Date: 2006-08-12
From: Seth Warner Tentsite

To: Melville-Nauheim shelter tenting
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Today's highlight was a smoothly-executed "Plan A". For details, read on. Woke up once overnight to fish out my hat and put on my polyfill vest. The temp dipped to about 40*. What a change from last week, when the lows were in the high 60s or low 70s. Tonight it may be even colder. Goose and Bigfoot really feel these cold temps, as their sleeping bags are rated about 60*. They add layers with their tents and with their clothes, and having used the tent they have to stay in the shelter. Veto and I have it better. I was comfortable last night in my 45* rated bag with a silk liner adding about 10*. Being in our tents also helped. Tonight, as I journal, it appears it may get yet colder. I heated a liter of water and poured it into my nalgene to serve as a hot water bottle at the foot of my sleeping bag. Awoke this morning about 5:30am. I've been on "sun time", in which the availability of natural light determines our day's schedule. I get up often at first light, and get out of bed when I can first discern colors. At night, I crawl into my tent and start journaling about when I can no longer discern colors -- now around 8pm. By the time I finish today's entry, it will be completely dark. Did the usual pack up routine and had breakfast. When I went to take down my food bag from the mouse hanger, I had some trouble, as JohnnyK had added his foodbag, weighing at least 20lbs., to the 'biner. Add to that mine, which weighed about 12lbs coming out of town yesterday. We left out about our usual time of 7:15am, with Bigfoot in the lead and me lagging behind to tighten up my boots. The character of the trail has changed. The leaf canopy is now full, with more white and yellow birch than further south, where there was a dramatic impact on the leaf canopy by the gypsy moths. Here, too, there are many more small ponds and marshy areas that used to be ponds. In mid-morning we came across a remarkable beaver dam several hundred feet long, running right next to the trail. The trail was on a walkway of planks laid on large logs. It was interesting to look to our left and see the water about 4 feet above the ground. We made the Congdon Shelter for an early lunch at 11:30am. Soon after, JohnnyK walked in. He was planning to go to a hostel at Bennington. We left ahead of him and I took the lead, as I was chilly and wanted to warm up by hiking. I kept the lead all afternoon. We reached the open summit of Harmon Hill, and unloaded our packs for a break and snack, then headed the 100' to the overlook into Bennington. Veto had kept up with me; he was chilly too. While waiting for Bigfoot and Goose to catch up, Veto and I went to the viewpoint, where we chatted with a dayhiker couple from Albany (they appear again later today.) We returned to where we'd dropped our packs. Bigfoot soon arrived, followed in short order by JohnnyK then Goose. While we snacked, the Albany couple headed North, back down to their car. After our break, I took off in the lead followed by Veto, then JohnnyK, BigFoot, and GreyGoose. As it appeared we'd be at the road crossing for Bennington about 2:30pm, Veto and I developed various "plans" for a town stop: Plan A, one person hitchikes in/out, bringing back ice cream and pepsi's; Plan B, we all hitchhike in and have early restaurant dinners, pepsi's and ice cream; ... Plan D, we take a rest and keep on hiking. Soon after Veto and I discussed these plans, JohnnyK passed ahead, as I am very slow on steep downhills. This one was mostly stone steps that carried us down about 1000', a descent we later matched with an ascent slightly less steep on the other side. As JohnnyK reached bottom a short way ahead of Veto and me, I could see he was yogi-ing a ride to Bennington, and hurried to catch up so I could ride in too. They had just put JK's and another hitchhiking hiker's packs in the trunk, and JohnnyK was getting in the back seat. I shed my pack in the trailhead parking lot, called to Veto that I was doing Plan A, and asked if I could ride in too. They were hesitant citing room concerns, but consented when JohnnyK interjected that there was plenty of room, and that we thruhikers are very flexible. The couple was fairly recently married and were looking forward to a trip to Greece, where the young man has relatives. JohnnyK, who'd been stationed there, talked about the places on their itinerary he'd been to. Soon I saw Henry's Market, an oldtime corner grocery/deli/specialty butcher shop, reminiscent of Wasilewski's at home. I thanked the couple for the ride, and hopped out while the car was stopped at the light on the corner. Henry's had Pepsi's and Ben&Jerry's and I bought 4 each, along with a newspaper and, on impulse, a bag of marshmallows, knowing Veto planned a fire tonight. I took a few minutes outside the store to wrap the quarts of ice cream and 20oz plastic Pepsi bottles in newspaper to keep them cold for the hitch back to the trailhead. Just east of the traffic light was a good place to hitch, because there was a place to pull over, and I could be seen thumbing from both the oncoming lane and the side street, many of whom turned my way. After several cycles of the light, I was beginning to be concerned that the flaw in Plan A I'd discussed with Veto, that the ice cream would melt before I got a ride, would prove "fatal". Just then a man in a pickup pulling a boat turned from the side street and pulled to a stop. I ran to hop in. The guy told me he didn't know why he'd stopped, as he never picks up hitchers. I thanked him for stopping and we chatted about the trail and my hike on the 10-minute ride back. The FDOM were delighted with the ice cream and Pepsi's. While we ate, Dadgum, who gave Veto his trail name, walked in. His wife was meeting him for an overnight in town. When she arrived, they agreed to take our trash, which worked out great. At 4pm we continued our journey, fortified with 1000 calories for the 1000' ascent up to the shelter.I again led with Veto keeping up. He said he's feeling really well today. Since BigFoot has been falling quite a bit behind, walking closer to Goose, I think he's got a few days to go before the antibiotics fully counteract the Lyme.I followed the usual set up camp routine: set up tent, put up clothesline, fetch water routine, then got a good bit of "down and dead" wood for the fire. Due to it being a bit chilly, I debated whether to sponge bath, deciding to go ahead. I'm glad I did. It's nice to be clean.As I ate, Orangutang and Stinky came into the shelter. Later, we all enjoyed the fire that Veto built and toasted marshmallows.On! On!