Date: 2018-07-23
From: Danny-Landgrove Road

To: VT 11&30 Manchester Center
Miles today: 17.6

Entry 128Today was disaster day in many ways will explain as I write my Journal.We had a great breakfast of pancakes made by David. I had about 5 of them get us ready for the day. 6:00 am we are ready to get going there are four of us going out, Mama Shorty, Chug along her husband, David and Myself .We are doing a Slack pack today a nice 17.6 miles from Danny-Landgrove Road , back to VT 11&30 Manchester Center. We have had at least 3 weather reports, all say that there will be heavy Drizzel at about 2:00pm so we will be almost back by then so no problem.We have a 35 min ride out to the drop off point, nice to look over the beautiful Vermont Countryside as we drive by. At our destination we get our packs on and head out. Pretty nice trail, apart from the normal rocks in the trail, and some left over muddy spots.We are making good time without our full packs, as we climb up into the mountain there is some mist still hanging around, making the undergrowth wet as you are pushing thru. The trail is not groomed up on the mountain tops like it is by the roads, ¢this actually makes day hikers thing all the trail is nice and trimmed, far from it¢.At about 8:30 it started to sprinkle with rain, no problem as under the tree canopy it hardly effects us, 10 mins later it gets harder time to out on the waterproofs. Then it started lashing rain and we are at least 5 miles from a shelter, we have to keep going, at last I cross a river and there is the log built shelter, ¢Thank You Lord¢.I sit in the shelter and wait for David I see him coming down the Trail, like me soaked. Light weight waterproofs are good but they have there limitations. He see¢s the Shelter as he crosses the bridge, a big smiles lights up his face.Although it is still just before 10:00am we eat half our lunch and some protein bars to keep warm and keep up our energy. Soon two AT Nobo hikers come in. These are two girls we are often meeting on the trail, they too start to snack. Then another guy comes in and we sit and watch the rain pelting down, it gets stronger and stronger, you can actually see the river getting swollen, and louder.After about 30 minutes we get a break, well it might be over ???? As we were getting cold David and I decide to hike out. Everything is looking good, maybe it has stopped ???? Then the Heavens opened up again. By now the trail is a river and we have to just wade thru the muddy water, this is always a problem as you cannot see the rocks and roots, it is now up over our boots and sometimes up to your calf, still we carry on as there is another shelter up by the Ski lift. Got some rough trail to get to the summit but eventually we come out on a surreal setting. Ski mountain lifts all shrouded in swirling mist, they look kind of strange with no snow around them, sad looking.We head over to the Ski Patrol hut which hikers are welcome to use out of the snow season, nice to get out of the rain, friends of ours arrive just after us and get warm. It stopped raining so we can now head down.We have to walk down part of one of the runs, again these runs look strange with no snow covering them.We eventually get down to the Carpark after watching the rivers explode with all the water coming off the mountain. It really amazes me how fast these rivers go from a small stream into a raging river of white water, logs and stones being washed down stream.We come out on to the road like drowned rats, trying to thumb a ride. After about 10-15 mins a van stops it¢s a blueberry farmer and we get in he takes us to Starbucks coffee shop, for a well earned Latte.All this time David has been complaining about a burning sensation in his shorts. Turns out he has 3rd degree burns from our washing at the Hostel one of the girls did our washing , and she must have put in to much soap as David¢s shorts never got properly washed out of soap. He actually had soap running down his legs in the rain, now he is in agony.We call the hostel and get a ride back, David is right in the shower and washing down. The result is he had to go to the Emergency Clinic and get treated, 3rd Degree chemical burns to his lower regions, ¢ ouch¢.Time for bed goodnightAnyone can walk on the flat , takes a Hero to walk on the Edge with sore GooliesOnly got 521.5 Miles to go before we summit Mt Katahdin