7/30/01
The third floor of the Long Trail Inn was fairly warm overnight and all of us could have slept better. Homes and inns this far north traditionally have no air conditioning, so it took a while for the room to cool down during the night. We had a very leisure morning at the Inn. Finn collected all our dirty clothes and started a joint laundry wash downstairs. The four of us (Phantom, Finn, Redneck and I) sat down in the dining room for a full breakfast which was included in the price of the room. I enjoyed orange juice, a broccoli and cheese omelet, home fries, toast and chocolate milk. We took our sweet time packing our gear and lounging in the beautiful inn. We cleared the room just prior to the 11 a.m. checkout time, then lounged some more (I was busy journaling as I do every spare minute) until 11:30 when the bar area reopened. We sat down at the bar where I enjoyed some root beers and another bowl of the Guinness Stew which I so thoroughly enjoyed last night for dinner. Finally around 12:30 we (Redneck, Phantom, and I) reluctantly left the Inn and got a hitch back to the trail. Meanwhile Finn had to go to a nearby deli for food resupply and he would meet us at the shelter later. The miles went by quickly and soon we reached River Road. Though none of our trail data books gave any information about services on the road, our friends back at the Long Trail Inn told us that a library was only 1/2 mile down the road from the trail crossing. We hid our packs in some woods, then hiked to the library to check our e-mail.
An hour and a half later we were back at the trail crossing after first stopping at the municipal recreation center for a soda and candy bar. I was not looking forward to the steep climb up Quimby Mountain, but nevertheless grinned and bore it. The trail in Vermont is up, down, up, down, up, up, up, down, down, up, down (repeat for 140 miles). And it's almost always a steep grade, with no appreciable switchbacks. Steep climbs hurt my feet, primarily because at times I'm hiking almost exclusively using the toes without being able to plant my entire foot on the trail before pushing off to the other foot. Up and over Quimby we went, then down to the Stony Brook shelter for the night. By the time we settled in with our tents erected (Phantom and I), the shelter became fairly crowded. Four or five Sobos plus a couple of section hikers, and China Girl and Lucky Duck with some family members, Finn, Redneck, Phantom and me gave us a full house. The evening was uneventful except for the usual trail talk as we shared information with the Sobos. With darkness now setting in by 8 p.m., I was in the tent fairly early listening to music on the headphones and an early night of sleep. Finally the antibiotics seem to have killed that persistent nightly cough, for which I am very thankful. Today's stats: low 68, high 85. Sunny. Today's mileage: 8.7; cumulative mileage 1690.1.
