Date: 2004-10-22
From: Mrs. Gorp's hiker hostel, Wallingford, VT

To: Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

17.8 miles todaySleeping in back of my truckManchester Center, VtI didn't get enough sleep again last night. When I went to bed, I was too tired to even write my journal, so I put that off until this morning. Mrs Gorp had to leave this morning at 6:30am, so when I heard her downstairs at 6am, I got up and went down and poured myself a cup of coffee and talked to her and Larry until she left. After she left, I finished updating my journal and sent it in to my substitute transcriber, Goosebump The Snow Princess who is doing a great job while Liteshoe is gone playing. Hippie and I said goodbye to Larry and went to town and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches on our way to the trailhead at Manchester Center, Vt. Hippie's truck was still parked at the Danby trailhead from the day before, so we just had to drive to the trailhead just south of Bromley Mtn. We got there and started hiking at 8:30am. It was about 40 degrees and by the time we hiked to the top of Bromley, it was 34 degrees and still had some snow on the ground. It was windy, so we went into the warming hut and Hippie used the phone that was there to call Tripod. She also tried calling the Displaced Hippie, but couldn't get the phone to connect her. I went ahead and ate my lunch while we were there. We hiked on down the mountain about half an hour later. There was a cold wind blowing for the next two hours. We hiked back up after the descent from Bromley, to the summit of Styles Peak and then over Peru Peak. It was cold on both of those with more snow on the ground. There are no leaves in the trees at these higher elevations, so there is more views and more wind. The bog bridges still had a coating of ice on them, so we were careful walking across those. We stopped at Peru Peak Shelter and took a break and ate a little more. I saw in the register that Heald is now only 15 days ahead of me. We walked by Griffith Lake and looked at it as we passed, but we wanted to keep walking so we stayed warm. The sun was supposed to come out today and warm things up, but it never showed even once. It even drizzled some a few times during the day. There was alot more mud to walk through today than we've been in before through Vermont this year. I stopped when we got to Big Branch Shelter while Hippie hiked on. She wanted to get to her truck and I wanted to check out the register. The two hikers we saw today were doing a sobo hike on the Long Trail, so they will be done on Monday. I hiked out to Hippie's truck and got there just as it started raining...good timing!! We drove back to my truck and went into Manchester for dinner. Hippie was going to check her email, but she was getting tired and just wanted to get back to her truck and go to sleep. We went back to the trailhead and she crawled into her truck for the night and I messed around my truck for about an hour reorganizing everything. It doesn't take long for the truck to become a real mess when you live in it and it rains so much. I end up just dumping everything in it after each hike and I don't like it that messy, but it's in good shape now!! Mrs Gorp and Larry, I can't thank you two enough for making the last couple of days so pleasant for Hippie and I. You fed us, let us do laundry, let us sleep in your home, let us use your computer, let us take showers, and were great company after we were done hiking each day. It's people like you two that help make it possible for people like Hippie and I to keep on hiking and making friends all up and down the trail. I'm pretty much at a loss of words to express just how grateful I am...thanks again!!!Another great day on the A.T.