Day: 108
Date: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Start: Little Rock Pond (AT Mile 1679.3)
Finish: Governor Clement Shelter (AT Mile 1698.6)
Daily Kilometres: 31.3 (Ascent 4560', Descent 4537')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2794.3
Weather: Mild and humid, mostly sunny in the morning and overcast in the afternoon with some heavy showers and a thunderstorm in the evening.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts.
Lunch: Hot dogs, cookies and snacks.
Dinner: Sourdough roll & goats cheese, ice-cream.
Aches: Dave - chronic left knee a little sore after a slip on which his left leg got caught underneath him and splayed out to the side, but no obvious serious harm done; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: Had to be the unexpected "trail magic" when we reached the Clarendon Gorge trailhead on VT Route 103. We had been planning to detour a mile along the road to a deli to buy some lunch and drinks, but that became unnecessary given that "trail angels" happily provided us with hot dogs (three each!), drinks and snacks. We spent a very pleasant 45 minutes there chatting with them and a couple of other thru-hikers while we ate and drank (and saved ourselves two extra miles of walking).
Lowlight: None really.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We woke at 5:30am and packed quietly so as not to disturb the two young late arrivals camped right next to us on the tent platform. They had all of their gear covering the picnic table which we planned to use as we packed up, including open food items. Not very considerate and lucky no bears were around.
We were hiking by 6:45am on a mild morning, starting with a long gradual climb up White Rocks Mountain. Promisingly, there didn't seem to be quite as many bogs and muddy sections as in the past few days, though there were still some tricky rocky sections including on the descent where Dave had a fall.
For most of the day, which included a couple more serious climbs, we travelled through the usual leaf-litter-carpeted deciduous forest at the lower elevations and moss-carpeted conifer forest at the higher levels. We got some views, including over Rutland's airport, and crossed the impressive Clarendon Gorge on a high narrow swaying suspension bridge. There were plenty of rushing streams and not as much mud which made life easier.
We had aimed to cover 12 miles to VT Route 109 and then detour off to buy some lunch and a few supplies but didn't need to because of the 'trail magic" there (see above). We were happy not to have to walk the extra miles and enjoyed chatting to the other thru-hikers. They all have the finish of their thru-hike on their mind and each had probable finish dates worked out.
After gorging ourselves at the "trail magic" we had an exceptionally steep climb which, after levelling off for a while, continued upwards through the forest. We felt like we were nearing the top of a mountain when the trail suddenly emerged next to farmland with a farmhouse in the distance and then crossed a rural road. You can easily lose track of where you are in the forest.
After four miles we reached another rural road and a map advising of a suggested AT detour to miss some possibly troublesome stream fords. We had already been planning to detour a little along a road to a farm stall where we were to buy something for dinner and breakfast and, coincidentally, the suggested detour went past the farm so we took it.
The farm stall was a room set up inside a farmhouse with a variety of organic treats available on an honesty system where you had to check out electronically. There weren't as many options as we hoped and the prices seemed high, but we found what we needed and ate our dinner on chairs on the farmhouse verandah where there was also wifi and power available for hikers. Very pleasant.
By this time it was nearly 6:00pm and we continued on following the suggested detour which took us along some picturesque rural roads. Some of the rain that had been forecast arrived, and was quite heavy at times, but it had stopped by the time we reached the shelter we were aiming for at nearly 7:30pm.
More rain was forecast, so we quickly set up our tent, had a wash and climbed inside. Our timing was good, because a heavy thunderstorm with intense rain arrived about ten minutes later. As this blog is being typed, there is a little water getting into our tent, one way or another, but the storm seems to be abating, so hopefully we won't get too wet!
No comments:
Post a Comment