Date: 2005-07-11
From: VT 103

To: Kent Pond
Miles today: 21.6

It started raining at about 11pm last night and continued until about 4am this morning. We knew that the trail would be muddy today, but at least it wasn't raining as we started the day. We were on the trail at 5:15am.We started the day with a climb up Beacon Hill. Sure enough, there is a beacon on top of Beacon Hill. The best we can figure is that it is to warn airplanes, but who really knows?We had our first trail magic of the day just before Keiffer Road. There were cold sodas in a stream. Wonderful! Sodas for breakfast? You bet!The next trail magic was a styrofoam cooler just after Upper Cold River Road. Unfortunately for us, it was empty.The third trail magic was about 100 yards later. It was a cooler with a plastic bin next to it. Unfortunately again, the cooler was empty. The plastic bin contained a disposable camera and register. We signed the register, but declined the photo-op.Thanks to all you kind folks who think of us fellow hikers and offer trail magic!We made it up to Governor Clement Shelter, and that is where we began our climb up to Little Killington Mountain and onto Killington Mountain & Ski Area. The A.T. does not actually peak out on Killington, but there is a .2m side trail to the summit of Killington. Now, at this point in a Northbounder's thru-hike, a .2m side hike just to peak out in and of itself is not worth it - - Especially if that .2m side trail is STRAIGHT UP A ROCK CLIFF as in this case. However, if there is food at the other end, it may entice a thru-hiker enough to scale a .2m rock cliff. What did we do? We consulted the AT Companion and Wingfoot's book for the hours of operation of the snack bar at the summit of Killington. One said, "Open Daily 10-4" and the other said, "Open Daily 9-4" It was 11 o'clock.We started climbing. Fifteen minutes later we were on top of Killington. Snack Bar? Closed! Was the .2m straight up the cliff worth a cold soda? Borderline. Was a .2m straight up a rock cliff worth a closed snack bar and a photo-op? Absolutely NOT!We headed back down the .2m rock cliff and took a short break at the Cooper Lodge Shelter. We did make a note in the register at the shelter for other future potential snack bar-wannabees. We informed them to climb at their own risk. Risk of a closed snack bar!We have encountered numerous businesses that should have been open, but for even more numerous reasons they were closed. So as we were scaling the rock cliff, we came up with an entire list of reasons why the snack bar may be closed when we got there. The following list is from ACTUAL past experience on the trail during our thru-hike:1. The public library is closed on Fridays.2. The public library is closed on Mondays.3. The public library is closed due to carpet cleaning.4. The laundromat is closed due to a death in the family.5. The laundromat is closed due to the death of the owner.6. The internet cafe is closed after 2pm.7. The campstore is closed until Noon due to low probability of hikers due to inclement weather.8. The kitchen of the restaurant is still closed due to the chef not yet arriving.9. The post office is closed at 3:30pm - - a half hour before the official closing hour of 4pm - - due to slow business and wanting to transfer mail earlier so postal worker can go home early.10. The restaurant is closed due to vacation and will re-open after July 5th.11. The Subway Sandwich shop is closed "until further notice" per Health Dept.12. The water is shut off at Bear Mtn. Monument, NY due to repairs and construction.13. The Dairy Queen ice-cream machine is shut down due to malfunction.14. The concession stand is closed during the week until after kids get out of school.15. The pizza delivery service no longer delivers pizza.So in conclusion, none of these reason actually applied to the snack bar at Killington. We don't have a reason for that one. If anyone knows the actual reason, let us know and we will add it to our list.We reached a couple of landmarks today. (1) We hit sub-500 miles today. (2) We passed the Maine Junction, which is the turn off from the Vermont Long Trail towards Maine.We hiked onto Kent Pond where we spent the night.