Day 104: Stratton Pond

Day 104, 8/10/23

Kid Gore Shelter to Stratton Pond Shelter

15.2 miles, mile 1,648.6

Yay for another short day! I definitely did not sleep that well on the foam pad, but it’s better than nothing. I might have to deal with it until the end of the trail if I can’t find where my thermarest is leaking from. The hiking today was extremely muddy, but it wasn’t insanely steep at any points. I was definitely sweating a bit climbing the 3.5 miles up to Stratton Mountain, but it wasn’t too bad. The view on top of the fire tower was beautiful! There were also two adorable pups up there that I got to pet.

We continued on the last 3.5 miles down off the mountain to the shelter. It was an extremely early day, our tents were set up by 3:30 p.m. Then we headed down the quarter mile to Stratton Pond. It was beautiful and there were three loons calling that we could see across the water. There were also a lot of little newts and frogs in the shallow part near the shore. There was a group of guys there who I overheard asking about how much water they had and that they were running out. I offered them my filter to use since I had brought it down to fill my own bottles. They accepted and I explained to just flip the top off and squeeze the bag because they didn’t seem to know how to use it. They said they were from New York City and on summer break from college. I’m glad I brought my filter down because they still had four miles back to their car. After they left, Kevin and I hung out down by the pond for a couple hours. It was a bit too chilly for me to get in with the clouds and wind. When we got hungry and saw some dark clouds moving in, we walked back up to our tents. Some heavy rain is about to start, so we are hunkered down. Tomorrow is an even shorter day and Dad will pick us up to head home for the night! This way we can bring Ethan back with us Saturday morning so he can join for the weekend.