Another Irish Drinking Song

August 16 Mile 1693-
The night was cold, windy, and wet. Raindrops dripped from the leaky roof onto the uneven stone floor. Still Steve, another North-bounder, was the only other hiker to make it up the mountain this evening. The morning brought the same weather. We drug our feet till 8am hoping the sun would come out, but no such luck. The two of us refused to put on our wet clothed from the night before, which is a big no-no in hiking. Never leave yourself without a dry set of clothes. I was already shivering from just using the privy. We headed out into the weather for an 11 mile hike into Killington, VT to pick up a food drop and our winter clothes for the White Mtns. One of the worst feelings in the world is putting on wet, cold socks. Sloshing our way down the hill we past a SOBO that had just came from town. He told us about The Inn at the Long Trail on the next road. The original AT used to run right thru the property until it was re-routed due to a ski resort. He had stayed to night to miss the weather. The way he described the Guinness beef stew and Reuben made my stomach growl. Shadow made him stop talking about the food. Needless to say, our 11 mile day turned into a 6 mile day when we hit the first road.
The Inn was just as he described. A ski motel with an Irish pub. After starting a load of laundry we sat at the bar in our wet rain suits and a pair of dry socks eating stew and drinking a 6 minute Guinness. We came back for dinner of course. Shadow ordered the Shepard's pie that was the best I have ever eaten.
In the mist of chaos last night I forgot to mention two things. One, we have less than 500 miles to go. Two, our last shelter stop before heading up the mountain yesterday was built in 1928 by the CCC. The shelter log had a photo from then with two men leaning against the side. I found the photo interesting because there were no trees in the background. After walking in the woods for so long I forget that less than 100 years ago all of this was logged and left bare.


Country Mouse and Shadow still NOBO (North Bound)