Date: 2010-08-02
From: Manchester

To: Lost Pond Campsite
Miles today: 14.6

02 August Monday ¢ 14.6 to Lost Pond CampsiteWe made the group decision to leave Green Mountain House for the trail by 10AM. That was fine with me since my initial intention was to only go 3 miles today. On the way back I mailed home my boots, fleece bag, small stuff sack, and my radio.I know, the radio didn¢t make it very far. 3 12 days on those batteries isn¢t very affordable. Not to mention it messed up my focus. I couldn¢t get into my rhythm because I was constantly fumbling with the buttons. My thoughts were clouded with commercials and John Tesh ¢Life Advice¢ moments. I just couldn¢t take it anymore. The good music was great, but the work it took to find it just taxed me more than it was worth.In no time at all we were at the shelter I imagined I¢d stop at for the day. The 2 miles up felt more like 1 mile. This makes me nervous because you make up the mileage later. The trail runs right up the Bromley ski slop and up to their chairlift. They have an observation tower where you can see 360 views. There¢s a storm brewing but it¢s just not happening right here yet. Squash, Hollywood and I try our best to talk each other into staying in the ¢warming hut¢ but we can¢t waste such a beautiful day by being lazy.The trail down Bromley was extremely steep and rooty. I pretended I was slolium skiing all the way down. Hollywood helped me with the hand water pump at Mad Tom Notch. The water tasted metallic compared to the spring water. This was my first successful hand pumping experience thus far. Squash and Hollywood picked on me about turning 30 years old on Katahdin. They recommended taking ¢Geritol¢ now. I replied, ¢I¢m thinking of hiking up a bottle of oxygen!¢I was hoping for a nice view on Styles Peak but it wasn¢t worth camping there. The climb up Peru Peak astonished me! There was tons of Moose crap everywhere. I wondered how they can maneuver with their horns. How do they manage to get around those tight spaces? What do they eat so high up? The forest here is so healthy! I¢ve never imagined that a real forest would look like this. Vermont is raising the bar! The way the pines smell here is so pungent it¢s like walking into a Bath and Body works store. The odor is like a cloud. Pinesol-like. You can tell that Vermont doesn¢t have a large deer population because the forest floor is speckled with tiny moss sprouts. Seedlings everywhere. Baby plants hiding beneath all the fluorescent green ferns surrounding the footpath. The forest plants get a chance to grow and the result is an unmatched amount of diversity.There was a very friendly squirrel at Peru Peak Shelter. He appeared to be acclimated to humans. He really wanted to investigate our backpacks. Squash and I watched him scurry around searching for a morsel or a sign that we¢d offer him something for being so damn cute.I¢ve never seen what I encountered after Peru Peak shelter. It may be something I¢ll never recover from. I walked past a group of young adults heading south and carrying wood tools and work supplies. They were all business. They all looked like hippies or hillbillies. They passed by me with swiftness and I graciously thanked them for what I was about to see. I¢m glad I did thank them because they deserved it. If they¢re responsible for the trail maintenance craftsmanship I encountered then they deserve a place at the AT museum in PA. There was a hand chopped wooden footbridge the entire length of the Griffith lake trail. The result was¢¦imagine a forest floor never defiled by human traffic. Put that around the most beautiful mountain lake you¢ll ever see. Make the air completely still. Not a single leaf moving. Complete silence. The sound of your feet clomping on the boards makes you cringe. You feel like you might explode if you disturb this place. It feels holy here, like something was guarding this place. You¢ve got to take a piss but you just can¢t bring yourself to leaving anything foreign here. If there is a God, he surely visits Griffith Lake very often. The sound of your breath here takes away from the immense beauty of the surroundings. You¢ll never recover from a day like this at a place like this. You¢d never see anything so perfect again in all the years of your life. The sound of your voice makes reminds you of the braying of an ass. So offensive in such a peaceful place!I wanted to apologize for everything I¢ve ever done to this world. My spirit was moved to consider that this world was capable of creating such perfection in our absence. My heart ached at all the destruction we caused from our presence.If Griffith Lake wasn¢t good enough; along came Bakers Peak. It sealed the deal. This is my favorite part of the trail! Imagine: Dragon¢s Tooth for 1 mile! Steep and nothing to hold onto accept the front edge of your shoe. All that stands behind you is the grip of your determination and a hard smooth rock. Dig in with your toes. Hold on to the crack going the length of the boulder you¢re climbing. Fall and it¢s all over! The deep blue hue of the mountains behind me makes me dizzy. They look like god¢s. They look like ghost ships. If I dropped dead right here I could say, I¢ve lived. I¢ve seen things that I could never describe. Things that moved my soul like the vibrating strings of a symphony. They say that art, music or experiences can change a man instantly. They¢re powerful enough to alter the person who is open to the changes they¢re capable of making. I don¢t know if it¢s just today. I¢m not sure if it¢s just coincidence and I¢m just lucky, but today felt like the first day of the rest of my life. How can the rest of my life be any better than today? How do I go back to a world so far from the perfection of what I¢ve witnessed today?What now?