Date: 2008-08-13
From: Half mile south of Lakota Lake Lookout, VT

To: Open field one mile N of Thistle Hill Shelter, VT
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Today ended up being more talking than walking. :-)I woke up at 5:15am and set my stove out the tent door and brewed 23.9 ounces of Stumpknocker's Blend coffee. I had two fruit pies that my ol' buddy Chief gave me the other day when I picked him up. That was before he talked to Carlene and found out he was still going to be walking. :-) At least those fruit pies got ate by a REAL hiker. Ha! :-) I was in no hurry, so I laid in my tent and really enjoyed my coffee. I had so much time on my hands that I figured out my daily average for this whole year...I walked over 1,700 miles (and still haven't fallen), so I divided that by 215 days since I left Springer Mtn in Georgia and it averaged out to 7.9 miles walking per day for this whole year. I was all packed up and walking north on the Appalachian Trail at 7:25am on a sunny and cool day. I finished climbing 700 feet to Lakota Lake Lookout and took a picture of the view from there, then walked another couple miles to Lookout Cabin. Roll and Rock were there...and I did deliver a hello from Trillium to them. Lookout CabinWe sat there and talked about 30 minutes. I found out Freebird was up there looking for me last night. I didn't go up there last night because the sobos I talked to said they thought it was locked. It's not! I stopped at the side trail to Wintturi Shelter and sat down for first lunch. It was a nice quiet morning out. I walked on and started a long 3 1/2 mile descent to VT 12. I met a sobo by the name of Brian. We talked a short while and he said he's trying to do this walk in 87 days. Nice guy, I wish him luck. :-) I caught up to Stardust and she was making arrangements to get off trail for a week or so. She needs to rest her feet and she wants to flip to Katahdin to miss any cold weather. I walked the last mile to VT 12 with Roll and Rock. We talked to two sobos, Ozzie and Bungie, then we walked to On The Edge Farm and I had some corn on the cob, a small blueberry pie and two Cokes. On The Edge FarmRoll and Rock got to finish off the last little bit of ice cream out of a 5 gallon container. They were happy about that! :-) Rock n Roll enjoying the last of a bucket of icecreamI saw a lady stop her bicycle right in front of the farm. She unclipped one shoe, but her weight pulled her the other way and she and her bike fell to the ground. That must be embarrassing. :-) I walked on after being there almost an hour. I had just gotten back to the trailhead parking lot when I saw Freebird. I went down and started talking to him. We hiked around each other some in '04 and always seem to cross paths out here. I guess we had lots of catching up to do because we stayed there and talked for 1 1/2 hours. :-) I knew I wanted to get more miles in today because Mrs Gorp is picking me up in Hanover, NH tomorrow and taking me back to Rutland, VT for The Long Trail Festival this weekend. I said goodbye and started climbing 700 feet up to Dana Hill. I ran into two sobos by the names of Songbird and Lightening Rod. They were on there way to the farm. I walked a couple miles with David, a guy who's turning 70 years old soon and he's thinking of thru hiking next year. I forgot to mention that when I was walking through some washed out trail earlier today, I found an old looking dime. I checked the date and it was a silver dime from 1960. It looked like it's been in the dirt for a long time. I climbed 800 feet up the next hill, then down to Cloudland Road. I kept walking and got to Thistle Hill Shelter side trail. I wasn't going to go to the shelter, but the sign said it was 1/10th of a mile, so I headed there. It turned out to be 1/4 mile, but I was really glad I went. Kyonite and Sunkist were there! I hadn't seen them since way back in Duncannon. We sat there and caught up on all the news while we ate dinner. One Gallon was also there. He's a sobo, but had hiked in '02 and was always about 2 weeks behind me then. I sat there for an hour talking. It was getting dark and I still wanted to walk a little, so I said goodbye and walked off at 8pm. I walked another mile and found a nice site, although it's in the open, so my tent will probably be soaked in the morning. I liked it because I could see the dark mountains of night and an almost full moon overhead. I'm set up good for a four mile walk in the morning to have a sit-down breakfast in West Hartford. :-) I know I must have spent more time talking today than I did walking. :-) Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)