[at-l] Ready's Hike August 16 TD 63

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

It was difficult responding to the wake-up alarm at 6:30!
We were sleeping in a comfortable bed, in a quaint, rustic
room of the historic Inn at the Long Trail.
But breakfast was being served at 7:30, we had a food
drop to sort and an EMS store to visit, along with some
other chores to accomplish before hiking out about 7.5 miles today.
We sorted the food, assembled our gear, showered, dressed
and were down to breakfast at just about 8:00. There we met
Polar Bear and 2 hikers whom we hadn't met, before, Dana and Alan.
Check-Out time was 11:00 and we knew we would not be back
from our EMS shopping trip before then. Polarbear graciously
allowed us to leave our gear in his room till we returned.
Hammockhanger and the tourists arrived for breakfast too and
we all just sat and enjoyed a leisurely meal together. It was
suddenly time to catch the shuttle bus for the mall. We rushed
outside, where we met Cubman and Grasshopper.
When they heard Spur'name, they immediately called out,
"Highland Hardware!" 'Seems these folks were familiar with
Spur's store back in Atlanta.
It turns out they live in the Five Points area, near the store.
They were moving from there to Boston where he was planning
to go to seminary. Now it was my turn to call out, "Andover Newton!"
Sure nuff, he's studying there to be a Unitarian minister. That's
where my friend Tom (of yesterday's ski story fame) had studied.
We all rode a bus together to the mall, along with Terrapin and
Johnny Steel. 'Turns out both Cubman and Johnny Steel had been
firefighters, so a lively conversation ensued about various philosophies
and sensibilities. Both Cubman and I were EMTs and we talked
about all the changes being made in certifications. Those six
degrees of separation were narrowing fast! Only Terrapin seemed
  to have no "connection" with someone here; he sat silently for
most of the ride to the mall. I'm guessing he's a former neighbor
to Kevin Bacon, however! ;-)
We rushed through our tasks at the mall: Spur exchanged my
pack for one with a working zipper (they'd all gotten a kick out of
it among the staff when they saw the "problem" zipper; imagine a
zipper with no zipping mechanism! Someone was sure asleep on the job!).
He also bought a new stove to replace our faulty one. Spur assembled
it and tested it before leaving the mall to be certain it worked. Thankfully,
  it did,  I took care of some banking and getting lunch for us. I bought
an extra Subway Shop sub sandwich to pack along for tomorrow's lunch,
and managed to get some cheese slices to take along, too. There were
no grocery stores in sight and we had needed cheese to fill out our
lunchtime supplies for the next 2-3 days.
We headed back to the curb in front of the mall entrance to wait for
the return bus. It came almost right away, and we were all on our
way back to the Inn. We left Cubman and Grasshopper to continue
their southbound trek, promising to keep in touch. We hope to meet
  them at Springer sometime in December.
Terrapin and Johnny Steel were planning to hike out later, going only
as far as the campgrounds 1 mile north of the Inn.
I sat down inside the living room at the Inn to complete some journal
entries while Spur readied the gear for hiking. Honey and Moon,
along with AWOL and some others were in the pub and implored
us to me join them for a bit. We promised to poke our heads in
as soon as we were done with our tasks.
Unfortunately, they left before we were finished. What a shame.
I would have enjoyed socializing with them. Spur and I agreed that
we would make it a point to do so at the very next opportunity.
We left the Inn around 2:30, completing the .5 connector trail
before coming to the actual AT. We had 7 or so miles to do,
according to the databook. Our first climb was a doozy, but short.
The area was beautiful and the terrain mostly smooth. In fact,
we marveled at how nice the views have been in VT. Almost
every hilltop and mountaintop had afforded breathtaking vistas!
The second climb was gruelling. Up, up,
up, and relentless "more up" Quimby Mountain. It was really
tough going. We took 45 minutes to do this mile! Such an
innocuous sounding name for a mountain that is such a butt kicker!
It finally leveled out before making 2 additional climbs and
dips to the Stony Brook shelter, our destination for the night.
En route we passed Isis and JackRabbit, hiking southbound
today with a friend, Charlotte. They were taking a trailside break.
Although she seemed to be in good spirits, both Spur and I
thought that JackRabbit looked tired. We were relieved to
hear that they were slackpacking (carrying minimal gear = less
weight) today and that they would be resting for a spell once
they reached Hanover.
We had a dickens of a time finding our way along the blazes
near a creek crossing in this area. We sensed that throughout,
we'd kept the Trail within few yards of us, but it was impossible
to see exactly where the Trail was in this area! After crossing
the creek again, we were solidly on the trail again, but boy, is
that frustrating!
We walked as swiftly as we could manage over all the ups and
downs today, but it sure did seem longer than the 7.5 miles
described in the data book!
We got to the shelter, under rain threatening skies, just before
dark. We opted to stay inside the shelter instead of pitching
the tent tonight.
The 4 residents there already seemingly begrudgingly made
room for us. I cooked dinner while Spur got our water for the
evening and next day.
It was dark as we finished up. Spur had to eat most of my portion,
as I felt a bit ill and had lost my appetite. Fatigue, I think. I recall
that this often happens on trailwork trips too. After a hard day
moving boulders, my body craves sleep more than food.
My leg had been doing great these past few days, but we'd also
worked pretty hard. A good night's sleep should help.
Iculus, whom we'd met back at the Vernon hostel came in after
dark and cooked his supper in the back of the shelter with us
and then retreated to the shelter for sleep.
Spur and I stayed there awhile longer to work on our journals.
I was behind and did not want to fall even further behind. I
conked out and dragged myself to the shelter and our sleeping
bag, leaving Spur alone to work on his journal. I fell promptly
asleep. Spur didn't come in until more than an hour later!
Tomorrow would be bringing a semi-long day, and the forecast
called for rain. We needed this sleep!


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