[at-l] Weekend Hike

[ARTCLOUTMN@aol.com]

Brought 3 students for a weekend backpack in southern Vermont.  We hiked from 
Route 9 trailhead to  Melville Neuhiem Shelter Friday evening then to Goodard 
Shelter on Glastunbury Mt Saturday and back to route 9 on Sunday.
    The weather was blustery Friday evening but no rain.  Made camp by 5:45 
PM.  Had dinner and into sleeping bags by 7:30 PM.  A gentleman from Montreal 
was in the shelter with us, doing a series of sections heading south until 
Christmas.  Began raining about 8:30 PM.
    Saturday morning the rain changed to wet snow.  we left camp heading 
north about 9:00 AM.  By noon the snow was sticking as we climbed higher on 
the mountain.  we made it to Goodard Shelter by 2:30.  Now we had 4+ inches 
of snow and very dense fog.  Wind was coming right into this beautiful 
shelter.  Beautiful except in a storm that is.  We set up tents in the 
shelter figuring no one else would be showing up.  Had dinner before 5 PM and 
were in sleepingbags by 5:30. The kids had cold feet from hiking in the wet 
snow so I taught them to put hot water in water bottles and warm their feet 
in their sleeping bags.   The kids talked for several hours and they claimed 
I was snoring more than once.  
    At 9 PM I got up to relieve myself to discover the floor of the shelter 
was covered with ice.  After carefully performing my chore I went back to my 
tent to get some more sleep.  About 9:45 I heard voices,  then some excited 
noises from hikers coming in the dark to the shelter.  Five French Speaking 
hikers came into the shelter layed out ground cloths and tarps on one end of 
the shelter, cooked some food and went to sleep.  Next morning I discoverd 
that they were from France not Quebec (my guess) and had drastically 
underestimated their ability to make it to camp before sunset.  Because of 
the snow and the full moon glowing through the fog and precipitation they 
managed to follow our footprints in the snow to the shelter.  They left rt 9 
at 2 PM planning on making the 10 miles in 3 hours.  7 plus hour later they 
were exhausted but safely in camp.  They expected an enclosed cabin like 
those found in Europe.   Their cloths were soaked from sweat and snow and 
froze to the clothes lines they hung around the shelter.  I suggested they 
use plastic bags on their feet to help warm them when they put their feet 
into their wet boot for the return trip.  They had read about the loop north 
to goodard shelter then south on West Ridge trail back to route 9.  The snow 
was covering the trees and made it difficult to find the trail.  I 
recommended returning the way on the AT/LT because their tracks would still 
be visible from the trip up.  
    Our trip back was fast.  It remained foggy but warmed up enough to melt 
the snow on the trees which fell on us of course.  So we had a wet walk back 
to the van.  Return trip took only 5 hours.  Was a great hike.  The students 
had a great time dispite or maybe because of the weather.  Who would have 
expected 6 inches of snow on October 22nd.  (Well, actually I've seen it 
before.)

                                    Art
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