Date: 2005-07-04
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: The Carriage House Motel - Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

Miles hiked today : 11.010.6 AT miles + 0.3 mile of side trail + 0.1 roadwalk mileI woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. and was very sleepy, having stayed up late to read. I packed up, ate breakfast, and hiked out with Opa at 6:10 a.m. I was making good time and at 8:10 a.m., I passed the side trail to William B. Douglas Shelter, meaning that I'd completed 3/4 of the entire AT.I hiked on to Prospect Rock, arriving at 8:25 a.m., and stopped for a 15 minute rest and snack break. Initially, I didn't realize I was at Prospect Rock until I sat down on a rock and saw a sign, oriented for SOBOs, which read "Look Up!" I looked up and saw another sign that said "Prospect Rock" with an arrow pointing into the treeline. I followed a short path and was treated to an excellent vista.Continuing on, I reached the side trail to Spruce Peak Shelter at 9:35 a.m. and began the 400 foot side trail, but turned back partway when I saw how steeply it was descending. Back at the AT, I stopped for a rest and water break and moved on at 9:45 a.m. I hiked another 2.8 miles to VT11/30, arriving at 10:55 a.m., and secured a hitch with Opa from a gentleman named James. He took us into Manchester Center and dropped us off at the outfitter.I purchased denatured alcohol for my stove and was browsing around when Turtle showed up! The 3 of us headed to Sutton's Place to get a room, though there was no vacancy. Mr. Sutton, however, advised us of the Carriage House Motel, gave us the telephone number, and even drove us there after I determined they had a vacancy. The room had two single beds and a double bed, which I claimed as soon as I found out about it.We had to wait a bit to get spare keys for the room, then, at 2:10 p.m., headed to the center of town for a planned group meeting at 3 p.m. Along the way, we saw an upscale southwestern style restaurant and stopped in for a fantastic lunch. We were about 30 minutes late for the meeting, which wasn't an issue, as a few hikers had yet to arrive in town from the trail.When everybody showed up, we made plans to meet at the recreation center at 8:00 p.m. to watch the fireworks display. I left to go to EMS to look into getting a replacement backpack and found one that I liked, though I wasn't sure what size I needed. I asked for help measuring the length of my spine, explaining that I planned to buy one of heir packs. The guy at the counter tried to explain the points on the spine to measure between, saying "You have to find the hole just below your neck and measure to the hole just above your hip bones." and made a high pitched "doo doo doo" sound effect each time he demonstrated stepping his fingers down his neck onto his spine. Well, I couldn't find the "holes" he described, so I asked whether he would do the measurement for me. He got a rather disgusted look on his face and said "No, I don't want to touch you," in a very rude tone. I simply looked at him while he twice repeated the "doo doo doo" sound effect with visual demonstration. I was quite angered by the way I was treated, especially when I was about to spend a significant amount of money at the store, and told him "You know what? Nevermind." and walked out of the store. He had a very surprised look on his face. I stopped at 2 pay phones to get the telephone number for the store to talk to the manager, though the telephone books were missing from both. Perhaps I'll go in tomorrow morning.After leaving EMS, I went into the local pizza place and sat with a bunch of my fellow hikers until 5:30 p.m., when I went to see "War of the Worlds." Talk about a disappointing film. Although the preview had looked very good, I wish I hadn't wasted 2 hours of my time. If I hadn't seen it, however, I would have been anticipating it even more. I walked back to the motel, arriving at 7:50 p.m., and met Turtle and Opa.Opa wasn't feeling well, so he decided to stay at the motel rather than go to watch fireworks. Turtle and I walked down the road, hitching as cars went past, and eventually got a ride from a group of 3 locals in their early 20s. At the park, it didn't take too long to find our group and we sat around chatting while waiting for the fireworks to start. The fireworks commenced at 9:30 p.m. and were great. In addition to the brilliance of the visual display, the reverberation of the explosions off of the surrounding mountains was phenomenally loud. Turtle and I later got a ride back to the vicinity of our motel from Sean and Michael's father. We grabbed a bite to eat, then walked back to our room and found that Opa was still asleep. I journaled before crawling into bed, feeling very tired. Tomorrow is a short hiking day, as I have some chores to do, such as laundry, before I head out.Bedtime at 11:40 p.m.