Total Miles: 568.1
The wind was howling through the trees when I woke up, but thankfully the rain had already passed. It had started to rain when I woke up around 11:00 to go to the bathroom last night, which was much earlier than expected. I stayed in my sleeping bag for a while, just knowing it would be chilly outside of my tent. I finally finished getting everything together around 8:00 and headed out into the overcast day. I admired the trail work on the way down Stratton Mountain, thankful to Hugh and Jeanne for the hard work they put in to make it so great.
When I came to the first road crossing, I found Mark waiting for Graham and Laura. I said a quick hello before moving on. I hope they are both doing well. I continued on to where the trail crossed a forest road and talked to a guy who was out doing the Long Trail. He had started 2 days prior and seemed to be doing well for the most part. Hopefully his hike is successful. It's weird seeing people out for a long distance hike but starting off fresh. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago I had a new pack, clean shoes, and hadn't adjusted to the trail stink yet. Oh, how things have changed!
There was a 7 or 8 mile stretch of trail today that I didn't pass another hiker. It was overcast, foggy, and pretty dreary so I was hoping for some type of conversation to pass the time. I had also heard about Glastenbury Mountain, my next climb, being haunted, so I was mentally psyching myself out a little bit. Add that to what Jeanne and Hugh had told me about the mysterious cairns at the top that were suspected to have been there for hundreds of years (Native American construction?) and I was ready to call it a day. I stopped at Kid Gore Shelter, which had a nice view, and tried to decide if I would be able to beat the rain. I decided to move on since it was still too early. Just before I made it to the top of the mountain, it started to rain. Of course. I decided to still climb the fire tower but was being pelted by rain and couldn't see a thing. I made my way down, hoping to be able to find the cairns. I was unsuccessful because I couldn't see much with all the fog. It was all pretty eerie up on the mountain top too. I hiked the short remaining distance to the shelter, where there would be some respite from the rain. It's a nice shelter, not too old and with a little porch on the front. There's a mix of NOBOs and LT hikers here tonight. I made dinner, but the LT hikers had brought out fresh veggies and were cooking up quite a feast. They had leftover lentils and offered some up to us. I happily accepted. A hiker never turns down a food offer! The rain has started to fall harder as the night goes on. Hopefully the mountain doesn't live up the myths about it tonight. I would be happy with an uneventful night here.
I got this picture today of my second love. How does a face like this not make your day?!
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