August 1, 2004
Almost to Mt. Washington
| Day | Miles | |
|---|---|---|
| July 16 | 107 | 11.1 miles1 |
| 108 | 15 miles2 | |
| 109 | 21.6 miles3 | |
| 110 | 19.3 miles4 | |
| 111 | 14.8 miles5 | |
| 112 | 26.1 miles6 - flipslack | |
| 113 | 8.5 miles7 | |
| July 23 | 114 | 15.2 miles8 |
| 115 | 5.1 miles9 - half-day | |
| 116 | 22.3 miles10 | |
| 117 | 17.2 miles11 | |
| 118 | rest day | |
| 119 | 12.9 miles12 | |
| 120 | 27 miles13 | |
| July 30 | 121 | 15.4 miles14 - flipslack |
| 122 | 15.4 miles15 - flipslack | |
| Aug 1 | 123 | rest day |
July 16 - 107
Went all the way up greylock when I dropped them off, they stayed in the bunkroom at Bascom Lodge1. They were going to stay at the shelter, but only had a few more miles to the top... Since it was getting a little overcast they opted for the few more miles.
July 17 - 108
Hiked into Vermont, stayed at the Seth Warner Shelter2. Vermont had been getting deluged with rain, and the trails were nothing but soupy runny black muck.
- July 18 - 109*
Stayed in the Goddard Shelter3 becase it was rainy. Bit of a slippery slidy really steep mountian climb leading to that shelter, too.
Trunks and another section hiker also stayed in the shelter.
July 19 - 110
Stayed in Stratton Pond shelter4. Another off again/on again drizzly day - a lot of well known views were hidden by clouds. 
July 20 - 111
To Sutton Place/Manchester Center5 in Vermont, and stayed at a hostel which was very nice. They stayed with Trunks and StumbleBum, and slack packed from there..
July 21 - 112
To keep up with Trunks, they did a 26 mile slack from Rt 140/Wallingford6 back to Sutton Place.
Trunks, Oxymoron, and Maine Dish spent another night at Sutton Place
July 22 - 113
Camped under the pine trees just short of Gov. Clement Shelter7. This shelter often has a lot of use, and since they were tired from the long day before, they stopped early.
July 23 - 114
They climbed Killington Mountain in a total downpour, and basically slid down the mudslide on the other side.
They stayed at the Inn at Long Trail8. The rooms were all full up, unless they were with these other guys... Trunks, Rocket, and Delta were sitting there at the bar, and had snagged the last room! Which they all shared.
Ruth said it was a nice place, and they even served Guiness at the right temperature.
July 24 - Georgeous Day 115
They took the morning off, and took a chairlift up to the top of Killington Mountain so they could get the view they'd missed the day before because of the rain.
They got a ride to the trailhead, and hiked another 10 miles or so, camping out near Stony Brook Shelter9.
July 25 - 116
They hitched into Woodstock, VT, to get something to eat. Ruth mentioned that hitching in Vermont is not easy. They hitched back out to the trail and camped somewhere near 1713.5 miles from Springer10.
July 26 - 117
Hiked into Norwich, VT11, where they were met by Dad's old friend, Gary Williams. Gary had some friends that live a little north of Hanover on a farm. They all hung out there, Dad and Ruth spent the night, lots of visiting, etc.
July 27 - 118
Rest Day - they spent the morning on the farm, and then came back into Hanover to run errands, and such. They stayed in a Motel in Hanover to be a little closer to the trail head in the morning.
Chocolate Covered Expresso beans!
July 28 - 119
Headed north again on the trailhead. They spent the night at Trapper John Shelter12 - they put the tent up in the shelter, since they were there by themselves and needed to air it out from being all damp.
July 29 - 120
Hiked into Glencliff, NH13. A Hostel is there, they stayed in a tent owned and set up by the hostel.
Lots of shuttling services, and nice people.
Dad and Ruth got their cold-weather gear bounce box.
July 30 - 121
Gary, "PhatChap", brought us over to NH-112/Kinsman Notch14, and they back-slacked to Glencliff. A gorgeous day full of beautiful views. Steep climbs (nice with no packs), some cliff-side falls - just a gorgeous fabulous day.
July 31 - 122
"PhatChap" carted them out to US-3/Franconia Notch15 so they could back-slack to Kinsman Notch, where he met them again to bring them back to the hostel. They day was nice, but by the time they were done it was threatening rain.
At the hostel, they met up with Bluebird, who did these two reverse slacks with them.
August 1 - 123
"PhatChap" took them backwards a bit, so they could do their zero day at Moosilauke Lodge, which is affiliated with Dartmouth.
August 2 - 124
A monster climb is on the way tomorrow, they hope to make it to Galehead Hut, but aren't making any bets - it depends on what kind of climb it is. The past few have been easier going up, but real awkward coming down - big rocks and long awkward reaches that you just have to take slowly.
Maybe in 3 more days they'll be over Mt. Washington!
References:
- Starting point, MA 8 and 9-Dalton, MA is 1,554.5 miles.
1 Bascom Lodge, Mt. Greylock - 1565.6 miles.
2 Seth Warner Shelter - 1580.6 miles
3 Goddard Shelter - 1602.2 miles
4 Stratton Pond Shelter - 1621.5
5 VT11 and 30-Manchester Center, VT is 1,636.3 miles.
6 VT140-Wallingford, VT is 1,662.4 miles.
7 Governor Clement Shelter - 1670.9 miles.
8 The Inn at the Long Trail is at US4-Killington, VT - 1,686.1 miles.
9 Stony Brook Shelter - 1691.2 miles
10 1713.5 miles is between the Thistle Hill (1712.3) and Happy Hill (1721.1) shelters.
11 Norwich, VT is 1,730.7 miles.
12 Trapper John Shelter - 1743.6 miles.
13 NH25C-Warren, NH is 1,770.6 miles (picking this one), NH25-Glencliff, NH is 1,775.6 miles.
14 Kinsman Notch Campsite is somewhere around 1791.3 miles, not sure where NH112 crosses the AT exactly.
1801.4 - 1770.6 = 30.8, 30.8 / 2 = 15.4 miles. So we'll say 1786 miles for the heck of it. It's somewhere in there..
15 US3-Franconia Notch, NH is 1,801.4 miles.
Comments
Mike and Ruth,
Looks like you're closing in on the end of your wonderful journey. We're all pulling for you! Just keep up the great hike. Looking forward to some kind of celebration when you cross the "finish line"
Jim