Wednesday, July 13th

Melville Nauheim Shelter (1616.7 mi) to Stratton Pond Shelter (1644.5 mi)

Hiking Miles: 27.8

Total Ascent: 5,879.3 ft

Total Descent: 5,677.2 ft

Total Grade: 418.4 ft/mi

Steps: 63,483 (passed 4 Million total)

FLEETWOOD MAC – Dreams

Gator/Sunrise: Today was a big push day. We needed a string of big mile days in order to have a reserve for reaching the Mountain Meadows Lodge in time for Christina’s surprise. With Teresa coordinating Christina’s trip and ride from the airport, it was not looking good for a slack pack (pick-up) option from her as we originally hoped. So we would need to hike the entire way to the lodge by Saturday, only 3 days away.The grade was consistently challenging with numerous ascents and descents, and our goal was to make it to the Stratton Pond Shelter, a monitored shelter that required a small overnight fee. Good news was it’s near a pond where hikers can enjoy a leisurely swim to cool off.

Despite all the beautiful views that I witnessed on trail, I unfortunately did not take more than two photos because I powered down my phone to conserve on power (and my power bank also needed charging). I wanted to conserve the little that I had for calls to Teresa.

We reached the Stratton Pond Shelter around 7 pm, and were greeted at the side trail entrance leading to it by a couple who were headed to the pond for a swim. They had stayed at the shelter the night before and made a point to warn us about another hiker who snored unbelievably loud. We thought for sure everyone who snored was loud, but this instance was like no other that we experienced.We set up in lower bunks, cooked and ate dinner, then decided to call it a night. It was a very long day of hiking and I was looking forward to a good night sleep. There was an older gentleman at the site who selected the bunk above me before I arrived. Funny thing was he was severely struggling to climb up onto it. The poor guy made several groaning noises like he was in terrible pain every time he moved. I felt bad for him but I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that he literally chose the top bunk when two lower ones were available.

Just before nodding off to sleep, the snoring started. It was literally a nightmare in the works. In all seriously, it was the LOUDEST snore I had ever heard, and it was was hilariously funny…. for about two minutes. Then it was outright annoying. Even the couple who endured it the night before, got up and left the shelter, deciding to tent at an available spot on the grounds, as far away as possible. The sad part was, anyone who snored that bad should have the decency to realize he should be the one to tent.Around 1 am as the snoring continued, a hiker across the shelter woke the snorer up and asked him if he had a wife. When the man replied “yes”, the hiker responded with “Did she ever tell you that you sound like a “Fucking Chainsaw”. I was thinking more like a jet engine, but a chainsaw described it pretty well. The only thing I regret was not recording the sound on my phone. But again, I was in conserve mode, and I was half asleep.

The snoring continued on and off, but we managed to make it through the night. I got the feeling tomorrow would be a hard day between my lack of sleep and pushing miles.

---

Croc: There wasn’t much to remember today other than us busting out nearly 30 miles. It was a good thing we didn’t stay in town last night because we needed the morning head start to try to get roughly 90 miles in the next 3.5 days. That would require us to average around 25 miles a day in order to reach Mountain Meadows Lodge by mid-day and enjoy the afternoon.

There were several hikers on the trail today, and I assume most of them were Long Trail (LT) hikers since they all still appeared relatively happy and had clean gear. Another sign was that they were Long Trailers was that they would actually stop for lunch and cook meals, while most thru-hikers at this point were on a mission to Maine and would likely just eat snacks all day. It was good company, but it also made me jealous that they only had a few hundred miles to go while we had around 550 miles left.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. I may be mixing this up with another Vermont day, but I believe we originally stopped at a shelter short of our destination and chatted with a LT hiker who had taken some time off work in hopes of completing the LT in 13 days. It would be a tough task for a new hiker, but definitely attainable if he was seasoned and could keep a 20+ mile per day pace. We decided to move on and push some more miles even though the shelter had an abundance of chopped wood and we could have had a killer fire.

We finally arrived at Stratton Pond Shelter, which was a very large, almost cabin-like structure with many bunks. Before setting up in the shelter, we had been warned about an obnoxious snorer, but we didn’t think much of it. We also decided to take refuge in the shelter to avoid setting up our tents and dealing with the mosquitoes. Surprisingly, mosquitoes have not bothered us at all in the shelters even though shelters are not fully enclosed. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe all the spider webs?

Anyways, Gator hit it spot on with the story about the old man who was moaning in pain all night, even though he elected to sleep in the most inconvenient bed on the top bunk, and the large man who snored so loud it sounded like a jet engine. To be honest, I don’t think camping outside would have helped in this situation because we would probably still have heard him through the walls of the shelter. But Gator makes a great point that it is common courtesy to sleep in your tent if you’re a known snorer. It’s actually one of the bullet points in the AT Conservancy Shelter Etiquette. Here are a few:

• Refrain from smoking or vaping in or near shelters and privies.
• Make room for other hikers.
• Do not set up tents inside shelters.
• Do not hang a hammock from any part of a shelter.
• If you have a dog, consider tenting.
• If you snore, tent.
• Make phone calls away from the shelter.
• Eat outside the shelter if at all possible.

---