Date: 2005-07-26
From: Vt 103

To: Sherburne Pass Trail
Miles today: 19.3

It's 1:00, and I am en route to the Inn at Long Trail. I got up at 5:00, got dressed and waited on Cindy.I have to tell you, that along with Au Ma and Au Pa's pick up, this is probably the best Magic I have had on the Trail. Cindy and Larry were wonderful to me. This experience on the Trail is exactly what I needed. I hope to repay them some day in kind. Cindy made me breakfast this morning, some muffins with bacon, egg and cheese, fruit on the side, and coffee. Larry was up, so I got a chance to say goodbye to him and thank him. Cindy dropped me off and managed to get me on the Trail at 6:20. I started walking with a venegeance. I made it to the top of Killington and all the way to the tent platforms at Cooper Lodge at 10:30. So, I did about 12 miles in a little over 4 hours. Of course, I am slack packing today also. That means that my tent, my sleeping bag, my Therma Rest, and my food bag are not in my pack. I started out with 12 pounds, and that's fully loaded down with water. Cindy is going to meet me at the Inn and drop the rest of my things off there for me.It's a real good break in walking, what a difference it makes. It's a pleasure walk today, I am really enjoying it. The pain in my knees is still there, but I am feeling alot better after 16 Ibuprofen and 21 hours off my feet and 8 pounds of food later. I am a much better man now out here.OC1 is already there at the Inn, he took off yesterday and he walked in there this morning. I will be seeing him shortly, I believe he has gotten us a room. **LATER**I made it to the Inn before Cindy showed up with the rest of my things. I was sitting at the bar having a Long Island Iced Tea when she walked in. I tried to buy her lunch but she said she was in a hurry. She just had a Coke.I pretty much blasted off this morning for the first section. I hot the tent platforms on Killington peak in 4 hours and 10 minutes. It's a pretty good climb up to Killington, with alot of very challenging terrain, alot of big roots and things. When you get to the top, it's a spruce forest, very pretty. This is a beautiful section of the Trail. Vermont is pretty, but Killington especially, is very cool. When I got up there, I made a quick stop at the Cooper Lodge, which is right next to the tent platforms. I elected not to go on the side trail to the top of Killington Peak, mainly because I was in a rush to make sure I caught Cindy in time. I did however, keep going straight ahead instead of hooking down and I ended up on the ski lift. I had to ask directions from one of the people working on the ski lift.My shoe, the left one, finally blew out. Talk about timing. I expected them to blow out just before I got here, and they sure did. I found Vern in room 31, the room we were sharing. I took a shower and basically, spent the rest of the day hanging out and eating. I ate 4 times with a generous share of beer. I'm trying to fatten up. When I was at Cindy's I got on her scale. She says the scale is 5 pounds too high, but after fully eating, I still only weighed in at 147 pounds. That's a danger zone for me. When I hit 143 pounds, all kinds of funny things start to happen, loss of energy, and things aching that don't normally ache.Something I began to notice was, that when I start losing that much weight, my body odors begin to change. At first, I was thinking the shirt I was wearing wasn't getting cleaned right, but the reality is that all kinds of weird things happen. Jersey Fresh and Tinkerbell were both at the Long Trail, so we hung out and talked to them. There are quite a few Long Trail hikers here.We went to bed at about 10:30 to the sound of rain. It was raining pretty hard. Hopefully, it will stop before the night is over.