Date: 2012-06-20
From: Bennington, VT

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

"So it's like starting over again, but I look forward to the challenge." -- Lee MajorsThe Bennington Motor Inn was quiet when I woke up, and there was almost no traffic on the road. Since the day was forecast to be in the 90's down in town I knew the hiking was going to be hot and difficult; I wanted to make as early a start as possible.   Bennington Taxi showed up promptly, obligingly stopped so I could get some coffee, and had me on the Trail by 7.The parking lot on VT 9 held a number of cars and vans, but I didn't see anyone else about. After a few final pack adjustments I started up the Trail. I must say that it's true that the Trail doesn't waste any time heading up. Before I'd gone a quarter of a mile I was drenched in sweat. To make matters worse, the humidity was so high none of it seemed to be evaporating. And it was still early. While I was excited to be back, it felt like it would be a very long, hard day.I stopped for a break at the Melville Nauheim Shelter where I met a couple of young women hiking the Long Trail, which runs the length of Vermont. In the southern part of the state the AT and the LT run along together, splitting apart further north. While the LT is much shorter than the AT, I understand that the hiking is very tough in the northern section.I stopped to filter water near the shelter. At least I tried to. I had trouble getting the filter together and in the end resorted to Aquamira to treat the water. I met a few more hikers along the way, Martha, Harold, and some others whose names I didn't get or that I have forgotten. I also met two southbound ladies just a couple of days from completing a nine-year section hike of the Long Trail. Congratulations! They mentioned that they had passed a guy who was observing Hike Naked Day. I then realized that it was the 20th this year, not the 21st. I think Goldberry mentioned this to me, but I didn't take it in when she did. Well, at least that guy was probably cooler than I was. Did I mention that it was hot?It was getting hotter and hotter, and I was going more and more slowly, so I tried to console myself with the fact that the bugs weren't too bad. I thought too soon. When I stopped for a lunch break at Porcupine Lookout I was attacked by flying hordes. Black flies, mosquitos, and deer flies all wanted a piece of me. I grabbed my gear and fled!A long, slow, difficult time later I finally made it to Goddard Shelter. All of my clothes were soaking wet, and the lenses of my glasses were filmed from sweat dripping onto them when I had my head down to watch my footing. What a mess I must have looked. And I felt no better.I figured a chance to just sit and rest in the shelter for a bit would be wonderful. But immediately the black flies were swarming around me and leaving me with welts. I rushed off to find a tenting site and to set up my tent, a place of refuge with its no-see-um netting. I hadn't used this tent for 2 years since I was using a tarp earlier in the year when bugs were not an issue. The lack of recent use showed up in how very long it took me to put up the tent and get it taut enough to be of any use. The only thing that kept me whole was wearing a jacket and full head and face hood of netting. And even that didn't keep the deer flies from ripping pieces of skin away. Bugs just love me, and my tender skin just makes it way too easy for them.Finally I was able to hide in the tent. I lay on the bare floor, too tired to bother with anything else. The whining, humming and buzzing of so many insect wings lulled me to sleep once I was convinced that they couldn't get to me.After a nap I came out of my tent just long enough to make and eat dinner and then filter (Yes, I got it to work in the evening.) to get me started in the morning. I planned to make as early a start as possible to avoid time in the heat.   Exhausted and still too warm, I gradually drifted off to sleep while relecting on the challenges I had faced today and how I would deal with them tomorrow.