Pretty plants

Day 6, July 5, 18.3 miles

Pop quiz:

What mountain was Benton MacKaye sitting on when he was inspired to propose the idea of the Appalachian Trail?
A. Mt. Greylock
B. Mt. Stratton
C. Mt. Killington
If you guessed B, you’re right.

Greylock inspired Mellville to write Moby Dick. I’ve climbed Greylock already and I’ve climbed Stratton already. I’ll soon climb Killington and I don’t have any interesting facts to offer about it. As pretty much all of you know, history isn’t my thing. Lol

Anyway, I had a good day. I saw my first snake of this trip. It was a harmless garter snake. I talked to a few people on top of Stratton Mtn. who had ridden the gondola up the mountain to the firetower. I also chatted with Jean, the caretaker of the??? I don’t really know what she caretakes. She’s stationed in a caretakers cabin at the top of the mountain. Nice lady. Below Stratton Mountain was Stratton Pond. It was really the first beautiful view I’ve gotten in Vermont.

Another day of hiking alone. I saw a couple of young thrus on top of Stratton. When I arrived at the shelter, the Ginger Twins were there–a nice surprise. A little later a couple hiking The Long Trail came in and one other thru-hiker, Prime, arrived. I had to sleep in the shelter again because all the spaces I might could have put a tent were flooded. Another reason shelters aren’t great are the mice and we had supermouse among us. He had a wrapper of some sort and played with it all night long.

I took a bath as best I could in the creek. Going into town tomorrow to resupply and can’t wait to get a shower.

Firetower on Stratton

Jean, the caretaker

Stratton Pond

Peter Pan and Clifford