Date: 2015-07-11
From: Goddard Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: overcast clouds

7/11, 19.3, Stratton Pond ShelterHere are so many things happening on the trail day to day, especially weekends, it is difficult to remember back to the morning start. IB, JP, Otter and I, woke as usual at 5 to 50 degree temperatures and sunny skies. Privy, breakfast, pack and out of the shelter by 6:30 was a pretty quick start today but we paused soon after the climb away from the shelter to enjoy an observation tower. The top of Glastonbury mountain is tree covered so there is an observation tower to provide hikers a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. The climb up 200 feet was worth it and skies were clear so we could see for miles. After the side trip, we hiked on. The trail today reinforced the Vermont trail nickname, "Vermudd", as we slogged through and around very soggy trail conditions. We also experienced the advent of some small biting flies today flying fighter escort around our heads as we hiked. Added to the mosquitoes we saw a lot of hikers donning headnets but we are moving quick enough to not be bothered too much. It is interesting that all of the flying critters seem to be focused on our heads, making hats a good deterrent. After Mt. Glastonbury our path was generally downhill so we rolled along until lunch, taking our break by a stream. After lunch we faced Stratton mountain. It presented a 1700 ft climb over 3 miles so I set out in the lead and we all paced ourselves. I reached the top of Stratton at 3 pm to a crowd of day hikers, Long Trail hikers and AT hikers. There was another observation tower to lift us above the trees so we had our second amazing panoramic mountain view of the day! After enjoying a break we headed north on trail down the other side of Stratton Mt. headed for Stratton Pond shelter. We arrived at the shelter at 5:30, surveyed the situation and secured bunks for IB, JP and I. Otter prefers to set his hammock so he is just outside he shelter. Water here is about a 1/4 mile away, near the edge of the pond, so the trip was longer than normal to refill, but the shelter has lots of seating and cooking areas making dinner a major event. The shelter also has bunk room for 16 making it one of the largest shelters so far on the trail. This shelter is the first to charge a fee, $5 for stay, but that also covers AT thru hikers for any other shelter in Vermont on the AT. The fee is collected by a shelter caretaker and she was a great resource for information about the trail to come. Interestingly she is originally from Dayton and one of her first outdoor jobs was working at a Girl Scout camp near Wilmington, which is very near where I live. It has been very interesting to meet many people from Ohio on the trail and when asked why there are so many, most of us respond about how nice it is to get out of Ohio. But don't worry, I will be back when the journey is done. Evening has been conversation as usual, where you from?, how far did you hike today? Are you a thru hiker? These questions ramble around every shelter as we acquaint ourselves with one another. As 8:30 has approached though the shelter is beginning to mellow as most are laying in bed, headed for sleep, as am I.Silverback