Date: 2015-08-30
From: Greenwall Shelter

To: Minerva Hinchey Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: few clouds

I awoke early in the dark to the sound of something large rustling around outside of the shelter. There was a lot of snorting and scuffling around, sounding about 30 foot from the shelter, but it's hard to tell as sound travels better at night. I put my headlamp on and walked outside quickly to see what manner of animal was afoot. I saw a large dark mass and realized instantly that I had forgotten my glasses! It could have either been a wild hog or a bear, but I couldn't tell by the blurry form. I quickly grabbed and donned them but by the time I had returned it was gone. I laid down again and checked the time, finding that it was only 3:30 in the morning. Soon I was back asleep until 6:00 when I woke up for breakfast. There weren't any further incursions that night that we could tell and our food was safe and sound in our food bags to our relief. I skipped a hot breakfast this morning and just had a Strawberry Cliff Builder bar, 2 Raspberry Fruit Cereal Bars, Some trail mix and a coffee mixed with a Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast Mix, making Mucho Mocha! Out on the trail we weren't at all intimidated by Bully Brook, near the Keewaydin trail, but found it very peaceful in contrast to it's name. The trail led us down to VT140 to a happy little brook that we traversed by a footbridge. On our way up another Mountain we took a short side trail to take a breather at a great morning view. Once over the Mountain our feet carried us down the steep descent to Patch Hollow to a footbridge and several streams to cross. At one of our breaks I built two rock cairns. One on a boulder right on the edge of the river and the trail. I find planning and building them to be fun, therapeutic, peaceful and rewarding! I try to get contrasting colors and rock types so that the cairns stand out for their color as well as form. The ferns blanketed the sides of the trail and among the great boulders in great swaths giving the trail a primordial look coupled with the abundant moss, mushrooms and toadstools. I love scenery like this as I can imagine being at the dawn of creation when everything was pristine and untouched by man. I was drawn back to the present when I saw the yellow blazes and sign marking the Lake Trail and soon after that I arrived at the Minerva Hinchey Shelter. Which is almost identical to the Greenwall Shelter and I heard to be the standard for the Vermont Long Trail system. We went to our areas to set up for the night and I went to the spring on a trail that went away from the front of the shelter about 300' where the water was extra icy cold when I cleaned up and got water. To warm up we threw together a fire and I had my coffee before my dinner and then had another cup with my Roasted Garlic & Chicken Couscous to which I added a packet of Chicken Ramen noodles, a packet of chicken, olive oil and Sriracha Seasoning for a very hearty and filling meal. Wanting to avoid possibly hazardous conditions, we had a safety meeting to discuss the day's events and our plans for the next day. The meeting was a resounding success and we all felt much safer as a result. Campfires are the heart of the hiking community. I love getting together around a roaring campfire to hear of my hiker family adventures and of course the mandatory "scary" stories, most hiking related. I think that it is a primitive thing as early man felt, and were safer around their campfires. While thinking about the Cairn Gardens, I was so inspired that I went into overdrive at the shelter with art and poems, writing several instead of the single haiku and traditional rhyming poem. Soon the fire and the day died down and it was time to answer the call of the billet where I had my daily devotion with my iPod before drifting off to sleep.