Goddard Shelter to Black Brook Stealth Camp

Day 16

Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Goddard Shelter to Black Brook Stealth Camp
11.6 mile

We woke up at Goddard Shelter with snow still on the ground and the wind still blowing.  In spite of the wind blowing on them all night, our clothes  were not dry this morning. So after breakfast we dressed in our wet pants and socks and sopping boots and took off at 7:30.   Again, there was plenty of water to walk through and lots of mud.

In about 10 minutes, we were at the observation tower on top of Glastenbury Mountain. We walked up the stairs and took in the 360 view of Vermont. Beautiful forest close by with mountains in all directions in the distance.  It was about the only view we would have today.

The terrain was not bad today, no major mountains to climb and pretty level. However, I was not having a high energy day so that made it hard to go the near 12 mile distance. Maybe it was the Mountain House scrambled egg meal we had for breakfast instead of our usual oatmeal, or maybe it was the long hard day we had yesterday and not getting to the shelter until 6:00. Whatever it was, I was struggling.

Two long-legged, fast-walking thru hikers named Highlighter and Foosball passed us near the end of the day.

We stopped at 4:30 at a campsite beside the Black Brook. We will tackle Stratton Mountain tomorrow.

After changing my clothes to put on my sleeping fleece thermals and clean underwear, I decided to go to the edge of the creek to wet my bandana for a little wash-off.   I stood on two rocks protruding barely out of the creek and bent over to the water.  Before I knew it, I had lost my balance and went sprawling into the creek!  Oh my gosh, that was cold water!  I jumped up fast and started looking for my little Gatorade bottle which I had in my hand.  It was nowhere to be found, supposedly already downstream--the second p-style I have lost on this trip. 

Wait-up was already in the tent and in his sleeping bag.  He heard the splash and heard me say, “Well,  I just fell in  the creek!” But he didn’t get up to see about me.  I squished back to the tent and had to change back into my dirty underwear and my extra hiking clothes for the night.  I hung my wet clothes on a tree overnight but, of  course they were not dry the next day. 

My goodness, we are having some new adventures on  this trip.

 

 

Congdon Shelter to Goddard Shelter

Day 15

Monday, May 15, 2017
Congdon Shelter to Goddard Shelter
14.4 miles

Hard day today.  Left Congdon shelter about 7:30 in the rain, after pulling on wet socks and clothes from yesterday.  It was pretty cold.  We reached VT 11 at 10:30 after a steep, wet downhill. The good thing was there were stepping stones.

Immediately after crossing VT 11 there was a parking lot, a privy and a bridge across a creek. Then we began a 10.2 mile climb up to Goddard Shelter on the side of Glastenbury Mountain. Although we were constantly gaining elevation, there were many dips. It seemed that we were on high ground just long enough for our shoes to stop gushing water before we went down again and were slogging through mud and water. Once we had a pretty wide creek to cross and the water was over the stepping stones so our feet were totally under water. At least it washed the mud off our boots, but that didn't last long. 

We thought we would never reach the shelter. Every time we saw a mountain in front of us, we thought that would be it, only to be disappointed.

We saw a sign saying we were leaving the Glastenbury Forest, which seemed strange since we had not topped the mountain yet. 

At the end of the day, there was a very steep climb up. We began to see snow along the trail, and it began to sprinkle rain again.  Then we finally reached Goddard Shelter. Snow piles were in front and behind it. The wind was blowing up the hill into the shelter, and since we were wet, it was very cold.  We had hiked 14.4 miles, just a little further than yesterday, and we had started an hour earlier this morning so I was surprised that it took us 10 hours to finish today.

We hung our tarp over one side of the front of the shelter and got behind it to eat dinner.  We hung a clothesline for our wet clothes since we were (finally) the only ones in the shelter.  We got into our sleeping bags as quickly as we could.