Date: 2012-08-12
From: Big Branch Shelter (VT) 

To: Clarendon Shelter (VT) 
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day 124: (The epic tale of) The Fellowship of the Whistle (Stop)Team Trovert started the day with a bad case of lethargy. The first two and a half hours of hiking absolutely drug by, and the trail didn't seem to be giving us much to work with as far as making good time, such as the walk around Little Rock Pond, which had a pretty view, but also lots of rocks interspaced with short, slippery bog boardwalks. However, things quickly took a turn for the better when we stopped for a break at an out of season snowmobile crossing, and who should walk up but Kleenex, who we hadn't seen since we pushed on past the shelter to go to the lodge way back on Mt. Greylock. This gave X somebody new to kibitz with, and the result was a dramatic increase in our pace. Coincidentally, the sun came out at the same time. We told Kleenex our plan to go to a restaurant our guidebook listed as half a mile off the trail at about the 16 mile mark for the day, and she was game to try it as well. We three continued some rapid (for us anyway) walking all the way to the hiker-made rock art near White Rocks Cliff, and then beyond to the turnoff to Greenwall Shelter, where we stopped for lunch. At our hourly water break at the first rock sculpture, we were caught by Talloff (another face not seen for a while) and his friend Mindy. Mindy had joined him to gain some backpacking practice she needed as a prerequisite for a wilderness skills course she is taking in college this fall. This was her first day out and they were slack packing to ease Mindy into the experience. In no particular hurry, they decided to take the 2/10 mile side trail to check out the view from White Rocks Cliff. Our lunch spot, located just before the trail descended 1,000' to VT 140, gave us a chance to see who was out on the trail today. We were passed by two young Long Trail-ers, and then by Talloff and Mindy. A father/ mother/ daughter/ energetic pug group of southbound day hikers stopped to chat when we commented we didn't see many dogs that small out on the trail. At VT 140 anonymous benefactors missed another wonderful opportunity to provide us trail magic, so we stopped to collect two quarts of water for the next climb (Bear Mountain - 1,000'). (We must mention we have since heard we missed trail magic by about half an hour yesterday from a man who had been following us online, and asked about us by name. Drats!)Just past the Minerva Hinchey Shelter, we caught up with Spring. Spring is from Germany and she was the first to leave our last night's shelter this morning. We told her of our dinner plans and she was interested as well. In the last three miles to the road, we enjoyed the view to the Rutland airport and the suspension bridge over the Clarendon Gorge, where debris high up on the edges we assume left by Hurricane Irene was very impressive...When we came out at the parking lot, there were Talloff and Mindy catching a ride to the restaurant with their slack pack trail angel. He offered to return for us after taking them there; and so it was all six of us arrived together at the Whistle Stop Restaurant.We'd heard great things about their breakfasts, but the trail angel said recently the owners had decided doing breakfast was enough, and had leased their building to another woman who was operating it in the evenings as a pizza place from four to nine. Very strange arrangement... We ordered two spaghetti dinners and when they were served under lots of gooey cheese, we thought about the very steep climb we still had to the shelter and wondered if we had made a big mistake. However, it was great not to have to cook, and we arrived at camp in good shape. A good crowd - at least a dozen - here tonight, and a perfect night to be tenting on the AT...