Today was another slack packing day. Our friend Michelle brought us back to the spot that Sam picked us up yesterday. She even joined us on our hike up and over Stratton Mountain! It’s been a while since a friend hiked with us.
It was a pretty nice almost 4 miles hike up to the Stratton summit. When we arrived at the top, the caretaker somehow knew that we were thru-hikers just slack packing for the day. I asked how she knew, and she said that we just walk with more purpose than day hikers.
There was another fire tower on top of Stratton, and since it was such a nice day, we got some really nice views. An interesting notes about Stratton, this is the mountain where both the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail were envisioned.
We all hiked down to Stratton pond where we had a nice snack, then we split ways with Michelle. She headed back to the car, and we continued north towards VT Route 11 just below Bromley. It was really nice level trail for most of the hike. We had just one bump to get up and over before we met Michelle down near the parking area.
After the hike we headed over to Manchester Center, VT for some food. We had sandwiches at the Northshire Bookstore, which were really good. They do sort of gourmet style sandwiches. We had a nice spot in the window for people watching around the traffic circle. On the drive back down to Bennington we stopped at a creamery for done creemees (soft serve ice cream for those that don’t know what a creemee is).
we spent the rest of the evening at Sam’s house again. A few other friends showed up, and a few of us defiantly stayed out in the rain keeping a fire alive. It was nice to catch up with friends and sleep inside on a rainy evening. We’re hoping it’ll dry up for the hike tomorrow, but the weather isn’t looking good.
