Real life "Oregon Trail" fording.

Day 96 - 7/25/10
Remember that computer game? Well I lived it! More on that later.
Slept in for a change. Didn't get up until 8:45. After packing up
slowly I left Sutton's Place around 10ish, saying goodbye to Rainer &
Dewlap because they were meeting some family friends for breakfast. I
walked to Main St. and went into EMS (one of the two outfitters in
town) and asked where the best place to hitch might be. The guy said
just keep walking, stick out your thumb, and people will see the pack
and know you're a hiker and stop. On my way out I passed by Fireball,
a German kid I had met way back, but hadn't seen since Trail Days. We
did one of those excited, "How you been, man?" exchanges, then parted
ways. I ended up seeing him several more times throughout the day back
on the trail.

I started walking down Main St. with my thumb out, but had no takers.
I walked past a donut shop, stopped in there for a few, then went on,
and still no ride. I walked at least a mile out of town and still
nothing. Any farther and I'd be on the fast highway and then no one
would stop, so I waited right there, and finally the most unlikely
person pulled over for me. An older women, alone, driving a nice car,
maybe a Lexus. Her name was Mrs. Black, and I was so thankful toward
her. I had been starting to get frustrated with the amount of cars
that flew past me, but Mrs. Black made my day. Apparently she does
that sort of thing for a lot of hikers, she'll always stop if she sees
a pack, which I think is smart. I wouldn't stop for any random
hitchhiker, but if you see a large pack and poles you know they're
just a hiker needing a lift. For being such a kindly old lady she sure
had some fire in her soul. Not evil, just feisty. Another car had
pulled out in front of us when it shouldn't have, and then it was
driving slow, so she honked at it until they pulled into the other
lane. At least she made it a memorable ride.

She dropped me off at the trail around 11am, so I ended up starting
out much later than I had wanted. I had a few big uphills right away,
putting me back into the 3000-footers. My first one took me up to
Bromley Mountain. It's also a ski mountain, and they had the chairlift
running to give lazy hikers a shortcut. Or I guess friends could meet
up with someone on the trail. The next mountain was Styles Peak, and
then after that Peru Peak. In between those last two I met two guys
from Massachusetts who had started hiking only recently. They were
both obese guys, but seeing them work hard and push on even though it
was tough was awesome. It makes me happy to see overweight people out
here trying to change their lives. I hope they keep going, their goal
they said was either Katahdin or 160 lbs., combined not each.

Near the top of Peru Peak I met a guy doing the LT, and we hiked
together a bit. We split up when I stopped to put on my pack cover,
and thank god I did because a nasty rainstorm blew through drenching
me to the bone. I was only 20 minutes from a shelter too, if only I
had gotten that ride sooner. He was at the shelter when I came in, and
we waited out the rain. Fireball had caught up to us by then, but just
as we were leaving. He stayed behind to take a break. From that
shelter it was mostly downhill except for a small bump up onto Baker's
Peak. By then it had cleared up so we had a great view, even though it
was less than 3000 feet. I left there around 5:30, hiked the two miles
to the next shelter, stopped for a minute, then left to do 1.7 more to
Big Branch shelter. Right before I got there I had to ford Big Branch
River, and it took me about 15 minutes to find a decent spot to cross.
I took my boots and socks off, then slowly rock-hopped to the other
side. There were a few points where I had to walk through the water,
and that current was so strong I could have easily been swept away.
They (Green Mountain Club) actually advise using a detour, but it adds
three extra miles that I didn't want to do. Plus it was a fun
challenge. I made it across and soon was at the shelter. A few others
were here, iTrod, Jibitz, and Phynias, all hikers I have met but don't
know too well. All nice people for sure. I made dinner, some tuna and
rice, then set up in the shelter because I was nervous it might rain
tonight. Close to 9:30 now. Had a good mileage day for my start time.
Hope to put in at least a 20 tomorrow.

Total miles: 1657.9