Sunday, August 23 9:40 pm 10.6 mi
AT 1693.4 Governor Clement Shelter → AT 1704.0 US Route 4/Comfort Inn Rutland, VT
Weather: Cool and sunny during the day, storms in the evening
Trail Conditions: Great blue blaze up to Killington Peak where we caught up to Fine Line, who just passed us last night! Haven’t seen her since back around Hot Springs
My Condition: Feeling great other than some salt/sweat related chafing
Caught Fine Line on the 0.2 mile near-vertical blue blaze up Killington Peak. Also saw Shark Boy, Lava Girl, Flatwoods, and Bearclaw. Among their group, Hoka Speedgoats seemed to be the shoe of choice! One of them said “everyone starts in Altras, the finishers end up in Hokas.” Hiked with Puddles after Killington Peak – LOTR fanfic and celebrity conspiracy theories galore! Tried to find a shuttle into town, and the dispatcher for Rutland Taxi was pretty rude. Jumped all over me for calling the parking lot the literal name from the parking lot sign I was reading it off of rather than just saying AT/LT, quoted me $40 for the ride, and when I was passing that information along to my trail family so we could make a decision she told me to just call back "if I had finally made up my mind." On principal alone I didn’t want to give my business to her! After no other options worked out, we decided to try hitching and were picked up by some rock climbers on their way back from a New Hampshire trip. We got to ride in the truck bed on an actual bed! Dirtbags helping dirtbags – awesome folks! Resupplied and spent the night in town watching the Spongebob Musical and Shrek.
Post Trail Analysis
So much to talk about here! Puddles and I both agreed that Aragorn probably should’ve ended up with Eowyn rather than Arwen. These type of philosophical LOTR questions formed the foundation of a project she and I would continue to work on, which critics would later describe as “earth-shattering,” “a true revelation,” and “2193 out of 5 stars.” After our amazing ride into town and resupply, we all showed off our “grocery haul” and stopped to order pizzas on our way to the hotel. If I were to pick a “spirit photo” for Puddles, it would be this picture with her pizza. The Spongebob Musical was unlike anything we’d ever seen before. I would never watch it again, but it truly was an experience and we just couldn’t look away! Today I also learned about Poot Lovato for the first time.
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