The plan for the day was that I would do an easy 14 miles to the Governor Clement Shelter and my cousin Mark would drive down the road nearby the shelter and pick me up for dinner, etc at 4:00. I realized early in the morning that the road was a gated forest service road. I messaged Mark and suggested we meet at the lodge on Killington Mountain. It would mean 18 miles on my tired legs but I really wanted to see Mark. Cell coverage was very bad all day so it wasn’t until I was a mile from the summit that I got Mark’s message that the lodge was closed.
We decided to meet at US 4 near Rutland which would result in a 24 mile day. My legs really needed a rest day but seeing Mark outweighed my tired legs. So we had a plan. What else could go wrong? haha. Well, Mother Nature decided a thunderstorm with hail while I was on top of Killington Mountain was a good idea. I waited out the storm with 4 very nice section hikers in the Cooper Lodge Shelter on the mountain. Once the hail stopped, I ran the last 6 miles down the mountain splashing in Vermont mud puddles the whole way.
Mark and I went to dinner and had fun catching up. Good times! It was still raining and there were no campsites near the trail head so he brought me to the Long Trail Inn B&B. Thank you Mark!
I will be picking up my resupply in the morning and hitting the trail for an easy day… really. In other news, I forded two streams today. It is the first time on the trip I’ve had to do that but it won’t be the last. I saw J-Squared again a little after lunchtime. We did the same miles today, they just did them in the opposite direction and without packs.
