START LOCATION: US-4/Sherburne Pass/Long Trail Inn
FINISH LOCATION: Chateauquay Road
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 14.7
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,705.9
MILES TO GO: 473.2
Hotel sleep... The best. I was up at 7AM, I showered, packed up my clean, dry gear and Smoke and I headed down to breakfast. All the hikers were there in the dining room, about a dozen of them. The topic of discussion? The race. Mimi and Shorts exchanged barbs while the rest discussed the racers' strengths and weaknesses and placed bets. Race time was 30 minutes after Mimi and Shorts finished their breakfast, which would be around 9:45. A crowd of a dozen bikers gathered outside, including the hotel desk clerk and pub cook. Nobody and I established the course, finish line and determined who'd video and photograph the race. The race was taking place in the Inn parking lot over approximately 50 yards. Shorts was on hand for the whole setup, while Mimi was nowhere to be found. She finally peeked her head out of her 3rd floor hotel room window just before 10AM and was laughing like... "Is it time?" We gave her a bunch of guff for being late and she made her way down.
Nobody yelled the start. It was close for almost 40 yards, but Mimi made a big push and Shorts faded slightly giving Mimi a full stride edge at the line. Shorts was a good sport and even took the box of tissues and jokingly patted his eyes. The race lived up to the hype. But, again, we are easily entertained on this trail.
Smoke and I pushed off around 11 and finished up the Sherburne Trail where we then rejoined the AT. We saw a gorgeous waterfall called Thundering Falls that wasn't shown in our book. The newness of the observation walkway and platform tells me the trail was routed there this year. Plus, the guide book was silent on what should had been a very important point of interest. It was a cool surprise.
The terrain this afternoon reminded me of the roller coaster in Virginia (see Jun 2-4). 500' ups and downs back to back to back. I'll be sore tomorrow. There was a nasty thunderstorm coming, so Smoke and I decided to lay up near this woods road while Fred, Lou and Mimi pushed on to Winturri Shelter. We didn't want to get soaked on our first day out of town. Smoke and I got our shelters set up just in time. Cooking was tough but I got it done without getting too wet. Hoping for better weather tomorrow. It seems there's thunderstorms forecasted every day for the next week.
-natedog
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