Date: 2018-07-11
From: Big Branch campsite

To: Route 103 mile 1683.1
Miles today: 16.0

I slept well but got up twice to pee. Just before bed last night River and I agreed on an earlier start and to get up at 5:30 leaving by 7. At 5:30 Faith came to my tent to make sure I was awake. I was already packing up, and after I had taken down my tent and packed up my bag I grabbed the bear bags and joined River and Faith over on the rocks to enjoy breakfast together. Thumper was supposed to have stayed with us at this camp but she texted us yesterday to let us know that she would be hiking ahead and was looking at some time constraints and wanting to do consistently 15 mile or better days so I wished her well feeling like I probably will never see her again. I left camp at 7: 09 headed toward Little Rock Pond. Before long river was right behind me and we arrived at Little Rock Pond shelter and tenting area together. It was absolutely gorgeous the way the clouds were hanging in the sky reflecting on the pond. If it hadn't been early in the morning and if we had been sweaty from hiking more miles we both agreed we would totally be in the water. Seeing its beauty and thinking about all of the great campsites that I had seen over the past few days and some that I'd stayed in made me think of Brian and how much I want to share these places with him. I sent a text telling him that I look forward to spending a few days in Vermont with him next year backpacking and these are some of the places I'd like to share with him. I'm not really sure how much he likes backpacking but the elevation here is favorable and the tent sites are amazing. River and I talked about whether or not we would stop at the white rocks Cliff which was a two tenths of a mile blue-blazed Trail to an overlook. The only thing that we saw before that were a bunch of white rocks at White Rock Junction. Pretty anti-climactic. By this time I was ahead of river and I decided to pass by the blue blaze Trail because it was very steep and I just didn't know that it would be worth it so I continued down the hill toward Greenwall shelter and sat on the log at the beginning of the blue blaze Trail to it and had my lunch. An avocado with tuna salad and potato sticks. I received a text message from River and she had taken the trip out to the Overlook. There were lots of tourists about today hiking to and from this overlook. River joined me on the log for lunch before I had finished and regretted hiking down to the Overlook.I left our lunch log ahead of river and started the descent down toward the falls. I ran across a beautiful family of about 12 with children ranging in age from 2 to 18 who were absolutely fascinated by my backpack and my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. They were wonderful to talk to and very curious children with lots of really great questions. I completely enjoyed our conversation which lasted for at least 20 minutes or so. When I left them I continued straight by mistake on a blue-blazed trail which led four tenths of a mile down to a parking lot never realizing that the AT took a right hand turn. It was my first time mistakenly going off Trail. It was a steep and rocky descent, which made it a steep and rocky ascent in order for me to get back to the AT. I was disappointed with myself and with the extra effort this added to my day. I sent a text to let River know that I was no longer in front of her but 40 minutes behind her.River waited for me at the Minerva Hinchey shelter where we had a snack and some water before finishing up the last 3 miles together. There were a bunch of hikers at the shelter, I didn't meet them all but I did meet Jackie who was waiting for her boyfriend to hike in with their dog, some new shoes and a grinder for her and she was very excited to be seeing him. She's thru-hiking the Long Trail.River and I descended some slippery and smooth rocks covered with pine needles just before Clarendon Gorge suspension bridge and crossed the bridge getting a nice view of the gorge and Mill River. On the other side of the bridge we ran into a group of four. The gentleman and his wife were thru-hikers in 2003 and moved from Alabama to Vermont sometime after. They were going for a short stroll with their grandson and his girlfriend, and presently they are Trail maintainers and provide shuttles and sometimes overnight stays to hikers. He was explaining that the Rocks we came down were the scene of many recent accidents which included broken ankles and wrists. It was very nice to meet them and have a short conversation before we finished our hike at Route 103.We crossed the street from the parking lot and hitched a ride into Rutland to The Yellow Deli. It only took a minute for Tom to pull over and pick us up. We had some good conversation on the way to town and he dropped us off right in front of the deli. We walked into the deli to register and the hostel manager Aysh welcomed us with refreshing glasses of peach matte iced tea. It was absolutely delicious! He showed us to the hostel and gave us a tour. Thumper was there and looked surprised to see us. We were surprised to see her. The women's bunk room was nearly full with only one bunk available and it was an upper bunk. Having noted that Aysh brought us to the third floor and the Overflow bunk room with 4 beds. River and I took the two lower bunks. We were confirmed for 2 nights. The Yellow Deli is amazing and I couldn't rave enough about this hostel. It is donation-based and by that I mean monetary and or chores. The hostel is as nice as the hikers make it and it includes a woman's bunk room with two showers and bath and two men's bunk rooms with the same as well as a common room that has a small kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave sink and basic needs. There are also free laundry facilities. Off the common room out back there's a very large deck. They provide loaner clothes for you to wear while you're doing your laundry, and request that if you are helping out in the deli or on one of their farms that you wear these clothes out of respect for their religion. We showered and walked just a few doors up the street to a restaurant where we had fried brussel sprouts a beer, a root beer, water and a light dinner. Needless to say we were very thirsty!River and I remained alone in the third floor overflow bunk room and it was blissfully peaceful with the box fan in the window humming us to sleep. It was late. Tomorrow we'll use the bus system to slack pack. It's right behind the hostel and it's $2.