Arlington, VT (USA)

I woke up at around 0430 and spent some time reading in bed.  Weather tomorrow wasn’t looking good so I decided to take care of a challenging “marooned” section that required good weather. Got ready and drove to Manchester Center (US-7 and VT-7A), where I got breakfast at McDonalds (0655).  I then drove to the Arlington exit on US-7 to find the hiking area.  Fortunately, I recalled the back roads (South, Kansas, Kelley Strand) needed to find the trailhead on Stratton-Arlington Road.  I was parked at the Stratton Pond Trail lot by 0745. I had to walk around 3/4 of a mile to get to the AT Trailhead (to climb Stratton Mountain again) but the lower temps (high 60s) and packed gravel made the time pass quickly. Started NOBO and made good time to the top. Somehow, though, I’d gotten it in my head that the first segment (“Re-Climb”) was a mile shorter than it actually was - that made for a frustrating half hour... Passed lots of day hikers and possibly one SOBO Thru hiker (did I see him yesterday?) and had the wits scared out of me when one day hiker suddenly tried to pass me when I was intently plodding up the continuously steep grade. There weren’t any clouds and I hoped for a good view. However, the only way to see the sights (Whites in NH, ADK in NY, Greylock in MA) from the summit was to climb the fire tower. I’d done that last time, so when I found a small crowd of hikers waiting to go up, I blew off the delay and headed down the other side of the mountain (Segment 2 = “New Trail”). Immediately, I found myself in a little river (disguised as a trail). The rocks and roots were treacherous and I really had to take my time. The temps had reached the lower 80s by then and I was already sweating a lot. It felt really nice when I realized that the mountain was blocking the sun - the trail in the tunnel of trees actually got dark! During the downhill to Stratton Pond, I only saw a few hikers (all seemed to be out just for the day or weekend).  I passed some trail runners during the descent and also passed a loud gaggle of kids on side trail.  Otherwise, I was alone.  When I reached the pond itself, though, I encountered huge numbers of Thru hikers. A group of 6-7 guys were swimming in various stages of undress - with no women around, there were no holds barred. I hiked north to finish the new part, with my planned turn around at the Winhall River bridge. I did pass two more SOBO Thru hikers (I’m certain they were the ones I’d seen the previous day). I was annoyed that the trail was downhill almost all the way and didn’t enjoy the backtrack climb. I also found that famous Vermud again - ughh! Still, I kept plodding away and made it back to the lake eventually... Along the way, I probably passed 15 NOBO Thru hikers - only talked to one, though. He was an older gentleman who was wearing long sleeves and long pants - he looked hot to me but claimed he was “comfortable like the Bedouin”. OK... Back at the swimming hole, I found about 10 hikers and only two were men. No one was swimming. Shifted to the third segment, “Side Trail” at the junction of the AT and Stratton Pond Trail. I had no idea what the terrain was on this Blue Blaze cutoff and was getting really tired and sore. It was a pleasant surprise, then, when the nearly four mile section turned out to be pretty flat. It definitely beat climbing Stratton again to reach my car! Passed only two lady day hikers the rest of the hike - man oh man was their perfume strong and it lingered for the next 20 minutes as I walked! Of course, it beats Thru hiker stank...  Heard thunder in the distance (near the mountain) as I approached my car but it didn't rain on me.  Finished my hike by 1430 after 15.5 miles. Felt pretty good but was fully drenched from head to toe.  In my car again, talked to Mollie on the phone about her internship schedule in August.  Then I drove down the mountain and looked for a gas station - used neutral all the way to the pavement because the gauge was so low and barely made it!  In Arlington, I found a Stewart's Shop (1520).  After that, I explored VT-7A south of Manchester (it was a fancy neighborhood).  Wrote my blog posts in the McDonalds parking lot in Manchester Center).  Didn't end of eating dinner.  Drove back to Danby, arriving at around 1645.  Spent the evening cleaning up, reading, and doing some telework (playing catch up), heading to bed at 2230.  Today's "little five mile section" is a perfect cautionary tale of what happens when I leave a short part of trail for “later” - I had to hike more miles to get to and from it than I got credit for in my tracker! I also had to climb a mountain again to get to the inaccessible back side. You can tell I REALLY want to finish the whole AT...  A bit disappointed that all this hiking (30 miles in two days) has only yielded 9.6 miles of new trail. That’ll “L’arn me” to orphan those sections!  Crossing fingers for better weather than forecast tomorrow... AT Today = 5.00 miles / G.T. AT = 1423.12 miles