Date: 2008-08-06
To: Shakedown Day 1
Miles today: 0.0

Start: Vermont Route 9 (Bennington)   Stop: Goddard ShelterMileage 10.1 Total mileage: 10.1Today was our first shakedown for our 2009 thru hike. We spent the night at the Bromley Sun Lodge in the Manchester Center area and had a big breakfast at Bob¢s Diner. We were met by a taxi at the AT/LT trailhead on Vermont Routes 11 & 30 at 8 am. We left our car at the trailhead and rode to the Bennington trailhead on Vermont Route 9. The ride took a little less than an hour and we got hiking about 9am.The gap at Route 9 is a notorious steep drop and climb when you¢re thru hiking, in our case we rode in by car so we only had a steep climb. We climbed 500 feet in the first half mile and then another 1000 feet in the next two miles as we headed to the shelter. I don¢t know what I was thinking when I planned this hike for two non thru hikers. In 2006 I didn¢t have any trouble with the climb and I guess I didn¢t realize how difficult it was. Our first rest was at the Melville Nauheim Shelter where we stopped for lunch and hydration break. After a short lunch stop we continued on to the next shelter as this seemed too early to stop. Somewhere in this timeframe it started to rain, we already had our pack covers on the packs, and they stayed on our packs the entire trip. The rain now gave us an opportunity to try out our new lightweight ponchos; boy did they get a thorough testing, too! We decided to try ponchos instead of the rain suits we¢ve been using most recently. It seems rain gear does not really keep you dry when hiking, what it does is keep the rain out and the sweat in; net result is you¢re still wet. The poncho allows more air to flow around you due to all the openings on the sides and bottom. I had hoped using the ponchos with long gaiters would be cooler than a rain suit and I wouldn¢t be as wet. My findings were that we still got wet from sweat inside the poncho, but I wasn¢t as hot as I would have been in a rain suit. Also the ponchos were easier to slip on and off as the rain started and stopped. We could put them on without taking our packs off because they drape over our packs as well as ourselves. We got pretty good at getting into the ponchos and getting full coverage on our packs. The second part of this rain protection was our knee high gaiters. We wore them the whole time when hiking, they kept the mud off our legs and the rain from running down our legs into our shoes, and they are keepers too. We¢ll probably bring our rain pants at the start of our hike for extra warm pants in the cold weather, and then send them home as the temperature rises.After lunch the remainder of the hike today was another 1000+ foot elevation gain over another 8 miles. It took another 5 and one half hours to reach the Goddard Shelter - which was our final destination. In 2006 I practically ran this section through a thunder storm.   This time it was painfully slow, my legs ached and I seemed to have a more difficult time than Sue did, incidentally I am 50 pounds heavier now than I was then. This time the rain was spotty and a lot lighter than back in 2006, we would put the ponchos on for a while when it rained then take them off when it stopped. I actually think our actions affected the rain because as soon as we put them on the rain would slow down and as soon as we took them off it started again. When we reached the shelter and were blessed with clear skies and no rain. The good weather gave us an opportunity to find a tent site, set it up and cook dinner comfortably. The evening went well and we are now resting our tired bodies.Old GoatSue¢s journal: I learned some very good things today. The most surprising to me was that I didn¢t have problems with my feet. When Old Goat and I go for long walks in our local State Park I often have hot spots, and have gotten blisters on a couple toes if I don¢t prepare before we go out. We love having that State Park so close to our house ¢ it has some grassy rolling hills, and some steeper hills in the woods. (We rarely walk the flat paths¢¦we prefer the hills and there are less people on the hills.) The park offers a nice variety, but it¢s not like a hike in mountains, and there are none of the big rocks we had to climb up and over all day today.One of my most persistent problems is from arthritis in the ball of my right foot. When I step down on that foot, I feel the lump, and my toes spread out over the lump. It¢s not huge, and no one can see it, but I feel it, and I will get a blister on my right little toe if I walk a very long time. My remedy is to wrap the ball of my foot (and toes) with athletic foam wrap, then tape my foot with non-stretchy first aid tape (like what one would use to tape a bandage in place). I have to make sure I don¢t tape it too tight, or my toes will tingle as I¢m walking. (The foam wrap is very thin foam that is on a cardboard core, very much like the first aid tape.) The foam wrap prevents the tape from sticking to my foot, and the tape prevents my toes from spreading out so much every time I step down on my right foot. It works very well for me.Before we started for the day I had prepared my feet for the usual problems, so that probably helped. The difference with my feet today was that just as I was feeling a hot spot starting, the terrain would change and pressure points were on a different place on my feet (e.g., - from going up hill for quite a while, then downhill). Because it rained heavily today, it was hard to avoid mud puddles. I decided not to wear my new hiking boots because of a hot spot in them that I need to work out before doing such an aggressive hike, so I wore my older boots. They are still in good shape, but by mid-afternoon I began to feel coolness on my toes when I stepped in a puddle. When I took off my boots for the day, my socks were soaked. Surprisingly, it almost seemed as if the wetness also seemed to prevent friction. Once my socks got wet, the moleskin no longer stayed where I had put it, but my feet became so wet that the moleskin moving around wasn¢t a problem. As for the ponchos, they sure did get a good test! We have to figure out a way to shorten mine, however ¢ I found I had to hold up the front when we were going up and over rocks. It was okay on fairly even, and non-rocky, places, but in my way going uphill. It was great to be able to pull them out quickly and put them away quickly ¢ much better than sweating in rain gear (jacket and pants) because it might rain, or having to drop our packs to put the rain gear on or take it off. I think one reason the hills were easier for me than Old Goat because I have been doing the stair stepper at the YMCA every time we go there. We joined our local YMCA a few months ago to start getting in shape, and I think that helped a lot. We work out 4-6 times a week and do both aerobic and strength training almost every time. In the last few weeks I had started doing the stair stepper and can do it at a decent pace for 30 minutes. One of the other huge surprises for me today is that we seem to have figured out how to fix a problem I¢ve had all the other times we¢ve backpack camped with hard hiking involved. Within the first hour or two of intense physical exertion I would begin to feel queasy and not be able to eat more than nibble trail mix or energy bars for the rest of the hike. If the hike was more than just a day, it would take a few days after the hike for my body to get back to where I could eat normally again. I¢ve been very worried about this because I can¢t survive on trail mix and energy bars ONLY for the whole AT. When Old Goat hiked the AT in 2006, he met Gotta Go and Little Engine. I had an opportunity to chat with them and mentioned this concern. Gotta Go said he had the same problem in the beginning, and was told by a dentist friend that his electrolytes were out of whack and that Gotta Go should drink Gatorade. I tried it when I went up Mt. Katahdin with Old Goat as he finished the AT in 2006. I found that if I drank Gatorade each time I started to feel queasy (which ended up being every hour), the queasiness would go away and I felt okay for the next hour. So today I paid attention to how I was feeling and drank Propel or some other electrolyte replacement drink mix often throughout the day. I had no problem eating lunch and I even felt hungry for dinner and could enjoy it! That was exciting!!!