Date: 2007-08-05
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

Although I drifted off to sleep in a good mood last night, it didn't last. My sleeping pad sprung a leak and flattened out on me four times during the night. The temp. dropped drastically and I had to get up numerous times to put more layers on. Between blowing up my sleeping pad, putting on warmer clothes, and my nightly visit to the woods, I had very little sleep. When six o'clock came around I knew I wasn't going to get an early start like I had planned. I fell back to sleep for an hour (until my sleeping pad deflated again) and then I slowly got up. Everyone else was up but they didn't look very warm or happy. This all changed as soon as Little Pony (a section hiker) started to brew some good coffee. After making a couple of rounds for everyone, she followed it up by making pan fried apple fritters with real maple syrup. Slowly, we all seemed to forget about the cold and the lack of sleep. And to send us over the edge, she started turning out pancakes which also had a sufficient amount of syrup on them. It was amazing how quickly everyone's morale lifted. The jokes and bantering started up again and before long we were all smiling from ear to ear. It had been awhile since I had been around a fun group that cliqued so well. It was a great way to start the day which looked like it was going to be a beautiful one. After thanking everyone for good conversation and delicious eats, I said goodbye. Socks also said goodbye and we started for Manchester. The caffeine in the coffee really kicked in for me and I took off like a rocket. Soon after I caught up to Snow Plow and passed him and another hiker also on their way to town. I stopped briefly for a rest and to look down into the valley. Around noon, I came out on RTE 11 and 30 and was able to get a ride into town. The first thing I did was go right to the gas station\convenient store. I bought a large cold drink and a Ben and Jerry's ice cream pop. I made some phone calls, did some food shopping, washed my clothes, sleeping bag etc., had the tips of my hiking poles replaced and grabbed a bite at the pizza palor. After getting most of my errands done, I relaxed and caught up on my journal entries. I was not having any luck getting in touch with my friends Harry and Shirley who had planned on meeting up with me, so I did some food shopping and went to the Mt. Goat outdoor store to look for a stove for the colder weather and for some help with my deflating ground pad. I ended up buying a small Snowpeak stove and a Z-rest ground pad to replace my leaking one. I wasn't happy about my ground pad but there wasn't much I could do. If I could find the leak and patch it then I could get my money back for the Z-rest. This is easier said than done. In order to find a leak I would have to submerge my ground pad in water. If I did find the leak then I could patch it and hope it held. Lots of Ifs! I stuck with the Z-rest and finally got a hold of Harry and Shirley who were driving five hours from Maine and would not be pulling in until late. I decided to eat dinner and head out to the motel that they had booked for the night. All was fine until I went to the hotel and the owner refused to let me stay because there were too many of us. I tried to get another room but he was booked up so I told him I would find a place to tent which didn't bother him as long as it wasn't on his property. He also told me that he was going to cancel my friends room because they still had too many children staying. I thought that this was a bit much. This guy needed to chill out. I explained that my friends would be very tired when they arrived, so if he knew of any other places to stay that I would book a room for them. After some hesitation he agreed to help me out and I was able to find a room at another hotel that would accomodate everyone. When Harry and Shirley arrived they were very tired. We worked out the room situation quickly and set a time to meet in the morning (late).