Friday, July 15th
Lost Pond Shelter (1670.0 mi) to Governor Clement Shelter (1694.7 mi)
Hiking Miles: 24.7
Total Ascent: 5,122.4 ft
Total Descent: 5,411.7 ft
Total Grade: 426.0 ft/mi
Steps: 57,224
BILLY JOEL – Piano Man
Gator/Sunrise: During the night (I got up twice to pee), the mosquitoes were out in full force. I was careful not to let one sneak into my tent as I exited and entered each time. I woke in darkness once again, and packed my tent quickly however for some reason the bugs were not as bad as they were the previous night. The first half mile or so was peaceful as I watched Lost Pond flowing to my left as I hiked. I stopped for water when sunlight broke through the trees, and that involved walking down and back up a slight hill.
Shortly after stopping for breakfast, I came upon a road crossing where I was able to acquire cell phone service. I texted DT’s mom Wendy to introduce myself and to ask her if she could meet us at 11:00 am rather than 3:00 pm as originally scheduled by DT. Our aggressive pace helped to provide some slack time for our visit with DT’s family or if we encountered tough terrain.
Croc caught up with me a little past 10:00 am after we both had passed the White Rock garden displays in Wallingford. The formations were interesting and quite impressive.
Wendy returned my text and said they could meet us between 11:30 am and noontime so the timing was perfect. Croc and I hiked a short blue blaze down to the White Rocks Recreation Area and waited for Wendy and DT’s dad Bill to arrive. For some reason, I wasn’t feeling well (my stomach felt like it was going to get sick) so I rested on my back on the picnic table bench.
When they arrived at noontime, Wendy called out “Gator and Croc?” for which we replied “Yes”. It was great seeing them along with their dog, and they brought us some freshly baked pies from a Vermont Pie Company and a selection of Harpoon beers, which was an awesome lunch! We sat and talked and shared a few stories about our Virginia trail when we hiked with DT, and it was a wonderful visit.
Wendy and Bill were delightful and we were so appreciative that they took the time to meet and help us while on trail. Croc and I packed away a can of Harpoon each for our dinner later, got a ride to the trailhead from Wendy, said our good-byes and headed on our way by 1:15 pm.
We soon approached three ladies who were offering homemade ice cream and fresh fruit. We couldn’t refuse and so we stopped for a few moments to talk with them. It was going to be an interesting hike with bellies full of sugar, but we certainly had stored energy to burn. We came upon one more trail magic offering. A young girl from Georgia (trail name Bull Dog) who was hiking southbound gave us a heads up about the ice cream man at an upcoming parking lot. There, we each had an ice cream sandwich before hiking our last 6 mile uphill push to our campsite.
During our final stretch, we passed a young female hiker who was moving slowly, and she said for us to go ahead. Then about a half mile later when I was feeling tired, she called out to pass us because she now felt faster than us (faster than me to be precise). After all, it was late in the day and any stored energy was depleting. With about 2.7 miles to our destination, I couldn’t hike anymore, so I sat on a berm along the edge of the trail. I wanted to push on, but I was completely exhausted. Croc assured me that was not a problem and that we could find a spot nearby to stealth camp for the night.
I hoped that if I could just rest for a short while that perhaps I could muster enough energy to push the 2+ miles. Sure enough, after three minutes of sitting, I somehow just got up and started hiking. I began with a slow walk, then a brisk walk that turned into a jog, and then finally a fast paced run. It was hard to explain, but I somehow found a burst of energy. So much in fact that I created a healthy gap between me and Croc, and I soon caught up to the female hiker. Her trail name was “Gin” (short for Engine, or the long version “The Engine That Could”) and we got to talking.
Croc naturally caught up but his first words to me were “Did I miss the memo?” We both were surprised at my sudden burst of energy. Soon thereafter, we stopped at a stream just before our campsite. Gin wanted to stay in the shelter that evening and our plan was to tent. We filled up our water bottles, then found a nice flat site for the evening. Tomorrow, we had a short 14 miles to go before reaching Mountain Meadows Lodge and Christina’s surprise visit.
Croc: I woke up today with a lot of energy because I knew it was my last full day before relaxing at the Mountain Meadows Lodge that Gator kept raving about. I hadn’t looked too much into it, but I knew that it (1) was right on trail, (2) had great food and a bar, and (3) Mom was going to join us for the weekend (I didn’t know Christina was coming yet). I was also especially excited to meet Double Trouble’s (DT) parents, Wendy and Bill, today. You could quickly tell that DT’s parents held a special place in his heart because he centered a lot of his conversations around them when I got to know him back in Virginia. Most hikers either talk about their life, whether good or bad, talk about how much pain they’re in, or talk about how much they plan to hike in the next few days, but DT would always talk about stories that included his Mom or Dad. So it meant even more to me that I was about to finally meet his parents in person.
I eventually caught up to Gator right before we hit White Rock Garden, which was probably the second coolest hiker-decorated section of the trail (coolest being the hiker shoe tree in Georgia) with hundreds of cairns and shapes made out of rocks. I didn’t have much time, since we wanted to make sure we weren’t late to meet DT’s parents, but I did add one rock on top of a previously made cairn and called it a day. We then jumped down a side trail and relaxed at a picnic table as we waited. There were several day hikers out today enjoying the weather, which was very welcoming.
Wendy and Bill arrived shortly after with snacks, pies, and a whole cooler of beers and cold drinks. DT must have given them a heads-up because he talked about those pies for a week straight when we traveled together. And, seeing that cold beers were so hard to come by on the trail (probably because of the weight), that was a great treat as well. And as a bonus, we got to meet their dog! Before we parted ways, I made sure to show Wendy and Bill the tramily necklace we got back in VA a few days before we split up, and also complimented them on having such an outstanding son. I think they were happy to hear that he was our fearless leader, or our Tom Brady.
We opted to not hike right back up the blue blaze we just came down and asked Wendy and Bill if they could drop us off back on trail. And of course less than five minutes later we passed another group of people giving out trail magic. It’s just a typical case of Murphy’s Law where you don’t see trail magic for days, and then you get it twice in the span of minutes. Even though we just had pies, we couldn’t give up homemade ice cream. While eating and conversing about hiker stench, I realized we hadn’t washed our clothes in 7 days (Great Barrington) and my spare/sleep clothes for 11 days (hotel in VA). We did stay at a few nicer places like Tom Livardi’s, motel and the cabin, but there were no washing machines to use. I know most hikers typically go a lot longer, but we were used to cleaning up every few days.
Shortly after, we got our third trail magic of the day. At this point, I could tell that Gator was hitting a wall, which totally makes sense because we had just busted out multiple 25+ mile days. I actually believe that Gator calculated that this stretch (July 9-15) was the most miles completed in one seven-day period for us while on the AT. From Great Barrington to today, we traveled nearly 170 miles, or 24.23 miles per day. You’d think that insane week in VA with DT and the Ostermillers (that included two near 30s) would have been the longest, but that week came in slightly under at 24.07 miles per day. Maybe we were super excited for the lodge, or maybe we had an abundance of trail magic, or maybe it was because we didn’t stay at any hotels and could focus on hiking (and not laundry).
Anyways, when we were just a few miles from camp, Gator unleashed a burst of energy and started hauling. I couldn’t even keep up at the end of the day. I found myself falling behind and said the quote, “Did I miss the memo?” because Gator was definitely doing a 4 mph pace.
However, after we got to camp and ate some dinner, Gator quickly passed out after crushing another insane 24-mile day. With the excitement for tomorrow and two ice creams and pie in my stomach, I couldn’t fall asleep. I cracked open the beer that Wendy and Bill gave us to go and enjoyed the night. It honestly gave me that feeling of Christmas morning knowing tomorrow was going to be such a fun day.
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