Date: 2005-07-23
From: Stratton-Arlingtom Road

To: Bromley Mountain
Miles today: 20.2

12:15 PMWe got up around five o¢clock this morning because we heard Au Pa drive up at the parking lot. We yelled down to him. He heard us. We got up and packed and walking by six.He came up with a big bunch of grapes which we sat around and ate. Then we started walking. It was a really leisurely walk today. Stratton Mountain was nothing like I remember it. It was a very gradual uphill. The caretaker¢s wife came out to see us, so I didn¢t go off on her.Au Pa¢s been walking with us today. We¢re only doing seventeen over pretty good territory although there is a lot of mud. Good recovery day. If seventeen miles can be a recovery day.We made a quick stop to the bridge and then a stop at Prospect Rock to overlook Manchester Center, I believe. Now we¢re hiking for food again. Got five miles to go to meet Au Ma on the road, maybe even sooner, if she got on the Trail hiking in our direction with sandwiches and then Au Ma and Au Pa are going to take us to Manchester Center to do a little shopping at the outfitter and then maybe something else.That¢s it for now.Vern said that I neglected to say that it rained like hell last night.It rained like hell last night.My shoes are falling apart. I don¢t know if they are going to make it another fifty miles to Sherburne Pass, where I had a pair overnighted. I¢m going to have to take a close look at them when I get into town here. I may end up having to buy another stupid pair of shoes to a lousy fifty miles.Today did turn out to be a most excellent day on the Appalachian Trail. We got down to the road before two o¢clock and a mile before Au Ma met us. It about kicked our asses trying to get down and follow her. I don¢t know what got into her but she was hiking hard. We got down to the parking lot at Vermont 11/30, the road down to Manchester Center. She had packed incredible amounts of food in there; ham sandwiches, which I had two and later on packed another one; I think Vern had a couple of those. All kinds of food. I could get into descriptions like I normally do. Cokes, Coronas, and so on. We sat there and pigged out. Ate all kinds of stuff. A number of other people showed up. One gal who was through hiking the Long Trail, they invited over. Two through hikers, north bounders, who surprisingly, I hadn¢t met before because they started within a day of when I started. Esoteric Ninja and some other guy. They ended up getting a ride with us because one of the things we had asked Au Pa and Au Ma to do was to give us a ride into Manchester Center to the outfitter. We had a number of issues to deal with. Trekking poles for both of us. My shoes, because I somehow missed putting a pair in the bump box and had over four hundred miles on them and they were falling apart rapidly.   I wasn¢t sure I was going to make it two more days to get into the Long Trail where I had Kimberly overnight another pair.We went to the EMS first. Au Pa stayed at the trailhead with all the coolers, trying to give all the people trail magic as they dropped in. And Vern and I and Omah and the two other through hikers ran into town. The two other through hikers dropped out, they were not planning on getting a ride back.At EMS, we were very unhappy with the way that they were there. Obviously we needed help with out poles. Vern needed another set of tips. I needed basically a whole other set of poles, but I was willing to settle for a bottom section because the threads of the rivets were going out of it. These people were not going to help us if they could, in terms of giving us spare parts. I know that Leki, who manufactures poles for both of us will stand behind anything. If I had called them, I know that they would have told these people to just give us new poles, if that¢s what it took. But they took way too much time trying to take my poles apart, clean them, and basically did nothing with them. They could have replaced Vern¢s tips by just taking them off another pole or just giving him another bottom section but they weren¢t going to do that either. In fact, they referred us to Mountain Goat, the other outfitter, the small one in town. So we went down there and not only were they a better outfitter, they were a smaller outfitter and they had everything that a through hiker wanted. So, anyone reading this I¢m going to tell you this, if you¢re going into Manchester Center, don¢t even mess with going to EMS. It¢s crap. Go to Mountain Goat. If you can¢t find it there you probably are not going to get it at EMS either.We went back to the trailhead. We got there about four fifteen. Au Pa was sitting there oogling some cute young things that were walking up the Trail that he had given some trail magic to. God knows what that was.We ate some more of the food there, as much as possible. I had a couple more plums. We strapped on some beers and some sandwiches. I know for a fact that I hiked away from Au Pa¢s truck with fourteen or fifteen more pounds than I walked down to it with. It showed. We were both kind of struggling to go uphill, and all the straps and everything on the packs were creaking.We were kind of relying on a campsite that Baltimore Jack¢s resupply information says is about a mile from the road, however, it must have been a misprint. We passed a campsite a tenth of a mile from the road, and there was nothing else until Bromley Mountain Shelter and of course I was whining like crazy about it. I whine a lot lately.Anyway, we made it up here about five thirty or so and the shelter is a beautiful shelter. It is a brand new shelter. I haven¢t had the opportunity to use the privy yet. Vern says that it¢s so nice, he¢s going to have to go use the bathroom again tomorrow, just so he can use it.We got our tents set up inside. There¢s some section hikers camped up the hill. They have tent platforms there. I'm much happier day today than yesterday. Feeling good. Hope it lasts tomorrow.That¢s it.