Date: 2013-08-07
From: Manchester Center, Vt

To: Peru Peak shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Getting out of town took a long time today. First I had breakfast at the coffee shop attached to the book store. It's quite a nice setup ¢ buy something to eat, then sit around reading. Next I wanted to do Laundry. This town is so full of "factory outlet" stores that ordinary businesses are spread out around the center. Since the laundromat was some distance away (if I'd gotten into the hostel, it would have been right there), Beer Goddess & I shared a load (that meant I did most of the work & she paid more, since she wasn't ready to get going very soon).I had mail drops at the outfitter & the post office, which gave me a lot of sorting to do, plus repackaging what I wanted to send on into the future. Then I had to get back to the post office to mail stuff ¢ Mr. Sutton helped with that. I had one last thing I wanted to do before leaving town. Yesterday, when I bought a sundae, I had received a piece of paper that said it could be returned for a free ice cream cone. It had a picture on it of a picnic scene. When I handed it in, the clerk gave me a weird look & said, "It has to be colored in." There was nothing on it that said so (& I'd made this extra trip up the hill for nothing?), but I asked if they had anything I could use to color it. They didn't; so I made use of what they did have, coloring the picture with mustard, relish, & ketchup from their condiment table. After trying to dry it a little, I turned it in again. He showed it to his boss, & I think she told him to give me the ice cream to get rid of me.After getting a sandwich (elsewhere) & hitching a ride out of town, I had separate conversations with two women at the trailhead. One had hiked the Trail herself & might try it again. The other was very interested in learning about backpacking & followed me for a half mile, full of questions. I hope she gets to try it herself.At Mad Tom Notch, I met Long Trail hikers Quay Quey & Rhythm. The only AT hiker was Snicker + 2 couples at the top. Today I saw what I thought was the best-designed shelter on the whole AT. It's the very new-looking Bromley shelter, 2 miles in from VT 11. It has 2 decks for sleeping, with the top one running all the way across, not divided into 2 parts that are awkward to share, The ladder to the upper level is in the middle, so people up there don't have to climb over each other or just jump up or down. There's a picnic table built into the front of the shelter, & the peak of the roof extends out over the whole table (unlike so many where the drip line falls in the middle of the table).Bromley Mtn. is a ski slope, & the Trail goes right up one of the runs. It's a weird feeling but makes for some good views down the Mtn.This section had very little mud. The interesting thing about Vermont mud is that is less likely to be in the low spots than up higher, in this case, between the 2 peaks of Peru Mtn. When I was on top, I felt I was on schedule to get to the shelter just at dusk. However, that's when the rain started, and the steep downhill went pretty slow. There were a couple of hikers in the shelter when I arrived in the dark, but 2 LT hikers came even later than I. This is a wide shelter, so there was plenty of room, but outside there was no table & just a jumble of rocks to walk on.