Day 41: New Boots Day!

17 July 2016

Start: Green Mountain House

Destination: Bromley Mountain

Trail Miles: 3.0

Total Trail Miles: 318.2

State: VT

What a day!  It started off with breakfast in the hiker kitchen. Jeff was nice enough to take me later into town as my scheduled time was at 0800 and nothing opened  in town until 1000. It was time to get some new boots! My psyche needed them. And my ankle need them. While I waited I updated the blog, read about the whites and did some general maintenance. 

Jeff dropped me off at the "foot guru" at EMS. her name is Sonia. And I learned more about foot technology than I ever thought I'd know. I ended up with a pair of Oboz. They feel like they belong on my feet. We'll see!  After I left EMS, there was a rainstorm. So, what to do but head out to the Firefly and have a beer with the locals before heading back to the trail. The U.S. Open was just finishing. I sat with Spencer, Travis, and Trevor...three local guys. They knew everyone in the bar. It was very interesting learning about their favorite secret places to camp. Spencer and his wife go to a lake, canoe out to their secret place and camp. Just those two. They've been doing it for seven years. It's so adorable I can hardly stand it. They go to get away from everyone and just be together with each other and nature. Brilliant! A married couple that actually still likes each other. 

After the beer and conversation, Spencer took me to the trail! Yay. No solo hitching for me again. I don't want to solo hitch. But in this town it would have been pretty easy. 

I got on the trail and it went straight up. Immediately. Um, two beers. Slosh. Step. Slosh step. 

It wasn't a pleasant hike up the mountain but when I got to the top I was absolutely amazed. I couldn't believe the view. 360 degrees. It's a ski slope and they let hikers stay up here during the summer. There is a warning hut/shelter, the two ski lift and platforms, a privy, and a view to knock your socks off. 

 

I only hiked three miles. But how could I NOT stay here. It was heaven. There were several other hikers here and I decided to sleep on the ski lift platform outside. We could not set up our tents, so it was a perfect opportunity to "cowboy" camp and watch the sunrise. 

 

 

 

 

Today I only hiked three miles. But the views here are incomparable. Miles vs. Memories. For me the experience will almost always win over getting in more miles. 

I'm bunded up and falling asleep as I'm writing this. Guess I won't have any issues sleeping out here after all!

Happy Trails!

One Step at a Time. 

One Dayat a Time.

Punky Shire