Date: 2014-07-07
From: Near Little Pond Mountain (tenting)

To: Unnamed Site(tenting)
Miles today: 0.0

Day 128, July 7, 2014 Well, today I think I made my biggest blunder yet. I will get to that soon. So, we started out with a hike Goodard Shelter where we got water. It was 4.6 miles to the next shelter. Which should take me only about 2 1/2 hours. But I noticed of late I have beem lollygagging even more that usual. I ended up getting to walk in the rain for about 1 mile. No big deal. There was no wind and it was warm. At the shelter I had the oddest encounter. There were four young men already set up. Just behind me came a young, and let say spoiled young woman. She got right into the shelter behind the spot where my pack sat. She then told me she didn't like dogs (we know what that means, don't we Aunt Bev)! All the boys started crowing about how much they loved dogs. Well, then the young lady blew up her air matress and seemed very irritated that I was not moving on soon enough. I wanted to say something, but decided to not let her negative energy affect my aura. Here's the funny part, it was 2 in the afternoon!!! Coop and I headed out a short while later. From that point I had about a ten mile stretch to the next camping site. I have not had good internet connections and thus was not aware of storms via MyRadar. I stopped to turn off airplane mode late in the afternoon to see if I could check it. No luck. But I did get a text from Chief Chitaka, my friend Diane, warning me of bad weather. I was in a weird area and not having much luck finding anything suitable. Vermont is a muddy and leafy place. I sometimes feel like I am walking in a jungle vice the Appalachian mountains. Again though, AWOLS AT Guide did warn me thusly of all the mud. It also says in the guide to please walk in the mud and not to make new trails. From the looks of it humans don't like walking in the mud because there are many a detour around the mud holes. Anyway back to the story. At this point I am getting desperate. I am still a long way from a shelter. I did not out smart the rain this time. The clouds parted and dumped buckets of water on us. Here is where I made my blunder. I set my tent up!!!!! I should have at least waited for a lull in the rain. So we have quite a little mess in the tent. I did get the tent up and threw the dog and the pack inside. Then it was my turn. Now I was a muddy wet mess. I took off my muddy shoes. Then I got out my camp towel and tried to sop up some of the water. Next I set out a small tarp and blew up the air mattress. Then I got out of my sopping wet clothes and Coop and I crawled into the liner. I didn't want to bring out the sleeping bag until things dried out a little. So, the inside of the tent still has a lot of moisture. My clothes are a mess. But currently I am in my wedding clothes, in the bag with TLM. We are warm and safe. Hoefully when it rains again no more water comes in. Now I do have one more problem. My sleeping pad has been losing air for about the last four tenting nights. About three or four times during the night I have to roll off my pad and reinflate it. That should prove to be really interesting with all this water in my tent and not wanting to get my sleeping bag wet. Also, this is the second time I have had an issue with this make and model of sleeping pad. Both times around 700 miles. I meant to call the manufacture today but with all the excitement I forgot. I need to take care of this issue yesterday. Oh I am not sure of my exact milage and my info is tucked away in a dry spot. So for today I put estimates. I now think of Coach Lawrence every time I see a fire tower and geochaching Finally I am a little low on battery power please excuse any delayed responses, just conserving power for pictures, journaling and MyRadar Enjoying the Green Mountain State, Cowgirl and The Little Man Hiked today: ~15 Completed: ~1630 Remaining: ~555 Start Point: Near Little Pond Mountain End point: Unnamed Site(tenting) States Completed: 11 GA (76.4), NC (95.5), TN (287.9), VA (550.3), WV (4), MD (40.9), PA (229.6), NJ (72.2), NY (88.4), CT (51.6), MA (90.2), States Remaining: 3 VT (149.9), NH (160.9), ME (281.4), (6 photos)