Date: 2007-07-29
From: Manchester Center, VT

To: Big Branch Shelter, VT
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: broken clouds

The waitstaff at Bob's Diner welcomed me again this morning as if I was a regular customer. I ordered the usual, ate quickly, got my pack, and began the task of trying to hitch a ride back to the Trail. After twenty minutes of being ignored, it just so happened that another hiker was passing by with a borrowed car and stopped to give me a ride. Karma is a good thing. What goes around comes around.Once I was dropped off at the Trail, I met Lucky, Packrat, and Sandwich. I hiked with them for a while. Both Lucky and Packrat are brothers from the area around Tampa, Florida. Sandwich went on ahead very quickly this morning and we haven't seen her since. She's fast!It was another day in Vermont: lots of greenery, streams, mud, and fragrant pine trees. A highlight of the day was a stop at the top of Bromley Mountain. Bromley Mountain is a ski area and there's also a lookout tower on top of the mountain where skiers exit the lifts. Apparently, you can see several states from the lookout, but the views were hazy, yet not too bad.   The weather for the remainder of the day turned out to be partially overcast with the threat of rain. The overcast skies and the heavy leaf cover of the trees made the trail dark enough in the woods that you couldn't see your shadow.My plan for today was to go only about ten miles to a shelter, but a southbounder mentioned that the Big Branch Shelter was right on the river and that it was a great swimming spot. That convinced me to go another six miles.I ran into plenty of southbounders today (Conor and Amanda, Fiesta and Siesta, V8 (Nobo, section hiker) and Nuffa?, Stickman and Faithful, and another couple that didn't take the time to stop and chat). They all seem very excited that they've just completed 500 miles. I think that is the difference between northbounders and southbounders as they converge in this state. For the southbounders, this is all very new and exciting, still. Northbounders have been on the Trail for maybe four and one-half months and they seem worn out and not too excited.I got to the Big Branch Shelter ahead of Lucky and Packrat. Nobody was at the shelter when I arrived and I used the privacy to my advantage and went skinny dipping in the river. It was cool, but not too cold. However, it felt great to rinse off and cool down after a long day. Lucky and Packrat arrived at the shelter later when I was fixing my dinner.Packrat took it upon himself to start a fire in the firepit that is just in front of the shelter, but several feet before the bank of the river. The sound of the swift-flowing Big Branch River tumbling over boulders in the background and the warm glow of the fire made this is a peaceful setting.In hindsight, I should have walked with my pot of macaroni and cheese down to the river. I could have hopped across a few rocks and then sat on a great big boulder in the middle of the river, facing upstream with the sun behind me as the setting sun illuminated the cascading water flowing swiftly down and around the rocks.In the shelter tonight with me: Lucky, Packrat, and All-Right (a northbounder who carries a pack that weighs no more than fifteen pounds - like a school bookbag!). P.S. Thank you to everyone who has signed my guest book.