I woke up after another cold night feeling refreshed and ready to go. The tough day of yesterday was already in my rearview mirror – I could feel today would be different. Today I would have the energy I needed. 

The climb out of camp was steep and a bit slow. I wasn’t sure how I was feeling as I went up. But slowly placing one foot in front of the other, I seemed to make progress until I eventually made it to the top of the first climb. And waiting for me was the coldest, crispest spring. Water that felt like it was just above freezing as it flowed from the ground and into my waiting bottle. 

As I sat around drinking my ice cold water and eating a cliff bar, I talked to a few SoBos (south bound through hikers) as they came by in the opposite directions. We mostly talked about the standard things – how great the views in New Hampshire were, how flat Maryland was, etc. as I finished up a conversation with one guy, I asked him his name. He informed me it was Turd. I blinked twice. I couldn’t help myself. “So… how’d you get that name?” I asked. It turns out, it’s short for “tree nerd.” Not as exciting a story as I had hoped but probably for the best. 

The ice cold water seemed to have revived my legs and all of a sudden I felt great again. I cruised through the wilderness – taking in the beautiful trees and rivers running by. Not even the excessively muddy trails for which Vermont is famous could slow me down. I hopped puddles and skipped over rocks, zooming further and further down trail. 

When I next filled up water, I met another SoBo-er and we started chatting again. I had noticed that a lot of the SoBos looked much younger and asked if he noticed that as well – thinking that it may have something to do with the SoBo timing working better for right after graduation. 

He said that was the case for him at least. He, it turns out, had just graduated high school! He said he graduated one weekend, had his graduation party the next and the found himself on the top of katahdin, ready to walk 2200 miles south, the weekend after that. The craziness of that was not lost on him. He laughed as he told me. As if he still couldn’t believe it. 

From there it was a long climb up Stratton mountain. But rather than being a steep, painful climb, jt was a long, gradual ascent. It took almost two hours but I found myself once again drenched in sweat at the top of the mountain. I climbed up the fire tower for a 360degree view and to catch a glimpse of the ski mountain. But as I climbed, a gust of wind came and I decided I could see well enough from the ground. I scurried back down, happy to have both feet safely on solid ground. 

I couldn’t have felt better for the last three miles to camp. I came down the mountain at top speed but in full control and then cruised across the flats to the shelter. Once there I dropped my bag and went straight for the highlight of the shelter – the pond. I sat in the pond in my boxers,  watching the sun start to fall in the sky and cooling down from the day. 

Key stats:

Miles: 22

Elevation gained: 4500 ft

Mile marker: 1627

Power bars consumed: 6