Date: 2007-07-07
From: Winturi Shelter

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Yet again, I have short changed my original plans. I was going to walk 26 miles all the way to Hanover, but for whatever reason, I have talked myself into walking less miles than planned. I got soaked in the rain again... Nothing seems to demoralize me as a hiker more than rain. But, as they say over and over again--No Pain, No Rain, No Maine. And I'm pretty sure a previous thru-hiker wrote a book titled, "If you can't walk in the Rain, you'll never make it to Katahdin." I must say though, like anything, the more it rains, the more conditioned I get to it, and the less it bothers me. Thinking and Rambling Thought of the Day: I haven't figured out the solution to the puzzle of how to stay dry while hiking. Despite the different waterproof gear I've tried, it seems to be a losing battle. I decided lately to take the "less is more" approach. My only "rain" gear to speak of is a Marmot wind shell that is only "water resistant," not water proof. And I only wear that to keep from getting the chills from the wind. I have my dry pants, extra layers, and sleeping bag all tucked into stuff-sacks wrapped inside of garbage sacks. I hike as much as possible in just shorts and wicking t-shirt. My shoes are not water resistant. When it rains, I get wet. When it rains hard, I get soaked. Hiking a brisk pace keeps my body temperature warm, and when I make camp, I get into a shelter or tent and change into dry clothes to keep warm. This strategy seems to work--in the middle of summer when sure, the temperature drops when raining, but nothing approaching freezing. I'm sure I'll need a real strategy for keeping warm and dry when hiking in more severe climates--no doubt any effective weather-proofing plan will involve super-expensive gear at the outdoor stores. Along the day, I finally met Dogfather, Thrills, and Butch Cassidy. ..have been following their shelter log entries for weeks now and finally caught them. well, not really, since they are slackpacking sections backward from somewhere past Hanover. Technically, they're still at least day ahead of me. At Happy Hill Shelter, a cute little place expertly maintained by the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC), I was alone. From the logbooks, I didn't know of any thru-hikers who would be staying here. After all, it is only 6 miles from Hanover. I figured most hikers would just as well walk the extra 6 to town rather than stop at a shelter. So, figuring it would be a solitary evening, I selfishly erected my tent, minus rainfly, up inside of the shelter. The bugs have been eating me alive lately, which is one of the reasons I have much enjoyed this mesh misquito-netting tent. As soon as it was set up, a Man and Woman southbound section hiker couple rolled in. They had just hiked from Hanover. Alluding to my poor ettiquette in monopolizing the inside of the shelter with my tent, (many a thru-hiker have complained about running into shelters where people have done this and left little room for others) I apologized and said I would move my tent. But they were supercool about it, and seeing there was a second level of the shelter unoccupied, set up their own tent on the top floor above mine. This couple were teachers from New York and, in addition to section hiking the AT, were heavily into tandem bicycle riding long distances. This made me laugh. In a teasing way I asked them what they thought was worse for a relationship, Canoeing, riding a tandem bicycle, or walking the AT. I was looking for a laugh, but instead got a serious answer. "Our relationship has actually grown from these experiences." So of course, I had to be serious in return. "That's just great, you two look very much in love." blech. Later in the evening a whole crew of maybe 25 college students came into camp. This was a sort of summer orientation program for incoming Dartmouth freshmen. Luckily for us, (or them), they already had plans to set up a giant tarp a 1/4 mile from our shelter. That's it. Nothing else happened on this 85th day on the AT and last day of Vermont. laid in my mesh tent in the shelter listening to and watching the night and rain fall.