Date: 2015-07-28
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Prospect Rock
Miles today: 16.2

Today was the kind of day you imagine when you think about hiking the trail and it's all rainbows and unicorns. I couldn't sleep last night, which I think is the first time on the hike when sleeping in the tent. Consequently I did not wake up early, but since we were only planning to hike 16 miles, it didn't really matter.There were three main attractions today: Stratton Mountain, Stratton Pond and Prospect Rock where we were planning to camp.Stratton Mountain (which is not the highest mountain in Vermont, as I erroneously reported yesterday) was up first. I ran into Iron Lady on the way to the base and she is doing a complicated slacking schedule which meant she had already hiked Stratton. She told me it wasn't too bad, and she was right. It was long but not steep and I was actually surprised when I got to the fire tower at the top. Almost more exciting than the views from the tower (which were 360 and cool, but quite hazy again), was the fact that I finally had cell phone reception and could send my journal entries to Gary for posting! I didn't take a very long break there because we were planning on an extended break at the pond, possibly with a swim thrown in. The weather was lovely, warm enough for drying up after swimming, so it was just a matter of water temperature.It was only three miles to the pond, all downhill and when I got there, it was a hiker convention! Aside from a few southbounders, everyone from the last shelter was there, plus a few extra. The water was nice, even Southpaw with her southern 'I don't do cold water' sensibility made it in. I went for a quick dip and then proceeded to spend a couple of hours in the sun, eating lunch and chatting. It was all supremely relaxing. We only had 6 more miles to Prospect Rock, so there was no hurry to leave.However when we did and our little group, now consisting of Clover, M&M and Mya the dog, Laces, Outro and Adios, and Southpaw and me, got to Prospect Rock there were very few camp sites and almost none were level. Everyone except me decided to hike on to the next shelter two miles down, but I decided to stay for the sunset. My tent did fit in the one small level spot and I had no faith that the tenting situation would be better at the shelter. That, and I didn't want to hike another two miles. There were three vacation hikers from Illinois here, who I chatted with for a bit, and later Moon Glow and Moon Lover (aka the Moons) arrived and set up their tarp right next to the overlook in the only other available spot. After I ate my two (!) packets of tuna, I took my tea over and visited a while.Not too long before sunset a whole gaggle of townies arrived with beer and I feared a noisy evening, but they left shortly after the sun set (pretty, I took a bunch of pictures), so all was well.I have reception here as well and was texting a bit with Yoda. She is now only one day ahead, staying at the place we were hoping to stay tomorrow. When I told her, she secured a spot for Southpaw and me. Yay, thanks Yoda! So now all I have to do tomorrow is hike five miles, make my way to town and eat and resupply and then they'll come pick us up any time in the afternoon.I can kill the morning just eating, so this should be no problem.And, only 4 more days till Gary gets here, which I count as the start of vacation. Not that I'm counting or anything...Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?