Day 45- Bromley Shelter

​Day 45 - Bromley Shelter

Starting location: Stratton Pond 

Ending location: Bromley Shelter

Mileage today: 12.7 miles

Total Mileage: 511.7 miles

Miles from Springer: 1660.6 miles

Miles from Katahdin: 537.4 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

God answered another prayer today. I prayed that we might find some trail magic today for the boys since it’s been a while since Frosty’s Trail magic...and lo and behold we found trail magic! And as Bombadil said, “Really good trail magic!” Lol. 

So today we left Stratton Pond shelter around 6:45 am and said good bye to Domino and Bigfoot, both who hike faster and longer than us. Matt told us that moose love water, so I went down to the pond at 5:15 am when I woke up to get some more water and see if I could see any moose. 

I didn’t see any moose but God’s glory was on display with the sun rising and the calm mist coming up from the waters. It was very peaceful. 

So one thing about the AT going north in VT is the fact we are also on the VT long trail. I think we are on the LT for about 105 miles? I would need to double check that stat, but the LT goes from the southern boarder of VT to the Canadian boarder. 

We stopped here for a quick break to see Manchester from above. So peaceful up here. 

Lucas found what looks like to be the “Tomb of the Unknown Thru-hiker!” Lol. He tried to loft the top but was unsuccessful. 

Even though VT is known as “Ver-mud” with all the mud to avoid, the trail had ample amounts of waterfalls today. Here is just a sampling. 

To get to the parking lot that had the trail magic we had to cross the busiest road as of yet. The AT even put up a warning not to become roadkill! Love it. 

Peppermint was the lady giving out tons of goodies. She is the wife and mom and a father/son section hiking combo. They were behind us and she was just waiting for them to arrive. The boys ate “good” today. lol. 

Amee and Froning got to join us to jmhike the last 2 miles to our shelter and hang out. It was a nice climb up. One nice thing about VT mountains so far is they are well graded. 

The shelter was very nice and the boys enjoyed playing on the support beams. We do get play a game of Skip-Bo with Amee. 

We are very thankful when the meetup place is near the shelter. 

Well dinner was eaten, our goodbyes said and now off the bed!

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 44 - Stratton Pond Shelter

​Day 44 - Stratton Pond Shelter

Starting location: Kid Gore Shelter

Ending location: Stratton Pond Shelter

Mileage today: 15 miles 

Total Mileage: 498.4 miles

Miles from Springer: 1647.9 miles

Miles to Katahdin: 550.1 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

I would walk 500 miles...

Today we were hoping to wake up to a gorgeous sunrise but instead we were basically in a cloud of fog! It poured last night. Thankfully we were safe and sound in the shelter. Unfortunately, I forgot I had some trail mix in a baggie in my fanny pack part of my pack and a mouse chewed a hole in the fanny pack and then ate all the nuts but left the cranberries. I guess he didn’t like all the sugar! lol. Thankfully my pack is perfectly functional still but won’t make that mistake again. Rookie mistake. 

We got on the trail at 6:20 am and it was lightly raining. The trail was a river of water in some parts. It was cool and we had all our waterproof gear on to help keep us dry and warm. I ended up shedding layers as we hiked though. We came across this cool beaver pond. 

Here is a sample of what the trail looked like with all the water. We basically jumped from root to rock to keep our feet dry.  

We met up with Amee and Froning for lunch and took a nice hour break drying off and playing. The sun had came out by then. 

We hiked up Stratton mountain today which was our highest mountain to date. 3,931 ft. We obviously had to climb up to the top of the tower and had amazing views. 

We hiked to the Stratton Pond Shelter for tonight. It is the largest shelter in VT. It can house 16 people easily. We have 10 people here. 

I went down to the pond to get water and this was the view at the pond. 

Well watching some hiker TV (able to get a fire going despite the buckets of rain last night), and then hitting the sack. 

Good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 43 - Kid Gore Shelter

​Day 43 - Kid Gore Shelter

Starting location: Melville Nauheim

Ending location: Kid Gore Shelter

Mileage today: 12.5 miles 

Total Mileage: 483.4 miles

Miles from Springer: 1632.9 miles

Miles from Katahdin: 565.1 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

So far this was the 3rd day in VT, and I have yet to be super impressed. I do enjoy the hiking conditions and the softness of the trail, but there hasn’t been much to see. It’s just been one long tunnel of trees. Only one decent view from Harmon hill. So praying things get better. Granted it is still way better than Rockslyvania. 

Today we got on the trail by 7 am and had a nice 12.5 mile hike. I do like that VT mountains have a nice grade to them. Today we hiked about 9 miles uphill but it was a gradual one then about 3.5 miles down. 

We did “eat” lunch (more liked inhaled it) at the base of the fire tower but it was so buggy that we ate as fast as we could. Unfortunately we couldn’t climb the tower to get away from the flies. Thankfully we had our bug nets. 

Nothing to exciting happened on our hike other than the bug explosion at the tip of thy mountain. Thankfully no major bug issues at Kid Gore shelter. This shelter has a great view to the east for sunrises. Praying we see one in the morning. 

Found these mushrooms to be interesting and I think the other picture is sorrel but don’t have signal to confirm. If not it’s might be a type of clover. It is wood sorrel and can be eaten. Will be trying some! 

This is the view from the shelter and our bed. The boys are working on a fire and then since it’s the weekend they will get to watch a Ryan Trehan video. 

We didn’t get to meet up with Amee and Froning today. We will see them tomorrow morning. We have a long day and we pray we can get on the trail at sunrise! 

Goodnight. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 42 - Melville Nauheim Shelter

​Day 42 - Melville Nauheim Shelter

Starting location: Seth Warner Shelter 

Ending location: Melville Nauheim Shelter

Mileage today: 10.7 miles 

Total Mileage: 470.6 miles

Miles from Springer: 1620.1 miles 

Miles to Katahdin: 577.9 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today was our first full day of hiking in VT. By God’s grace it cooled off over night and it was a perfect 57 degrees in the morning when we woke up. We got on the trail at 6:45 am and had 9 miles to hike to Amee for lunch. Nothing exciting happened but we saw some beautiful ponds and a view from Harmon hill. 

Once we got to Amee we ate lunch at a beautiful stream together while the boys played a little in it. 

Then we went in to Bennington, VT to let Legolas take a shower at a rec center for $2. Hiker special. lol. 

Then we went to a McDonald’s to use the WiFi to FaceTime the Greiners. 

I forgot earlier on our hike to Amee we went by the. Lowest shelter to the AT. It literally had a white blaze on the shelter. lol. It was pretty cool and even had windows in the shelter. 

While we were at McDonald’s, Amee went to resupply at a Walmart. 

Around 3:30 pm we finally set off to finish the last 1.5 mile climb we had to our shelter. The bikiniless boys were here. A group of like 6 thru hikers that are traveling together. They are pretty hilarious. Amee and Froning hiked up with us to eat dinner again. It was very nice to have them with us. We did our journaling and watched some hiker TV and went to bed. 

We did also shed this cool snail at the shelter as well. 

Good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil.