Date: 2008-07-06
From: Manchester Center VT ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Carriage House Motel

To: Lost Pond Shelter VT
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

Day 140 Sunday July 6 ¢ Lost Pond Shelter VT - Miles Today: 14.8 Total Miles: 1653.2ON THE TRAIL AGAIN! Well, after one false start that is. But first: Thanks a ton to Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper for rescuing us off the trail and returning us back. It was a long haul for them to drive from Pennsylvania to Vermont - a little over 8 hours each way - TWICE. They have been GREAT Trail Angels and support team. We're going to have to renew their contract. Thanks Mom Grasshopper. Thanks Dad Grasshopper.We were dropped off at the trailhead, took some pictures, said our goodbyes, and headed off. As Brakeman was walking, he tried to extend his hiking poles, but couldn¢t. He did all he could to no avail. They were stuck in the closed position!! We hurried back to the parking area before Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper left to see if they had something to help free the pole sections. Mr. Grasshopper ALWAYS has tools, so we used a couple Vise grips and were able to get the poles extended! Whew! They are very hard to move in and out, so think this will be a ¢set ¢em, and forget ¢em¢ fix. We won¢t dare collapse them or adjust them until we are done with the trail! And off we go again¢¦We are finally back on the trail after 2 days shy of 3 weeks. WOO HOO! We had a 14.8-mile day and the terrain was easy. However, after 3 weeks off, our legs felt a bit heavy and Grasshopper, after recovering from an acute viral syndrome, had shaking limbs, both arms and legs, by the time she reached camp.   (Acute viral syndrome is the term doctors use when they really don¢t know what illness you have.)The terrain was very nice today - not too rocky and not too rooty. We had a few inclines and declines but they weren¢t horribly bad, though we did take numerous breaks this afternoon with increasing frequencies as Grasshopper continued to run out of energy. And true to her normal form, Grasshopper yogied a Snickers bar from a section-hiker, Hawk. Our first day out and she has already yogied some food! Hawk thru-hiked in 2000 and is now doing month long section hikes for the whole trail in a consecutive northbound fashion. Grasshopper mentioned that we were surprised that our hiker appetite, after a 3-week break, is still here and that we were out of snacks already for the day and hungry. He offered up his Snickers bar, as he does not like to eat much in this hotter weather. SCORE!   Us? We eat lots regardless of the temperatures!The best news about the 3 weeks off is that the black flies are just about down to a zero count level. Of course, we still have some mosquitoes but they are not nearly as bad as it was when we got off the trail. The difference is like night and day.We had a partially clear day. There were some puffy clouds and some dark clouds, but no rain ever developed. It was in the low 80s. Camp tonight is the Lost Pond Shelter, though there is no shelter as it burned down in November of 2001, but there are still campsites, a privy and, of course, the creek for our water source. Because most people shelter rather than tent, we have the whole place to ourselves tonight. We hit the trail this time without the stove, pan, fuel bottle and fuel. This cookless routine has enabled Brakeman to drop a couple pounds of weight from his pack as well as the bulk of the pan. Our dinner tonight was cold stuffing with chicken and it worked just fine. Being without a stove limits our selection of dinners a bit more. We will alternate between couscous, mashed potatoes and stuffing. No more Liptons rice or noodle. We only have about 7 weeks of hiking left so should be fine with our limited dinner selection.Tomorrow we have about the same amount of miles but think we'll try to get an earlier start than our 8:00 today as we're finding our stamina isn't quite what it used to be and will allocate more time for breaks. It's 7:30 and about 75 degrees in the tent. We have the rain fly on because we believe we might have some dew over the evening. It's a bit humid and I'm sure the temps in the tent will increase due to limited air circulation, before our cool night temps in the 60s arrive. Since our bodies are tired after our extended break, we're going to bed. It's good to be back out here. Goodnight from Vermont!