Date: 2021-06-12
To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: light rain

Great second night at the hostel and a few more hikers came in later - Yawp, Wrong Way, Girl Scout and Oogie Boogie (who is from Grand Rapids).  They ordered a bunch of pizza and assorted appetizers and did Hiker Folk proud by getting after it in style. Also at the hostel were two women from the Mitten State - Howell and Ann Arbor - section hiking, who insisted they were Michiganders. I don¢t even have words. It ended up raining all night, but had stopped by the time we were dropped off back at the Forest Service road at 7am.  Iceberg needed to do his morning stretches, so I headed out ahead of him. The first hour of today¢s hike was uphill along side a beautiful creek with waterfalls, cataracts, pools and eddy¢s. Of course if your hiking next to a creek in Vermont the trail is also going to have it¢s share of waterfalls, cataracts, pools and eddy¢s.  Such is the way. But it was still gorgeous.  Then the trail went partially around Little Rock Pond (let¢s be clear, it¢s a lake. They just call them ponds in these parts) which was equally pretty in the early morning.  Then it was a mountain walk through a nature pine forest that was very quiet and peaceful (other than the middle aged man occasionally gasping for breath on the climb). Then I came to a spot called the Rock Garden when people have taken stones from the forest floor and built a whole area of rock cairns. Naturally, the world being what it is, other people climb up here to knock down the rock cairns. So there¢s a back and forth regarding this area and whether piling up rocks spoils the natural beauty and violates ¢Leave No Trace¢ principals or whether it is whimsical and cool. It¢s a real rock fight, that¢s for sure. I broke for lunch just before noon by taking a side trail to a rock formation named Domed Ledge. Other hikers listed it as a great place to take a break and I¢d agree. I sat on my foam mat it the sun and took off my shoes and socks to enjoy the view across the valley to White Rocks where I had been an hour before. It was so chill that I ended up hanging out for 45 minutes before getting back at it. Then around two I got a bit of a surprise when I glanced up at a small tree right on the trail and saw a baby porcupine sitting about 10 feet off the ground. Every time I moved, it would move so that it¢s back full of quills pointed at me. For the life of me, I couldn¢t remember if they shot their quills at you or if you actually had to touch them to get stuck. Taking no chances, I did a wide semi-circle around the tree and back to the trail.Later in the day I did the steep descent into Clareton Gorge with its rushing river and sketchy suspension bridge. Crossing the bridge, I noticed a lot of American Flags attached to it and remembered that Trail Angel Heith had mentioned he might be here in a few days to put up flags and provide more trail magic. Sure enough, he was in the adjacent parking lot and gave me TWO Gatorade.  Iceberg was there as well (he had passed me when I was at Domed Ledge).  Just too kind of him to do this for hikers. One strep rocky climb out of the gorge and j was at the campsite for the night. Being that I got here at 4, it was a leisurely set up and then a slow mosey through my food bag for dinner. Quiksilver and his wife Lamb¢s Ear came in about 5 after an 18 mile hike.This has been one of my favorite hiking days as Vermont turned on the charm. Tomorrow I¢ll be going up up up Killington Mountain and then towards Rutland and the Yellow Deli and then plan for the next 3-4 days into New Hampshire.