Day 43 - Monday, July 25

Linda

This morning we woke up to the sound of rain, just as we expected. Put everything away wet and started off at 8:00. The trail went over several ridges, so we did a lot of wet ups and downs the first 7 miles to Sweazy Shelter, or "Sleazy Sweazy" as it's often called. It really lived up to its name, and was absolutely the pits - run down and dirty with broken wire bunks. It didn't even have an outhouse, which I desperately needed.

We pushed on toward Borne and Stratton Ponds through muck, which was reminiscent of Maine. We were totally soaked and muddy when we stopped at one of the three shelters on Stratton Pond for lunch. Met a young guy who was just finishing the Long Trail and Paul "Big Foot" Tourney, who has done the Long Trail twice and the AT once. He is out doing another section now. He's quite a character and a very together hiker. He had a tube hooked into his water bottle so he can drink without stopping. Very clever idea. We were both starving, so we fixed two meals and sat for a couple hours talking before getting the courage to go on to Storey Springs 5.7 miles away.

Finally left at 4:00 and slogged our way there. The rain had stopped by 5:00, but it was still wet walking. We met a couple who gave us two oranges which was very thoughtful, even though one of them turned out to be rotten. Squished into a crowded shelter about 6:30 for an 18.9 mile day. We met Dave Carrington, an older hiker who was doing the last 1,000 miles of the AT. He and his wife started last year and did the first 1,000. He's really into the "camp experience" with fires, and full course meals and short hiking days. Good for him! That's a great way to do it if you have the time. We also met two other through hikers Jim and Don, and a French Canadian Long Trail hiker named Pierre. The evening was full of much lively conversation which went on until late that night. The sky cleared after dark and the moon was bright. Looks like it might be nice weather for hiking tomorrow.

Ron

Awoke this morning to the sound of rain falling on the tent. We rolled over wishing it would go away. But no success. By the time things were packed most of our stuff was wet. The tent was wet and dirty. The first miles went slow. We had and up hill climb to start out the day. I just was not psyched up for it. We stopped for a few minutes at Sweazy Lean-to to relieve and refresh.

The trail over the next 5 miles was a mess. The normally muddy trail had become a swamp. It brought back memories of Maine. A couple times the muck went over the top of my boots. It pissed me off to think the Green Mountain Club would have a trail this bad. We finally made it to the middle shelter on Stratton pond and stopped for lunch.

We talked to a man named Paul Turney while fixing lunch. Had competed the AT last year and was now doing the Long Trail the second time. He gave us lots of tips about the trail. We were so hungry we ate two suppers for lunch.

At 4:00 we took off for the 5 miles to Storey Brook Lean-to. It's crowed here with seven people. There are three long distance hikers headed north and one Long Trail hiker headed south. There is a lot of conversation between us and the other LDH'ers. We're all hoping the weather will break.

(18.9 Miles - 541.8 Total)