Date: 2007-06-26
From: Mad Tom Notch

To: Vt 11/30
Miles today: 5.5

Last night was pretty uneventful for me anyway. But, according to my hiking partners we were visited by deer. They could hear them walking around our tenting area and lots of snorting. I missed them even though I woke a couple of times during the night.Today's hike was pretty good. It was very hot and humid though, but because we had a short day it wasn't too much of a factor.We climbed Bromley Mtn from the backside. It wasn't bad as far as climbs go. The trail would level off in lots of spots going up, so you had a chance to regroup before the next up. The view from the top was wonderful even though it was hazy. Everyone felt like bursting into song from The Sound of Music. Good thing we didn't cause it probably would have scared the wildlife.The smell of balsam permeates the air. It smells like Christmas. This is my favorite part of hiking in the north. Again the trail is very rocky, very rooting and very muddy. I tripped and went down again and not very gracefully I might add. I've fallen more in the last 5 days then I have since I started hiking. I think I am lucky that I haven't actually gotten hurt - yet.We are staying in Peru at Johnny's Seasaw Lodge. We have a cabin all to ourselves and we are about a 5 minute walk down the road to the Bromley Market. First thing we did once we were settled in was walk down to the store and got some lunch. A real sandwich, chips and a diet pepsi. Heaven. Plus, the guy running the store told us that if we came back at 2pm he would give us a ride into Manchester. Sweet. I know I will be taking him up on it. I need to wash my clothes especially after today.   We heard that it was in the high 90's. Whoever goes will have to hitch back.Lucky for me I was carrying an very light pair of nylon shorts. So, I could wear them into town, but I had to wear my raincoat as a top while my shirt got a bath. Not a pretty sight and not a pretty feeling. It was like wearing a rubber bag while sitting in a sauna. I probably smelled as bad as I did before I took my shower. Once my clothes were done, I asked the woman running the place if I could step into her bathroom to put my shirt on. She said no. They don't let thru hikers in the back room. She told me I could go around back and change behind the building. Nice. So, I shlepped on behind the place and there was some kind of bottle redemption place right next store that I could hear a bunch of guys. So, not really going to strip down and get dressed in front of them. Plus it was so hot and sticky - I couldn't do it under the rain coat either.   Went back into the laudromat which by the way was packed. There had to be 15 people doing laundry. All locals but us. I went to the last row of dryers and got under the laundry table with Karen and Melissa standing in front of it and changed under the table. It wasn't ideal, but was better than stripping in front of the bottle guys.Once we finished the laundry we knew it was time to try our luck at hitching. There were four of us and nobody seemed to want to be the hitcher. It seemed like I was going to have to take the lead - seeings though I am the expert after that one hitch into Franklin. We walked down route 11/30 past the last light and I turned around and put my thumb out. Within a few minutes a car pulled over ahead of us. Seeings though we are all experts - we were dumbfounded and didn't really know if the person was stopped for us or just pulling over. But, the driver got out and said come on. Yippee. We scored.A very interesting woman picked us up in a Toyota Matrix. We crammed in and told her that we were thankful that she stopped. We explained that we were a little afraid to hitch and was glad that she was a woman. She also said she stopped because we were 4 women. Lucky for us.   She has lived in Vermont for about 12 years. She actually grew up as a Hare Krishna and even lived in a commune in India. Great conversation and she dropped us off right at the Lodge. We told her she was a trail angel.We ended up ordering pizza and having it delivered. We scoped out the next 5 days. We decided to change plans so that we did not have to end with two days of 14 plus miles. Most everyone has a long drive back home once we hit North Adams. So, they want to finish as early as possible.