Thursday, July 14th

Stratton Pond Shelter (1644.5 mi) to Lost Pond Shelter (1670.0 mi)

Hiking Miles: 25.5

Total Ascent: 4,372 ft

Total Descent: 4,833.7 ft

Total Grade: 359.5 ft/mi

Steps: 58,081

ELO – Evil Woman

Gator/Sunrise: Not surprisingly, I definitely did not get enough sleep! Being woken up every half-hour by intense snoring essentially equates to getting zero restful sleep. I was however motivated to get up, pack my gear and get the heck out of the shelter and on trail for another long day of hiking. When I stopped for breakfast and to call Teresa, she suggested that Croc and I take a few “turtle naps” during the day – like 30-minute or 1-hour power naps to restore energy.

I started out at 5 am and Stratton Pond was calm and very inviting. By 8:30 am, I reached Winhall, Vermont and continuing on the Long Trail North. It was such a beautiful stretch of trail which fortunately coincided with the AT.

Croc caught up with me by lunchtime and we both climbed Bromley Mountain together which is the home of a popular ski resort. It felt like forever to climb, especially being low on energy. An energy bar I ate earlier didn’t help me much. At the top, we ate some lunch then squeezed in a 45-minute power nap. It was just so relaxing lying back and watching the clouds slowly drift by against the bright blue sky. It was totally what we needed before heading back down hill en route to the Lost Pond Shelter for the night, about 12 miles away.

About four miles from the shelter, we contemplated stopping at another site for the evening because not only were we tired, but it had a nice stream. We decided to stick to plan and move on. We had an interesting conversation regarding the White Mountains and our plan of attack would look like for overnight stays without leaving the trail. Croc was familiar with hiking the Whites, and he assured me that there were plenty of options to find accommodations. Still, I was unfamiliar and worried about what those 10 or so days/nights would ultimately look like.

We reached the shelter by 7:30 pm to find only one other hiker inside. Whereas there was no picnic table, we thought it best to find a flat tent spot for the evening. It was extremely buggy and we both decided to eat our dinner inside our respective tents for cover. Tomorrow we planned to meet DT’s Mom & Dad at some point in our travels. DT told his mom all about our Virginia tramily and hiking experiences (as well as telling us about his parents), and we were both excited to meet each other.

Croc: I woke up this morning to find Chainsaw (the new name for the snorer) still asleep. Lucky him. Of course, he wasn’t snoring when I packed my bag and made some breakfast. I actually made breakfast this morning because (1) it was a really nice shelter and a few other people were gathered around the table and (2) I had to concoct a coffee mixture to help me stay awake. I’m not 100% sure what I made, but it was likely a scoop of peanut butter, a packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast, oatmeal, protein powder, and hot coffee. I’m sure Gator has talked about this combination before, and it certainly is delicious.

Side note: Before we left to hike the trail, Gator and I visited an REI (or EMS?) to grab some last-minute items. While we were looking for supplies, a store employee (Story Time) who had coincidentally hiked the AT before greeted us. There might be a video about him from when we first started the trail in Virginia. In between all his stories, he gave me one of the best pieces of advice for the trail—make sure you load up on protein. One of his friends blew through New Hampshire and southern Maine, which is notoriously the hardest part of the trail, but then collapsed in northern Maine and never made it back to finish. He said his legs just gave out from all the hiking, likely from not getting enough calories, electrolytes, and protein. Anyways, Story Time made it clear that Oreos, ramen, and other junk food you eat on the trail will not suffice, and we really should start eating a scoop of protein (if not two scoops) as soon as we hit New England. So that’s why I was packing protein into my breakfast. I honestly don’t know if it was all placebo effect, though, because I didn’t see Gator having as much protein as me, and Gator was doing just fine crushing all these miles.

Back to the trail… Today was a really beautiful section that included Stratton Pond, several overlooks, and a well-traveled ski resort that was a perfect place for a nap. And we did just that. This might have been one of our first scheduled naps on the trail, and we both needed it. I know I took several naps by myself on the trail, but I’m not sure if Gator ever took a nap with me besides when we were in a hostel or hotel. It felt absolutely amazing sitting in the sun and roasting.

We also both felt we had the time to stop and nap. It’s an interesting dynamic when you have somewhere to be on a specific date. Although we only had a few more days to go about 50 miles, which would definitely be challenging, we also felt that having a destination relieved us from the stress of “let’s keep pushing.” Without a pre-set destination, every hour that you nap is one hour that you’re not hiking, which pushes those miles to the next day. But if you have a destination in mind for a certain date, you’re stopping at that point regardless of whether you show up 3 hours early or right on time.

With this in mind, I was also tempted to take a swim today. I passed a lake with a giant rock on the other side that people could jump off of. I think if there were more people around to join me and there wasn’t a risk of injury this far along, I would have jumped. I also was afraid of getting wet and having to deal with chafing for the rest of the day.

As we closed in on dinner time, we hit a shelter about 4 miles south of our destination (Lost Pond Shelter). This shelter even had a nicely flowing stream right next to it, and we were tempted to stay because you never know in Vermont if the next 4 miles would take 1 hour or 4 hours. We decided to continue on, and luckily, it was the easiest 4 miles of the day, mostly on wooden planks that we were able to crush in just over an hour.

When we arrived at camp, there was already a hiker fast asleep in the shelter that we didn’t want to bother. We would end up seeing this hiker again in the future!