Start: Manchester, Vermont (AT mi 1654). Stop: Bromley Mountain (AT mi 1657). Today’s miles: 3 miles. Total AT mileage: 632.3 miles
I woke up to my alarm at 9am, contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep-but decided to get up and hop in the shower instead. I showered and packed my stuff, then ate my left over food from the last day and a half. Close to 10, I took all my stuff to the lobby and hung out there with FarOut and Sauce.
Cholula took Curmy to town to do laundry and then came back to drive us to the trailhead. We didn’t get started until close to 12:30. We hiked up to the top of the mountain, where a ski lift and little ski patrol building was and took a break. It was gorgeous! Stunning views all around, and a ski lift to hang out at.
After hanging out a bit, we decided to just stay. A few minutes later, I asked them if they knew if there was any water here.. whoops. There’s not.. the water caches were empty. So, we made the choice to walk a mile back down the way we came to get water. If we had carried on, then we’d have to go another 7 miles to camp with water.
Walking the extra 2 miles without a pack wasn’t bad at all, and it helped stretch my legs, too.
Once we got back, a storm rolled in and rolled out. When it left, I set up my tent in a huge clearing. It looked lovely, but the wind was insane. I left it up and went to the ski lift where FarOut and Sauce set up camp. As we were sitting, thinking on dinner-huge storm clouds started rolling through.
I made a snap decision to go take my stuff down and set up inside the shelter where some women section hiking were already set up. They had told us there was room for us if needed.. and I didn’t want a wet tent in the morning. Once I put everything up in the shelter, claiming my spot, I headed back over to the ski lift to actually work on dinner.
We sat and chatted and watched the storm roll through. It was beautiful, but cold. While hanging out, a group of 8 ish young, loud hikers showed up. Some are setting up tents, some are taking over the shelter, all of them are currently cooking in the shelter. Lord. I’m getting so old.. because they’re annoying the crap out of me. I should have stayed out in the wind with my tent LMAO.
Lessons learned. We’ll see how this goes.
