Date: 2012-10-03
From: Goddard Shelter 

To: Just shy of VT-MA border 
Miles today: 24.0

(In which I get personalized trail magic from a friend, meet up with Matt once again and miss the shelter after a 21 mile day) -Currently lying in the bivy with rain plodding down on the fabric-This morning I got going by 6 am. Once again it was wet and grey. The fog was so thick that I had to keep my headlamp on low beams otherwise the reflection in the mist was blinding. I made good time the whole morning but was running out of steam by the time I made it to route 9 (Bennington 5 miles to the west). As you approach the road from the north you cross a very nice pedestrian bridge over a large stream. As I crossed the bridge a small, hand-written sign on the south side came into view. From a few yards away I could tell that my name was written on this 4"x4" piece of paper and it told me to check the kiosk at the trail head. Exciting! I walked over to the trail head and found a package composed of masking tape and some scrap paper that contained chocolate and candy and a note. I've been hiking for over 500 miles and all of a sudden I walk up to a road crossing to personalized trail magic. For those of you who think I have a stalker, fear not. This is a friend I met on the trail, but I'll leave them anonymous since I don't have permission from them. Once again, it's a small World and this trail keeps making it seem smaller every day.The trail magic was a serious boost and I breezed through the next few miles despite a short section with a serious climb. In mid afternoon I stopped to take a short break and Matt, the fella I met back on the 23rd, came flying up behind me. He had taken a short day after Hanover, increased his calorie intake and has been back to his big-mile-day ways. Today he was planning 25 miles to Seth Warner Shelter, and since we were both shooting for the same shelter we decided to hike together. Miles seem to fly when you're in good company and by the time 20 miles rolled around I felt great. By the time 21 milles rolled around I still felt great. By the time 22 milles rolled around I felt less great, and by the time 23 miles rolled around I felt like crap becuase right about that time we realized we had missed the shelter. It seemed ridiculous at first, since we had been constantly on the lookout for the shelter sign. There was no sign. We had seen a blue blaze trail a mile or two back, but there was no sign. There's always a sign! There wasn't much we could do but hope the AT Guide mileage was wrong and keep going. Before long we were sure we had missed it, but we certainly weren't going to back track, and the 5 or so miles to Williamstown was just too much. We found the next stream and set up camp. Under normal circumstances this isn't that big a deal, but this is day 6 of constant rain and grey clouds. Once again my feet were wet all day and it's supposed to rain tonight again. Grrrrrrrrr. There was no sign!A good and a bad day all at once. I'm hoping the rain holds off but it doesn't look good. It's about 18 miles to Cheshire tomorrow and Matt and I have agreed to split a room somwhere so we can dry things out and clean up. I haven't showered in 12 days, so that'll be nice...Today's post was brought to you chocolate at trailheads, because a 24 mile day is much better when there's chocolate involved.