John and Mike Take a Hike ~ with Natalie!: Day 135 (Monday, August 25th) - Greenwell Shelter to Governor Clement Shelter

Today's Miles: 14.60
Trip Miles: 1686.40

Sometimes the wait is worth it. I had been looking forward to town food to supplement my stove less repertoire, but each time I came to a road headed toward a town there was no traffic on it and a walk would have been too far. Well, today at Vt. 103, just a half mile west of the trail was the Whistle Stop Restaurant. It was 7.8 miles away from last nights shelter, over yet again, another Bear Mountain.

I met a local out for a walk, Mike Grabowski. He told me the Whistle Stop was a good place to go, very hiker friendly. His son had thrued last year and Mike and his wife like to help out hikers when they can. Mike offered some insight about the upcoming terrain and gave me his phone # in case I needed anything while I was in the area. Thanks Mike!

There were lots of ups and downs heading to Vt. 103. It was rocky, muddy, typical Southern Vermont hiking. When I finally got to the road at around 11:30 I made my way down to the restaurant. Mike was right, a very friendly place. Plenty of outlets to charge your phones and no one was in a hurry to see you go.

Zip Lock and Rock Man were there on the porch along with Rabbit. Inside I met Crouton and Sweet Moose, two young men from Kennesaw, Ga, south bounding. They told me about a cabin at a place called the Lookout where they said I should plan on staying. They marked it in my guide for me.

I sat down to a breakfast of decaf, chocolate milk, poached eggs, homemade hash, home fries, and shortly after a double scoop of chocolate ice cream and a BLT to go. I plugged in my phone to charge, hung out my sweat soaked clothes and sat on a bench for about two and a half hours just enjoying not walking.

All good things must end and so I started the steep climb up Beacon Hill where I met Gregg from last night. He said he was going to Governor Clement Shelter and I decided that would be a good place for me as well. I moved on while he had a snack.

There was a detour for a bridge out when I got to the Cold River. I met Jason, another Long Trail hiker. We checked out the original trail and saw that no one had been down there in a while, but we did see a sign marking 500 miles to go to Katahdin. After a couple pics we headed back to the detour which took us over a couple of gravel roads. There was a bit more of a climb to the shelter which sat along the banks of a pretty good sized creek. There were five section hikers there, a ridge runner, Gregg, Jason, and myself. Plenty of room though with camp sites all around.

I set up by the creek, had diner at the shelter and chatted with everyone there. Now I'm in my tent and ready for sleep. A big climb up Killington tomorrow. Hoping for a nice day. The knee feels pretty good; fingers crossed.

Bye for now.