August 14, 2012

Start: Kid Gore Shelter

We woke up to a beautiful view this morning! The shelter faces mountains with a lake in the distance and watching the sun come up over the mountains was gorgeous. I caught glimpses of the beauty between falling back asleep. I was really tired since the sound of squeaky, scampering mice had me up most of the night. We moved slow this morning, taking in the view and allowed Brian to walk around on his foot. We hiked out around 11 am and had a 500 foot climb to start the day. After 4.6 miles, we stopped at Story Spring Shelter for lunch. The spring water at this shelter was delicious!! It's amazing how much I appreciate cold, fresh, pure water! It was cold enough for Brian to use to "ice" his foot. We hung out for about an hour in the shelter to avoid the rain. While we were there, Miles Supertramp and Carver caught up to us again! We were happy to have the rest of our trail family back! After 3.8 miles we crossed a gravel road. Brian's foot was hurting and it was still threatening rain so I worked my town magic. We found a taxi that was available to take us to a motel about 20 miles away, but since they were from another town, it was going to cost $120!! I saw a mini van driving down the dirt road in the middle of nowhere and figured this was the perfect chance to put my yogi-ing (asking for something without actually asking for it) skills to work. I waved the van down and asked them if the road was closed in the direction they came from (the taxi had said the road was closed from that direction due to Hurricane Irene and that is why the price was so much). They said that it was and asked if we needed a ride. I explained that we had a taxi coming and why I asked them about the road closure. Their response... "Jump on in. We'll give you a ride!" I called to cancel the taxi and this awesome couple and their 3 kids drove us 3 very smelly hikers 23 miles to the motel!!! We couldn't thank them enough!!! Tonight, it is supposed to rain and thunderstorm so Brian, No Whistle and I are happy to be indoors after our 8.4 mile day.

End: Stratton-Arlington Road, VT - staying at Bromley Sun Lodge

Peace Be The Journey
~Flicka