Date: 2009-07-19
From: Seth Warner Shelter - Trail Mile 589.3

To: Melville-Neuheim Shelter - Trail Mile 576.2
Miles today: 13.1

Day 29[Watson & Holmes report: "At Melville-Neuheim Shelter eating roasted marshmallows and Belgian chocolate (thanks, DD!)."Received a photo captioned: "Bennington, VT - Wyrm, Pounce, & Willie"Her journal entry:]Melville-Neuheim ShelterAfter an awesome, full night's sleep (Tylan powder helps H make it through the night - something we both needed) I'm up early. I boil water for breakfast and lunch first, leaving H happily and warmly snoring away in my sleeping bag. Unfortunately I can't leave him too long as that's one of the first things I need to pack. Ahh well. I will ask M&D for both his and my wool sweaters, as the mornings are getting chilly and I'm starting to wake up earlier. Not getting out of camp any faster, but I'm up. Ahh well.The profile shows it to be a relatively easy day, and we have a nice morning. I'm really feeling my hiker legs and keeping pace with the thru-hikers (on the easy terrain, at least!). Lunch is at Congdon Shelter, where H begins to make a pest of himself with some major begging. A 'discussion' ensues and I spend the afternoon rather irritated at TT & SM, even though they have a point. Poor L-Train passes me on the trail an hour later and gets an earful. Oops, and thank you LT for listening! Also of note at lunch: Wyrm and his Shi-Tsu Willie, who are hiking the Long Trail, stop for lunch. (Willie is probably the smallest dog to end-to-end the LT, and loves mud about as much as H hates it!) There's also discussion of hitching into Bennington, VT (5 miles down the road) to celebrate the thru-hikers reaching 1600 miles. Wow. I consider going to get more dog food. Since H's stomach is feeling better his appetite has picked up even more - maybe 2 lbs/day. I could push on to Manchester by feeding him human food when his runs out - I have enough, I think - but I'd rather not. I'm also craving ice cream from Friendly's, and looking for some time near a trash can to sort through my bag and discard some unnecessary weight. (It's amazing what is no longer deemed necessary after 300 miles and facing 3,000+ ft mountains!) It's a short day, 13.3 miles, because the next legal camping spot would make it almost 22 - not happening!! - so I decide to try to get into town. We get the road 2 miles from the end of our day around 4:00, where Wyrm's girlfriend Pounce has met him. Since both have thru-hiked the AT already, she's more than happy to shuttle us to town for a bit. Awesome! Pounce, Wyrm, Willie, L-Train, H and I all pack into their jeep and drive into Bennington for a quick trip through the Rite-Aid for dog food, a replacement scrubbie (lost mine), and some marshmallows for roasting. (Graham crackers are deemed too heavy, and I decide to just stuff the chocolate I already have inside the warm marshmallow.) Then we head to Friendly's. W&P and LT eat inside, while I get my ice cream and take over an bench outside to sort my gear. H gets food and ice water and is tied in the shade nearby. It's interesting to watch the looks on the townspeople's faces as they try to figure out why this rather dusty person with a bandana on her head has the contents of what looks like a large backpack strewn out over the table and sidewalk. It's totally worth it: I add 4.4 lbs of dog food and only get rid of about 5 lbs of random junk, but the pack feels tons lighter. Maybe it was the ice cream?Back at the trailhead L-Train gets a call from a friend, and Iron Man and Braid are looking to get a motel, so Pounce drives them into town while W&W and H & I head up the 1,000 ft climb to the shelter. Wyrm is in pretty good shape so I expect him to beat me to the top, but it's his first day on trail and after sitting down for two hours his legs start to cramp. Meanwhile, I'm on a big sugar high, and H (who could school us even on a bad day) is feeling great after a short day and nap. We find DZ&S and an LT hiker named Josh already at shelter. Stretch also comes in, followed by someone named Hoover. I announce to all that I brought marshmallows to share, but want to practice building the fire. (Girl Scouts taught me the basics, but I'm by no means proficient). Stretch and Wyrm are a great help gathering wood and giving instruction - 'more smaller pieces' or 'blow gently there'. We get a very nice fire going and I enjoy more than a few marshmallows with dark mint Ghirardelli chocolate pieces inside. Awesome. Soon, though, I'm yawning. I bunk down in the shelter this time, but probably won't do that too often anymore unless it's raining. It's warmer in a tent, and H isn't woken as often by noises outside. Still, we sleep well.42° 53' 15.7" N 73° 5' 45.25" W, 2464 ftFor HarveysMom by Harvey's GrandPop