Date: 2017-07-15
From: Peru Peak Shelter

To: hwy 11/30 and Manchester Center
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: broken clouds

¢Why can¢t we have ice cream for breakfast, too?¢ The princesses had just read my crowing about having a second breakfast (that included a pint of Vermont¢s finest, Ben & Jerry¢s) earlier this week. Sorry for that, princess parents. But then really, what¢s so bad about ice cream for breakfast ¢ milk, calcium. Today Frodo threatened me, ¢Scout, if you don¢t put back on weight, I¢m going to make you take one more zero day.¢ But wait a minute, I like zeros. (Frodo: What I actually said was, ¢Barney, you¢re looking really thin in your photos. I¢m worried. If you¢re too thin when I come out to New York at the end of the month, I¢m going to make you take a week off.¢)Moose and I awoke, the only hikers in the 6-person Peru Peak Shelter. In a trail awash with northbound AT and Long Trail hikers, we have a NOBO-free zone. It rained off an on last night. My tent is dry, I won¢t have to pack it up wet. I planned on hiking out at 6:30, regardless. I don¢t ignore rain reports, but if I let them rule my trail life I would still be somewhere back in Maine, peeking out timidly from a shelter.Right off I tackled Peru Peak. There were ten miles to the road ¢ Vermont 11/30 ¢ where I would hitch 6 miles in to Manchester Center for a nearo and a full zero.Just under two miles and 1200 feet up over wet trail. The NOBOs keep volunteering that the rest of Vermont is a mudfest. I can¢t tell if it¢s actually going to get any worse, or if it¢s just the worst they¢ve experienced so far. And the mud and bogs we had up north make this Vermont stuff pale.Moose, who left the shelter after me, caught up and we set our feet on cruise control for the next 8 miles to the road. We rose into the clouds and passed a sign that said, ¢vista.¢ I bet we could see at least 20 feet out from the vista. Then, like a bruised and battered hero with some fight still left in him, the sun darted into a clearing. Why don¢t I linger much on describing the actual trail? There are exceptions, but it¢s like a box of green crayons. Sometimes the foliage barely parts for your feet, more often you have a two- to three-foot corridor, and sometimes the green is only in the canopy of the trees far above and you walk a dirt path with a leaf- or pine needle-covered forest floor. I like these segments; you feel you are almost underground.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...At Bromley Mountain, the top of a ski area, the sun breaks free, Rocky Triumphant. We have two miles to go. We start passing ¢soap people.¢ The trailhead must be near, I can smell the odor of hygiene products from 50 feet away. ¢Clean¢ does have a smell. One of the soap people calls out, ¢Scout!¢No, it¢s not what you think. She was calling her dog. Here are the two Scouts, both with bandannas, both mud splattered. What kind of dog is this? A Labradoodle? http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I won¢t recite the litany of food I ate in town, except for what I last finished, a pint of Ben & Jerry¢s Cookie Dough ice cream, 1120 Calories. Jessica, I¢m writing as fast as I can. And I¢m sending my trail journal pages to Frodo whenever I can. Please don¢t threaten me with a Time Out, or with another zero.