Date: 2016-09-14
From: before William b Douglas shelter

To: kid gore shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

Im in my hammock and the moon is shining down directly on me like a spotlight. This shelter is pretty great. It's got a sweet view and a picnic table! I don't think we've had a single meal out on the trail in such a civilized, comfortable fashion. I really don't like staying near shelters as exemplified by two nights ago when I hung my food perfectly, and a ways away from the actual shelter, and got a hole chewed through my food bag. I think it must've been before I hung it actually, as while I was packing up my stuff after dinner with the bags on the ground I saw a mouse scamper away. So tonight I kept the bags above ground in sight at all times, and hung them right next to my face. (Bears aren't really an issue out here yet ) anyways, I digress. We stayed at this one because it's right at the 20 mile mark for the day and also the last water for a ways, and I'm glad we did. We didn't really get a sunset per se, but there were layers of pink clouds and fast moving fluffy clouds in front of them. It was quite a show and all while sitting at the picnic table eating dinner. Guthook mentioned that there are great sunrises from here so hopefully we'll get a good one during breakfast. That's a great excuse to get moving too. We've got about another 14 miles into bennington where we're going to resupply and it'll be nice to get in early afternoon and grab some dinner. We may or may not meet up with Julie and mark and kiddos (kate's sister and fam) on friday too since they're upstate and headed to boston, but I think either way we'll prob stay somewhere in bennington tomorrow night. Our goal was to get to Dalton, MA by Sunday, where we sent our bounce box, and with our upped pace that seems pretty doable regardless. The big item on the elevation profile today was stratton mountain. We woke up about 8 miles from the peak and word on the street was a storm was moving in early afternoon. Word like that travels fast on the trail and people scurry about with wide eyed looks. Having a statistical background I think helps me remain a bit more calm, since the only certainty is that at any given moment, it's either going to rain or it's not. So a 70% chance it'll rain in 6 or 7 hours is something I'd be willing to bet against. It'll almost surely be cloudy and windy, but we've held our plans up before for forecasts like that and wasted whole afternoons. So it's best to just go. I mean don't get me wrong. Even after all that posturing I just spouted, we still hoofed it. It ended up being a really easy climb and we got up there pretty quick. The fire tower at the summit is supposed to have some great views but unfortunately it was all misty and foggy when we got up there. As the story goes, that's the famed spot from which the long trail and appalachian trail were conceived. There weren't any signs of the ski resort up there, and Kate and I can't figure out if we've skied there or not. We definitely skied at a place called stratton but could've sworn it was in NH. TBD. That was an impromptu trip when I was visiting her at tufts and I remember learning the hard way that button up jackets don't cut it when skiing. The rest of the day was pretty smooth sailing. We passed by a lot of beaver lakes, beaver dams, beaver bogs, and beaver huts. I miss those things from maine. Those beavers sure know how to liven up a landscape.