Date: 2014-07-01
From: Manchester Center, VT

To: Stony Brook shelter
Miles today: 59.8
Weather: broken clouds

Day 111: Tuesday, 1 July 2014 Stony Brook Shelter (Mile 1705.9)Buffalo called from Killington, Vermont, where he picked up his resupply box. He and whomever he¢s with plan to hike out, take a swim in a nearby lake, and get to the next shelter, about 6 miles away.The Mum wants to divert here a moment: When Buffalo and I hung up, it was almost 2pm PST, so 5pm EST. It sounded like Buffalo was outside the outfitter store, with an exploded pack (His PCT hiking partners had commented that Buffalo¢s pack seems to just explode when he stops!), and still needed to hike 6 miles! Had I still been on the trail and we were at this point, we¢d have STAYED in Killington! ¢I went to the outfitters¢ and they had maple syrup. I bought 4 little bottles of different kinds of maple syrup! Maple syrup on my granola. Maple syrup on my cookies. Maple syrup on an as-needed basis!¢¢The OUTFITTER had maple syrup?¢¢This is Vermont! Everyone has maple syrup!¢What¢s Killington like?¢It¢s a small resort town with outfitters/outdoor stores and souvenir shops.¢¢Aunt Barb used to go there with the ski club.¢¢The trail up here was on a cross-country ski trail!¢He said that ¢they¢ had planned to do about 25 miles yesterday, up and over Mt. Killington, but that didn¢t happen. They got to the top of Killington and watched the sun set! Sounded like it was pretty awe-inspiring.He said he¢s feeling better and better. At first he said to not bother sending the NeoAir mattress, but then changed his mind, ¢Send it. I want to finish in style!¢¢Less than 500 miles to go! Connor and I did the Oregon PCT (500 miles from the Washington side of the Columbia River at Cascade Locks to Seiad Valley, California) in 28 days! If I don¢t get sick (or injured), I ought to make it to Katahdin by end of July/early August for Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb to meet me there.¢He said he ran into Billy Goat whom he¢d met at the PCT Kick-Off last year! Saw him at the outfitters. ¢Hey, and when I¢m done with this hike, my backpack will have gone 5300 miles. (He said 4800, but I think he did not add in the Oregon PCT hike.)¢¢Plus, it went up Mt. Rainier! You¢ll have to get it bronzed!¢¢Oh, it¢ll be ¢bronzed¢ with sweat and dirt and grime!¢¢I¢d say, ¢Let¢s make a planter out of it, but it¢s probably already growing things!¢¢I¢m getting excited about getting home in time to go on the 50-miler with the Scouts. Do you still want to do that?¢¢Dad was looking at the Goat Rocks area and when we told Mango, he commented that I might not like that area.¢¢Well, there is one place that we commented last year, ¢Don¢t know how you¢d bring a horse up or down this area!¢ [Not that he's comparing me to a horse, or anything!] There was a sketchy rock scramble, and you may not like crossing the snow field, but I¢m thinking I¢d bring the Yak Trax for you. I know last year, the trail crew did a great job of making a trail through it. I also want to do some hiking and backpacking in the Olympics ¢ the rainforest and Enchanted Valley. Are you up to that?¢¢I¢d like to give it try.¢¢I do want to help teach the younger Scouts. I¢ve seen a lot of camp groups out here, and the leaders aren¢t very knowledgeable. One group was looking for the water on the AT except the leaders started heading down the wrong trail. We told them they were not going on the AT, but at first they didn¢t believe us. Finally we showed them. There was a father/son team and the dad had heavy cotton jeans on and no maps. If we want kids to be confident and knowledgeable, we have to be prepared, confident and knowledgeable as leaders. I think I learned a lot on the PCT, knowing I could have improved a lot of things, but this year on the AT, I feel like I¢m honing my skills. There¢s very little I¢d change, except for lighter weight gear when I need to replace things.¢¢It¢s interesting that since I got back on the trail after my many zero days for Lyme¢s, I¢ve met only a few new people. I¢ve been running into people I¢ve seen and met before! Guess I wasn¢t that far behind!¢