Day 39 on the Trail

Another tiring day for Dave -- is there any other type of day on the AT, especially in New England?

As of 7/22/11:
Miles today - 5.1
Miles to date - 463.7

Dave had a low mileage day today as counted on the trail.  However, he had also made a resupply trip into town (sorry, I forgot to ask what town) and he did extra hiking around the Minerva Hinchley Shelter, where he was staying for the night. One reason he chose that campsite was because the guidebooks mentioned a wonderful, cool lake nearby.  As Dave was hiking in the 93º weather, with a 35 pound pack on his back, he was planning his afternoon swim, taking his soap with him, and washing himself and his clothes.  He hasn't had a shower in two weeks.

Once they got to the shelter, Dave and Country could not find the path to the lake. They hiked 30 minutes up the nearest hill and could finally SEE the lake but once they got back to the campsite, they still could not figure out how to get to it.  A ridge runner came into camp, and he didn't know how either.  Poor Dave, he was so disappointed.

I was hoping the heat wave didn't reach into the Green Mountains of Vermont, but no such luck.  Thursday's high in nearby Killington was 92º and Friday's was 93º. Dave said he fills up his Platypus at every available spot and drinks lots and lots of water.  The high today should be 88º and then drop back into the 70s for the next several days.  Now I want some of that!

He said his hike is still tough, changing elevations from 1300' to 2500'.  He is still going over lots of rock, but mostly it's heavily forested.  He has seen numerous springs and beaver ponds.  In fact, the ridge runner was telling him it's become an issue for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in trying to maintain the trail.  The land is protected national forest, beavers can't be hunted, and they are creating more and more dams which create more and more ponds, some as large as 30-40 acres.  The water gets backed up over the trail and makes boggy areas. They've attempted to place boards down, making small bridge-type structures, but even some of them are now underwater.  Maybe the path to the lake was underwater?

A beaver dam creating a pond

Here's what inside the dam

Beaver at work