Date: 2004-05-25
From: VT 12, Woodstock

To: VT 14, West Hartford
Miles today: 12.6

It rained lightly during the night, but I guess further south there were warnings of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and possible tornados. I hope hikers in that area were able to find shelter.I got an early start and walked through town looking for a bakery or coffee shop, but they don¢t open until 7:00. Not a blue collar town. So I headed up Route 12 and got a hitch almost immediately. He was a building contractor on the way to work and a fellow snowboarder, and he went out of his way to take me right to the trailhead. Immediately there were several good climbs and descents and I had shed my rain jacket before reaching the top of the first climb. It was cool and wasn¢t raining, but everything was still very wet. However, the coolness kept the number of mosquitos down, a good thing. I was a little concerned about reaching the first stream crossing, but it seemed as though the water levels were down some from yesterday and the trail wasn¢t completely a running brook.There were many areas where the trail passed through upland meadows, some with no obvious connection to a farm, but the landowners were keeping them open. The grasses in the meadows were tall and wet, so my boots, gaiters and legs were always wet. At the Cloudland Shelter spur, the sign read 0.6 miles to the shelter, as well as 0.4 miles, and the mileage charts posted by the Dartmouth Outing Club read 0.2 miles, so I didn¢t bother to stop there. I did stop for a break a couple of miles further at the Thistle Hill Shelter, which said 0.1 mile, although it seemed like 0.2. I had to get a picture of its hexagonal, gazebo-like screened in privy.From there it was an easy hike out to VT 14, with the trail again passing through several meadows as well as some beautiful woods. At this point the clouds had lifted some, so you could begin to get some views down into the valleys. Eventually the sounds of I89 traffic were heard, and then it could be seen down below. I finally reached a road, crossed the swollen White River on the iron bridge and arrived here at Rick and Tina¢s Country Store and Snack Bar where I just finished at roast beef sub and 20 oz. Coke. There were three other section hikers here enjoying their lunch. They had started their day in Hanover and were slack packing over to the Pomfret-South Pomfret Road. A little later two other hikers from their party arrived, hiking the other way. They only had one car, so hiked in opposite directions and exchanged keys. Some of them were from Erwin, TN, so we enjoyed swapping stories about Uncle Johnny¢s and Miss Janet and their ongoing feud.There is one other hiker that I have not yet talked about. I first noted his journal entry at Stratton Pond Shelter. It was a printed label that he pasted into each shelter register with a calendar in which he could circle the date. His name is Easy One (EZ1), and he started at Springer Mt. January 2nd. He hopes to finish by November, although by his pace, he¢ll be done before that. He has already completed five end-to-end hikes and two through hikes, so this will be his third through hike at age 81. He has others hiking with him and helping him out, but I think it¢s pretty amazing what he accomplishing. The young through hikers who have met him have been very impressed. I¢m disappointed that I didn¢t get to meet him. He was climbing over Stratton Mt. as I was hiking in on the Stratton Pond Trail. If there is one thing I have learned through hiking these past four years, it is that it is as much an effort of mind over body as it is a physical effort. And EZ1 has certainly confirmed that for me.So this is the point at which I have ended this spring¢s section hike. I hiked from here over to Norwich with Patches last summer, so am now complete to that point, except for the sections I missed in Massachusetts and going into Vermont. I hope to finish those this summer and post the journals from those day hikes when I¢m finished.It has been a different hike this year, as they always are. The interruption for the wedding threw off my schedule somewhat and planning to meet friends required me to jump ahead. But there were very few hikers on the trail, also, taking away that important aspect of this adventure. But those that I did meet made the hike interesting and fun and helped me keep my spirits up when rain and loneliness can take their toll.Now begins the planning for the final section to Mt. Katahdin.