Day: 106
Date: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
Start: Story Spring Shelter (AT Mile 1638.0)
Finish: Bromley Shelter (AT Mile 1661.0)
Daily Kilometres: 30.5 (Ascent 2884', Descent 3373')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2733.0
Weather: Cool to mild, mostly cloudy with some heavy rain in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Shelter
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts
Lunch: Trail mix
Dinner: Rehydrated meals
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: None really.
Lowlight: None really.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We woke at 5:30am and packed as quietly as we could so as not to disturb the other two thru-hikers sharing the shelter with us. Both of them had been in bed when we arrived the previous evening, and we didn't realise one of them was "Squirrel" a thru-hiker we had got to know over the past few weeks. He woke as we were packing and told us that all of his clothing was saturated from yesterday's rain and his sleeping quilt was not warm enough, and he hadn't warmed up since yesterday. While we finished packing he tried to dry his T-shirt over his little has stove, but that wasn't going to work.
Like many other thru-hikers, "Squirrel" was an ultra-light hiker, and we have often envied their very light packs, but they are light for a reason. They are carrying the absolute minimum, which is fine when conditions are good, but not so fine when they aren't. We felt sorry for him (he was going to hike to a road and try and get to a town), but couldn't really offer him any of our gear. He wished us well as we left and we hope he managed to get warm and safe.
There was thunderstorms and rain in the forecast and a flash flood warning so, after our first couple of miles, we decided not to follow the official AT route over Stratton Mountain and risk a thunderstorm and likely no views, and instead to take the old AT route which stayed low and in the woods.
As it turned out, the morning remained dry and there was even some sun, but we heard later from another hiker that there were no views from the summit.
Although shorter and lower, our route was very wet and boggy and the forest green, mossy and dripping wet. Dave had a big fall at one point but escaped injury though was a bit shook up. Where the trail wasn't boggy, it was rocky, and progress was again slow and tiring. We passed a few beaver ponds and kept an eye out for wildlife (we must be nearing moose habitat), bit didn't see anything.
Soon after our lunch break, we met "Grits" again and commiserated with each other about the trail conditions. It was good to see he was still going.
For our afternoon break, after we had endured some heavy rain, we stopped in at a shelter and met "Mountain Lion" an 8-y-o girl hiking the whole Appalachian Trail with her father.They had been hiking for nearly five months, but she still seemed to be enjoying the life.
We had a road crossing before our final couple of miles for the day and found a cooler left there for thru-hikers full of beer and Cokes, a very welcome surprise at the end of another wet day.
We reached Bromley Shelter, our goal for the day, at 6:30pm and are sharing it with a party of five, three generations of the same family, out for a three-day hike. We decided to sleep in the shelter rather than erect the tent as more rain is forecast for overnight, though tomorrow should be fine.
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