shelter. That night, there were a few thru-hikers that showed up at the shelter and they made good use of the cucumber in their dinner. Within a couple of miles after crossing S.Pomfret Rd, we came to another beautiful field just before Cloudland Rd. It reminded me of a walk in a nice park as we decended towards the road. The trail switched back and forth under lots of pretty maple trees as we decended. Reaching Cloudland Rd around 2:00, we knew that there was ice cream and soda available at the farm about 1/2 mile up the dirt road. What the heck...what's an extra mile of walking when you have ice cream and soda waiting for you? When we got to the farm house, we went into the store, but there was nobody there, so eventually I walked over to the adjacent house and knocked on the door. A teenage girl answered and walked us back over to the store where we then bought a pint of chocolate ice cream and home made soda. We sat at the picnic table outside the store and enjoyed our treat for the next 1/2 hour. It was delicious. Finally, at about 3:00, we decided it was time to move on, so we walked back down Cloudland Rd to the trailhead, passing a few other thru-hikers who were making their way up to the farm for their own ice cream and soda treats. After about 2 miles, we arrived at the Thistle Hill Shelter. We were the first ones there, so we found a nice private, flat spot back behind the shelter. After getting our tent set up, Ann & I walked down to the water source to fill up for dinner. The water source here is really nice. It is several hundred yards down a side trail, but once you get there, it has a nice little waterfall that cascades over a rocky ledge at about shoulder height. You can stand right next to it and fill up your containers without even having to bend over. After we walked back up to our tent site, I spent about 45 minutes foraging for firewood. This was to be our last night on the trail, so I wanted to make a campfire. The mosquitoes were a bit annoying here as I looked for wood, so I put on my mosquito net, long pants, and long shirt and then I was just fine. For dinner, we went over to the shelter and met up with 4 other thru-hikers. One of them was an older man who called himself Walkie Talkie. I kept reading his trail journal after I got back home and he wound up getting off the trail just after Gorham, NH due to his wife having some health issues. I felt bad for him. I feel so lucky to have Ann right here with me. I've backpacked by myself in the past and I enjoyed it a lot, but there always seemed to be that little something missing, that being someone to share it all with. It was hard coming home after a solo trip and trying to describe everything I saw and experienced. After our kids grew up enough to take care of themselves at home, Ann started to go on short backpacking trips with me. Little by little, we extended the length of our trips, and now we hope and plan to hike the whole Appalachian Trail after we retire in a few more years. I feel like the luckiest man in the world to have a wife who will not only go backpacking with me, but who also shares my love for it. After dinner, we washed up our dinner pots and then lit our camp fire. It took me awhile to get the fire started, but eventually I succeeded. We watched the fire burn until it faded to glowing embers, each of us lost in our own thoughts about the wonderful trip we have had over the past two weeks. I really don't want this trip to end, but I know it has to. Tomorrow it's on to Hanover and then back home.