Date: 2016-08-06
From: Wilbur's Clearing Shelter

To: Autumn Motel
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: broken clouds

I heard rain drops at 5:30 in the morning on the tent and dove out to retrieve my clothes before they got wet. Hazel and Dragon Head were doing the same and we all went back to bed. The plan was to sleep in walk the 3 miles down the hill and have Chinese food and meet my mom and sister. The rain drops stopped immediately after we retrieved our clothes. At 7:30 I got up and was packing all the items inside my tent. Hazel had already left to begin the climb down and dragon head was also packing. I heard a few drops so I put my pack outside and the few items that go on top of the tent and food bag and got out of the tent to pack it. I pulled my rain fly off and the heavens opened up. Dragon head was able to pull out his stakes of his tent and run with his full tent and bag to the shelter. I however had to much loose stuff scattered about and trying to pack it I was already screwed. I packed up my tent which was soaked, I was soake and my pack was soaked. Oh well let's just get down this mountain. The descent down was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I caught up to Hazel and we walked into town. Dragon head was still at the shelter when I left. Hazel and slipped and fallen in a mud puddle and was headed to the YMCA and I wanted coffee and headed to a Getty gas station. After getting coffee I crossed the street to where the Chinese food buffet was. Next to the Chinese food was an empty price chopper grocery store. I spread out my gear to dry and hung my tent over the plant rod in front. Dragon Head arrived around 10:30 and Hazel had made it from showering to putting in her laundry. We got into the Chinese Food place as soon as it opened. My mom and sister arrived st 11:30 and joined us and we all had a good time. We laughed at the stories of my mom and her new smart phone and trying to figure out how to use it. After we ate we looked at the maps and we're going to slack pack 7.2 miles to county road. I emptied my pack and put a few snacks, 2 Nalgeen of water and my filter. Dragon head used my mini pack and Hazel went bag less and put waters in the mini pack. We got dropped off and headed back on trail. We had a 1000 ft climb and reached the Vernont/Massachusetts border. Only 3 states left and what a fantastic feeling. 3 miles in I get a message from my sister that attempting to drive county road she almost got stuck and a local said you can't get to the trail this way. So she decides to attempt from the other side. We trek on and go another 3 miles. Now I get a panicked message. The road from the other direction has a bridge out and she can't get there. So we now have to push on another 10 miles. Not the original plan but us thru hikers can handle anything. So instead of 7.2 it will be 18.1. Luckily I have my filter and filter us more water and we push on. We climb up Consulation Mt highest climb of the day at 2833. We keep boogieing to make it to Vermont 9 before dark. Our final climb up Harmon Hill gives us a nice view of the valley and then we have an extremely steep descent down to 9. It was dark at this point mostly in the thick woods and we took it slow and steady. We pop out of the woods and my mom and sister cheer. They had gotten two rooms at the Autumn Motel as they weren't planning on staying but didn't want to drive back this late. We were excited that we didn't have to try and set up tents in the dark or have to climb back up the other side. What a day.