Date: 2003-07-30
From: Camp by Chateauquay Road/Locust Creek

To: Thistle Hill Shelter 
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: few clouds

We had some awesome views today, of mountains, of farms down in the valley. Sometimes a day has a special event, scene or feeling, one that makes you take notice, and remember forever. Like the other day, when we saw the Birches glowing in the sunlight as we came off of Killington. Sometimes, it¢s a feeling you get when you see someone across a crowded room, or the chemistry you feel when you are with someone. Sometimes the best memories are from simple things¢¦ Good feelings that leave you breathless, that make you see what is possible in life¢¦ Today wasn¢t quite one of those days¢¦ I have a cold, my nose runs all the time, but more when I am done hiking for the day. It makes sleeping fun... Breathing too (this wasn¢t the breathless feeling I mentioned earlier¢¦). We saw many South bounders, and a few North bounders this morning, as I dripped my way up the trail. The afternoon, was quite different, we saw no one. We checked out the view at the Lakota Lake lookout, it was hazy, but maybe we saw the White mountains. Then we hiked out to ¢The Lookout¢, an observation deck on the roof of a cabin. Very cool, a 360 degree view!! A great place to lay back, rest, and eat snacks. It was still hazy, but there were lots of mountains to see. The building is privately owned, but can be used by hikers as a shelter. After we once more headed north, we met up with 2 South bounders, ¢Breeze¢ and ¢Rooster¢, they had found trail magic (root beer), and we sat and shared it with them (it¢s never too soon to take another snack break). We talked to many people, and took lots of breaks this morning, and then we stopped at the Wintturi shelter for water (it was 12:30, and we had gone 5 miles... sigh¢¦). Today was another day of ups and downs, but at least thre were views. The 3.5 mile downhill section we hoped to relax on was up hill too there must have been a relo, because the trail & the profile didn¢t match AT ALL here. The profile showed miles of gradual down hills, and reality gave us lots of steep ups and downs the whole way (live by the profile maps, die by them too). At least at the end of this section, there was trail magic (ice tea & candy bars) from a woman slack packing her husband on the AT. She¢s already thruhiked, he is finishing up his section hike. We¢ve seen her 3 times so far, hopefully she will show up again (with food?). Unfortunately, our biggest up of the day came right after our trail magic break. I was taking my time up the hill (it seems to help), when about 34 of the way up my stomach started to growl REALLY LOUD¢¦ Uh oh, I was in a field¢¦ No cover, no trees¢¦ I sped up and made it out of the field and RAN off the trail to get to some cover. Off came the pack, out came the toilet paper, and out came¢¦. Well, enough said, I didn¢t feel well at the time, and all three things seemed to happen at about the same time (pack off, TP out, and ¢¦). The bright side¢¦ I made it in time¢¦. The down side, I felt like shit (pun intended). I was a bit dizzy, cold, sweaty, and still felt bad after my pack was back on. It took me about 10 minutes to get going again, and 10 more minutes to be sure I wouldn¢t ¢go again¢ as I was going¢¦ This was a definite low point in my day, I felt really drained after that (no pun intended). After a bit of time (and more water & snacks), I felt a bit better. I took my time, until we got to the section the Southbounders warned us about (bees under a bog bridge). I ran through this whole section (about 14 mile), because I couldn¢t remember which bridge they said the bees were under, and I wanted to be sure I cleared them before they got pissed off & ate me. The rest of the day was a little better, I felt a bit better and actually got to the shelter 12 hour before I thought I would (I love when this happens). Wench, Notes, Flip & I are the only ones in theis big shelter, this is a nice change from the crowds of the past couple of weeks (company is OK for a while, but solitude is nice when you can get it). Now I need to take my drippy nose to bed, and hope I don¢t flood out the shelter¢¦. Tomorrow we have groceries and meals right on the trail in West Hartford VT. We are 14.1 miles from the VT/NH state line. Hanover is 12 mile past that!! Wahoo!! Life is good.