Date: 2008-07-04
From: Stealth site 1 mile past Congdon Shelter, VT

To: Kid Gore Shelter, VT
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: broken clouds

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!Oh my gosh, I had THE most hilarious hiker dream last nite. I drempt I was on a school bus with those uncomfortable "good posture" green seats @ a 90 degree angle. Other people, co-workers, were on the bus, but not all of the seats were full. I kept getting up and the seats without people had all kinds of great food on platters in them, fajita pitas, potato skins, taquitos, eggs with cheese, etc. and everytime I got up and looked, more NEW food was there. There was even one of those icecream freezers like @ gas stations where you slide the top glass over, and it was FULL of Ben n Jerry's! I grabbed a pint and all I remember is knowing that as soon as the bus got to its destination (we were close) I'd have to stop eating, so I was cramming my face as fast as I could!LOL!! I woke up before I ate my ice cream..damn.I was so hungry last nite when I went to sleep, but that dream made me laugh when I woke up this morning. It rained on\off all nite and it was super foggy when I woke. It said it was 63 degrees, but the dampness made it feel much cooler. It was mystical almost with the way the fog was hovering everywhere. If you can not let that constant wetness bother you, it is quite beautiful.I decided this morning to shoot for a longer day so my last 2 could be shorter, so I got up and was hiking by 7:30 a.m.It was downhill for 1 mile then up and over Harmon Hill where a sign on top stated:Springer 1563, Katahdin 557Then it was a killer steep rocky downhill into VT 9, the road that takes you to Bennington, VT. On the way down, the sun was burning thru the fog and at one point, a single beam of bright sun lit up this 1 green bush. It was amazing, and I got a great pic of it.I took a short break and ate something @ VT 9 before starting the climb out again. Today was more climbing than anything else. Exhausting.There were several beautiful stream crossings, one was Hell Hollow Brook which had a tiny waterfall.Funny, I've passed 3 places that were supposed to be lookouts, but none of them were anything more than a clearing with no view.I got over Maple Hill, then it was up several more unnamed climbs. I ran into New Day and her 2 sons again. They were @ VT 9 when the rain hit yesterday, so they went into town for the nite and didn't start hiking till 10 a.m. Ths woman is crazy, she was going 19 miles today. The whole family is cool, dad (Old School) and son (B-Rad) thru'd in 2006, but New Day and Youngblood hiked part of it with them. Now New Day is finishing it this year which leaves Youngblood, who is coming out next summer to finish the trail. That's an entire family of 2,000 milers! How cool huh?Once I got over the next unnamed climb, I went down a bit and then stopped for lunch. My feet were soaked, so I took my shoes and socks off to let them dry out a bit. When I was sitting, Eldon and Lizard went by.I knew I'd need music to make it thru today, but my i-pod wasn't working properly, which really upset me because Karen got it for me as an early birthday present. I had remembered reading something briefly about rebooting it but couldn't remember. Finally, about the 4th try, I got it, and it worked! Yippy! (you push the center button and Menu button @ the same time by the way.)I put it on shuffle and the first song was that Chicago song, "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the 4th of July." I thought that was so cool considering today IS the 4th of July!Next it was a long 2 mile climb up to the top of Glastenbury Mtn. Just before the shelter, there's the most incredible cold clear water. Some of the water @ lower elevations has looked like tea or beer, so this was a treat. Eldon and Lizard were @ the shelter and New Day and her sons were moving on. There were some weekenders there too.I headed to the very top of Glastenbury Mtn., and let me just say, the forest totally changes @ higher altitudes, and this mtn. was 3,748 feet, and I came from 1,360 feet back @ VT 9. It was magical. It smelled like walking thru a Christmas tree farm, and there was this dense silence, no cars, no planes, no people noises, not even birds for awhile. Only the swoooooosh of the wind blowing across the tree tops like a rolling ocean wave. I just stood there and really "heard" the silence. There's a fire tower on top of this mountain, so I climbed it and enjoyed a fantastic view. I can tell I'm definitely in the north, because the mountains are topped by the spruce\pine trees (not sure exactly what they are).I headed on arond 3:30 and there was moose scat everywhere. I also have to say that this one pile of scat...oh my, one of 2 things was going on. Either 1 moose was having a "Gotta go gotta go gotta go right now" moment or there was some Group Moose Poop conference, because this one pile of scat was like the size of a small child, and I just started laughing. Yes, you all will enjoy a picture.So I've got about 4 miles to go with 3 more small climbs. On the way down, I hit some mud, my foot slips and down I went. One problem, both of my feet are in this slippery mud, I'm on my back again like a turtle, and I can't get any traction to get up, so I'm using my arms to scoot and pull myself up as if I have no legs..it was ridiculous, and it made me chuckle.I am going on and I swear my feet are going to fall off, and I thought the shelter would never appear, but @ 6:21 p.m., it finally did.I found a place up behind the shelter to hang, but there are no tent sites here (sorry groundlings..you're s.o.l. here but there are tent sites down @ the next condemned shelter .1 away). I made dinner and met 2 men, Bob from PA and Randy from MA. They're not hiking together, but they were really cool men.As I threw my bearbag rope, I noticed the most incredible pink clouds with the sun setting. This shelter faces a valley and you can see distant mountains and a lake way off. I got a most fantastic picture of the pink\orange clouds.Bob told us about all of these urban myths surrounding Glastenbury Mtn. One is that the shelter is haunted, another is that people always disappear on the mountain as if the rocks swallow them up, and the last one is that there is some Civil War graveyard somewhere that glows green at nite! I want to see that graveyard.So it was a long and exhausting day, but I'm proud of my body for getting me this far over this terrain. It's a very cool 60 degrees. 1 more nite and it's into town! YIPPY! Goodnite all.~Certain