Sunrises and Raindrops

Day 52

We awoke on at the summit of Bromley Mountain and watched an amazing sunrise. We had a bit of a late start in the morning as we were reluctant to leave our nice set up.

We eventually made way our way down and cruised through the 14 miles and arrived at Stratton Pond. We stopped a little early so we could relax and enjoy the water.

A nice burst of heavy rain came through.  We’re glad to be in the shelter and for the springs to be replenished.  This rain will ensure a busy night in a shelter, we heard a lot of stragglers running to the shelter late into the night. We fell asleep to the chorus of snores and raindrops gently hitting the roof.

Day 53

We got up and out of the shelter early in an attempt to avoid some rain coming later in the day. The rain showers that came overnight chased a lot of NOBOs into the shelter and it was crowded. We did our best to be respectful and quiet with our early morning rise.

We were happy to see the previous night’s showers reviving a slow moving spring on Stratton Mountain. We were so happy to have cold fresh spring water once again. The terrain was nice and we cruised past some beaver ponds and a fire tower.

We took a late afternoon break at Kid Gore shelter and as luck would have it missed a quick rain shower. We also met another SOBO, trail name Trip, and ran into another SOBO, trail name Skip (from Texas!), whom we had been leap frogging for a week. It was funny to have so many SOBOs in one spot. We could count the number of SOBOs we have seen since the Whites on one hand.

After the worst of the rain passed we finished our last few miles and arrived at Goddard shelter just before another shower. Skip made it before the rain as well.  Looks like more rain is scheduled for tonight, glad we have a dry spot in a nice spacious shelter.  We ate happily and heavily out of our food bags since we made a last minute decision to go into Bennington, Vermont tomorrow. Looking forward to some town food for sure! We still can’t believe how easily we are cruising through Vermont. We did our 19.7 miles today with minimal physical and mental struggles. We didn’t feel that exhaustion we used to feel when we would hike big miles. We definitely have our trail legs now!