STRATTON POND

AT Day 096: Wednesday July 12, 2023

Mile 1619 + 24.5 miles/ 39.4 km

Total Distance Hiked: 1648.5 miles /2652 km

Bennington – Stratton Pond Shelter 

It’s hard to know what is the right thing to do under the circumstances. We hope to know a little bit more by the time we reach Manchester. According to reports the devasting floods throughout the Northeast  are unprecedented. If we had a home here we would probably go home and come back when things are back to normal. We met an English hiker yesterday who is flying back home to England for a month and coming back in August to complete his hike. He is injured and with the flooding rains, he said it was cheaper for him to be home then wait it out here.  We don’t have that choice. 

We are getting back on trail planning to make it to Manchester, pick up Hammers new sleeping mat and my new shoes  and then reassess the situation going further north. 

This morning we had arranged a ride back to the trailhead with a Trail Angel – Sir Stops a Lot who was in the room next to ours at the motel. He was giving two other hikers a ride. All the chat was about the trail conditions. The consensus was that it was fine to Manchester and beyond that there was little information. So our plan today was to just enjoy hiking in Vermont on a nice sunny day. 

It was simply breathtakingly beautiful to be back. The first couple of miles of trail  could not be more different to what we experienced on Monday and Tuesday. A days break to let the catchment drain has made a huge difference. There were sections of the trail you wouldn’t even know it had rained.  This nice respite from wet muddy conditions did not last.  

We could hear  Hell Hollow Brook flowing some time before we saw it. It was surprising to see how much the water level has dropped from the reports on Monday. It was a wet feet crossing with water level just above ankle deep. Such a relief. 

After this it was pure joy to hike in sunny weather with a light breeze rustling through the trees.  Even with the wet feet and muddy conditions which needed some fancy footwork to sidestep. 

We stopped for lunch at Goddard shelter with 6 other hikers whom we met along the way.  Everyone was in a good mood because the sun was shining and we were back on trail. It was nice to see ‘Diamond’ again.  She is one of the hikers we shared the shelter with on that terrible Monday night. She checked the weather and it looked clear for today with rain Thursday and more on Friday. So in high spirits we headed off after lunch. 

We left Goddard Shelter about 1:00 p.m. The beautiful morning weather did not last. A few miles along the trail was awash with water. It looked like we were hiking along a trail that resembled a creek bed again. 

The light in woods was becoming dim and rolling thunder could be heard in the distance. As we had not expected rain, we had already left a shelter planning to find a dispersed campsite along the way. So we upped our hiking pace aiming to make it to Stratton Pond Shelter along the bad weather blue blazed alternate trail off Fire Services Road 72. 

Only a few drops of rain fell as the thunder continued to move away.  The blue blazed trail to Stratton Pond was a little bit worse then the AT with deep, sucky mud in large sections. Occasional timber boards along the trail provided some breaks from  the muddy mess. We kept our heads down and pushed on as daylight started to fade.

We made it to Stratton Pond Shelter around 9.30pm. It was a relief to find a few hikers still up and finishing dinner. Great, our late arrival did not disturb anybody. We found a bunk, got cleaned up and were horizontal in 30 minutes. Such a relief to make it to the shelter.  Feeling a little bit cheated as we were looking forward