Date: 2003-07-29
From: Inn at Long Trail

To: Camp by Chateauquay Road/Locust Creek
Miles today: 12.8

Today was a lazy sort of day, I tossed and turned last night., but slept well in between. We had breakfast at the Inn (it was included in the room price), lots of folks we talked to yesterday were there (Space Monkey and his folks, Snappy & Puff Puff, the motorcycle couple from Detroit). We ate, talked, ate some more, then packed up & headed for Clifford State park to meet up with Sawnie again at her rented shelter in the park (on the AT, how cool is this?). Lots of ¢Mooses¢ hiding in the area, we saw 3 piles of Moose nuggets enroute to the Shelter, and 10 more piles the rest of the day, but no Moose butts (Here Moosey, Moosey¢¦). We sat and talked to Sawnie for quite while, before leaving to meet her again for lunch at River Rd (2.5 miles up the trail), where she is bringing us lunch. Now that¢s awesome trail magic! We hiked a little bit to Kent pond (a very pretty pond to hike around), where I was promptly stung by a bee on the back of my right shoulder¢¦ Oh well, I guess I was due after 150 days¢¦ IO love the feeling¢¦ better than a needle in my eye¢¦ But onward¢¦ Lunch was a success, and there were leftovers to take for dinner. Yumm¢¦ A Turkey & cheese sub, soda, chips and cookies¢¦ Good job Sawnie! Thanks! As we ate, we watched an Irish setter come down the road¢¦ He stopped every few steps and stared at us. Funny. Sawnies Standard Poodle was in the car, I guess the setter wanted to know why we were all in his territory. As Sawnie drove away, the setter chased her car up ther road, jumping at the trunk and barking¢¦ Dumb dog, what would you do if you caught the car? Bite it? So far we had hiked 3.8 easy miles, but the STEEP climbs were about to start. We¢re hiking in a very hilly section of trail, with few views, you just have to put your head down and hike. Hmmmm.. I fell yesterday. I slipped on a rock, bruised my knees and fell the rest of the way in slow motion, hanging on to my poles¢¦ I was already laughing as I hit the ground. Today, Wench fell, but she fell fast. Zip, boom, down.. No injuries, so all is well. But I told her we had to stop this ¢taking turns falling¢ shit, no more allowed!!!! Especially since it was my turn. Now where was I? Oh yeah, hiking up a fairly steep 1,200 footer from River road, huffing & puffing like a steam engine. Then we did a STEEP 300 feet, and then went down a STEEP 1,400 footer (knees, thighs, everything was tired and stiff by this time). SO then we did a steep 350 footer, followed by a medium 600 footer over 2 miles of trail. Finish it all off with 500 feet up and down, and you have our typical VT hiking day (sore feet, knees and lower thighs). This was a tough day, lots of ups and downs. I hope it accomplishes its task, to get us in shape for NH, & ME. We have to average 10.8 miles a day to finish by September 15th (this includes 4 days off¢¦ But we will probably take more). Any miles per day over 10.8, go into our ¢days off¢ bank account. Cool, lets see how the White Mountains are (¢See¢ was the wrong word to use here¢¦ It turns out ¢not see¢ would have been a better word, due to fog & clouds in the whites). But for now, we are camped by a creek & a local road with Puff-Puff & Snappy camped nearby. It¢s nice and cool, so we should sleep well (or just collapse & sleep). Just so you know, what I write in my journal is only a small percentage of what really happens out here. I usually forget most of the details (some things never change), and some of what I remember falls under the ¢What happens on the AT, stays on the AT¢ category, and doesn¢t get written up (does this make you want to hike the AT even more, so you can find out what really goes on?). LOL! Tomorrow we will probably do 17 miles, to set up for a 15 mile day into Hanover, NH! Can you believe it? NH!!!! Note: I was feeling pretty good on the 1,200 foot climb up from River rd. Wench had stopped to pee, and I was just trucking up the steep switched back trail¢¦ I looked over my shoulder and saw her way down the hill, and smiled. But she put me back in my place¢¦ Just 5-109 minutes later, I looked over my shoulder and she was 50 feet behind me¢¦ Sigh¢¦ So much for feeling like a mountain men (at least I look and smell like one¢¦). Oh well, that¢s the natural order of things. Wenches in front, Dogs behind¢¦ Life is good.