It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine.
~Eyore
July 22, 2021
Hike from Governor Clement Shelter to Greenwall Shelter (VT)
AT miles: 15.2
Ascent: 3433’
Descent: 3486’
Weather: partially sunny with an afternoon shower and temps in the 70’s
Sightings: several toads and chipmunks
High points: the sun came out!
Today’s walk started with a slosh through a calf-deep stream, one of three such wet crossings today.
After five days of rain, I really loved seeing the sun peek through the trees. The trail was really beautiful today (though still muddy).
The damp spiderwebs showed up well!
We climbed Bear Mountain and at the bottom we received some lovely trail magic — a couple was handing out juice and fig newtons and bananas to hikers. Yum!
The trail crossed a sunlit meadow. (Notice the blue sky!)
And it crossed a dirt lane that looked quintessentially Vermont-ish.
And we had our first really great view in Vermont!
We crossed a river on a rope suspension bridge, which swayed and wiggled alarmingly as we crossed.
The last part of the day involved a hefty climb up White Rocks Mountain to our shelter. Thankfully the trail today was significantly less muddy than yesterday.
We did get another nice view!
On the way up we passed a 7-year-old thruhiker, “SuperGirl”, and her mother. They warned us that we were about to run into a naked hiker. Sure enough, about five minutes later we encountered an older guy who was hiking in his birthday suit — with hiking boots, of course. People can be quite odd!
The shelter tonight is fairly empty, a 68-year-old section hiker, and a thruhiker and us. A hermit thrush is singing in the background.
Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!