Date: 2017-05-21
From: Wintturi Shelter

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning the light in the eastern sky and sound of the birds woke me at 4:45. It was chilly, maybe in the low 40s. Not that this was colder than any other day. But as I looked at the weather forecast, I could see that it was going to be mostly sunny and warm today, so I didn't want to keep cold weather clothes on. But it wasn't quite warm enough to change. So I took my time organizing my stuff and making breakfast. I had nut fortified oat meal. I also had three Snickers bars and a pop tart and two cups of coffee. As the coffee and the oatmeal got me warmed up, I changed and put my boots on. Then I finished packing, got a fresh liter of water treated and started hiking about 6:45. The first piece of the trail was mostly downhill and then I had a short uphill section before I reached the roughly two and a half mile point where I found the "Ascutney View."  Just before I reached this piece of relative high ground I detected the faint, sweet smell of fresh manure. I stopped at the Ascutney View and took a picture of the mountain to the South Southeast. I could make out the faint outlines of two or three ski trails on the Northern face of the mountain. And I had a flashback to what must have been about 1971 when when my dad had taken me and my brothers skiing at that mountain. I remember like it was yesterday: my first experience on anything other than an easy trail. How my wooden skis with cable bindings seemed to have a mind of their own! I recall observing my brother's ski flying past me and bouncing off the trail into the woods and then my brother, sliding as I had done several times, on his butt chasing after the ski. That whole Mountain was white that day. The vegetation and sky provided contrast with various shades of grey. Either that, or my memory is just black and white. Haha.I'm not sure where the manure smell came from. I could also hear a dog barking somewhere to the east, but I couldn't see any farmland. About 8:30, however, I completed my descent down the south face and merged onto the southwest corner of an open pasture through which to the Northeast I could see several buildings clustered along the side of Route 12. One of these that was painted the traditional red was obviously a barn. My gut hook app said that there should be an ice cream stand just north of where the trail crossed route 12; but I couldn't find it, so I moved on. Shortly after 10 am,  I crossed Stage Road and a small brook over which was installed a wooden bridge. Just past the bridge I met a group of hikers. Perhaps a dozen. Both young men and young women. The women wore long dresses and some sort of strapped cap on their heads. All of them had good sized backpacks set on the ground near them. I stopped and chatted with them for a while. I learned that they were doing a 60 mile section hike from Hanover to Clarendon. Some of them were from New Hampshire and some of them were from Pennsylvania. I took a picture with them and asked how I should refer to them in my journal. I asked if any of them had trail names. None of them did. One young man volunteered that I could call them the Piker Hikers. He explained that Pikers was the name of the church group they were all part of. We bid each other a safe and enjoyable journey and I moved on.After I crested the next relative peak about halfway between Stage Road and Bartlett Brook Road, I spotted something strung across the old logging road that the trail was using at this point. Looking closer, I saw that it was two plastic tubes about 3/8 of an inch thick strung about 8 feet high across the road between trees on opposite sides. Looking closer still, I saw that this was part of a relatively large maple sap collection infrastructure for what was probably a small maple syrup manufacturing operation. As I descended further down the hill, the clear plastic tubing I had initially seen merged into a three-quarter inch black plastic tube, which paralleled the right side of the road all the way to where it emerged into a field and then routed to the edge of that field. I could not see exactly where it terminated. However, I could now see several houses further down the hill on the opposite side of the field, probably along Bartlett Brook Road, and I'm sure that one of these was the maple sugar farm.I crossed Bartlett Brook Road and Bartlett Brook and continued northbound. After cresting the next peak and descending its Eastern side, I came to another open field on a hillside. Here the trail entered the field on the downhill side of a stand of trees that sat aside an old rock wall that separated an upper field from the lower field. To the right I had a beautiful view of the valley houses and Pomfret Road which ran north-south through the valley. I took some pictures here.On the far side of the field there was another standard forest and hillside through which I hiked, and then I came to Pomfret Rd. But before I could cross the road, I had to cross the brook for which it was named, and there was a steel cable strung across the brook at about waist to chest height above some rocks to assist with that. But it looks to me like the water must be a little higher than usual, because there was a good eight foot section in the middle of that crossing in which all of the rocks were underwater and therefore, I assumed, slippery. So using my poles for balance, I used a different set of rocks to hop across the river. When I got to the second to last hop, I had to pause and prepare myself. The next jump looked a lot bigger from where I was now standing then it had when I was on the the bank of the river. So I crouched, made sure my poles were solidly set in the river bed at a point between here and there, and I jumped and landed on the far riverbank on a rock just big enough for my right foot. Whew! I then scrambled up the embankment of the road, crawled over the guardrail, and crossed the road. Of course ,then it was time to climb another hill in the woods. And it was pretty steep. About halfway up I met a guy who was about 100 feet off the trail when I first saw him. He was wearing khaki pants, a light blue sweatshirt, and a green baseball cap. In his right hand he was holding a shovel of some kind with a scoop about 10 inches long. In his left hand he was carrying a plastic bag, the contents of wish I could not see. He asked and I confirmed that I was northbound on the AT and he explained that he was just out foraging. For mushrooms. He said he lives just over there, pointing uphill to the Northeast. After we walked and talked together for a few minutes, he went off and continued foraging.At the top of that hill I had cellular service for the first time today, so I paused to upload some photos and journaling while I had a brief lunch break.Between 12:30 and 1:00 I came upon two day hikers who had passed me earlier. We stopped and exchanged pleasantries. Their names were Randy and Jen. They explained that they they live nearby and were out for a 5 mile loop . They hope to hike the Long Trail soon. I took a photo with them. At the bottom of the next hill, I crossed Claudius and Asia Outland Road and I met a couple in their sixties. This was Ken and Sheri. They were both wearing Long Trail hats. The used to be very active in the maintenance of the Queechee section of the trail north of here. I took a picture with them and then climbed the next hill. As I reached the woodline half way up the hill, I had a beautiful view back to the west where I could see cattle from the farm across the street arrayed across the relatively steep slope of the field above that farm.I stopped in the Thistle Hill Shelter for lunch. I left there shortly after 2 p.m. and I noticed the sign at the trail indicated I'd done 11.8 miles so far today. And that the Happy Hill shelter was 8.7 miles from that point. I also checked my gut hook app and saw that it indicated I was 12.9 miles from Norwich and 14.5 miles from Hanover, NH.About 4:30 I came to West Hartford, VT.  I crossed the White River and walked along Vermont Route 14 through the rural town. I turned right on Tiger Town Road and then went through a two-bridge underpass under Interstate 89. Yet another interstate to add to the list. Then I briefly turned right on Podunk Road. Assuming that this goes to a place called Podunk, I realized I've been wrong my entire life thinking that this place was fictitious! Then once again I headed up into the woods. I had 3 miles and 1200 feet of climbing to do before I would reach the Happy Hill shelter where I intended to stay for the night. Shortly before 5:30 I reached Podunk Brook, which was a beautiful water source, so I stopped to rehydrate and fill another liter bottle of water. I considered stopping here altogether and camping just south of the brook where there were some relatively flat soft spots between large pine trees. I checked the weather, however and found that there was a good chance it would start raining around 3 a.m. and continue raining tomorrow. I resolved to continue to the shelter in order to keep my gear dry through the night.I got to the Happy Hill shelter about 6:45 and again had the whole thing to myself. I set up my stuff and changed out of my sweaty clothes. Bad news was that when I checked for ticks I found two already bitten in. I removed them and reapplied insect repellent. I then took a few minutes to walk down to the nearby stream and bathed my feet in the cold water. Then I had dinner and prepared for bed. The rain did not wait till 3am. It started slowly on and off, as soon as I had entered the shelter. Then it began more continuously about 7:30 pm. I had a peanut butter tortilla, gorp, and bouillon soup for dinner. No more food in the food bag. Just coffee for breakfast. I'll resupply with the mail drop my dad sent me when I get to Hanover, NH tomorrow.