hikethe115
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- Joined
- Jun 10, 2004
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I wanted to test out my tent in the rain. This weekend was certainly perfect for that. I hiked in the Stratton Pond Trail Friday evening. The sign to the shelter was very tempting. If tenting had been allowed near the shelter, I might just have stayed there and set my tent up nearby and checked the wetness in the morning. However, I decided to not even allow myself to be tempted and started the walk around the pond. I was surprised at how far around the pond you needed to go to get to the tent sites. It's a very pretty spot. I watched the rain blowing across the pond for a bit. The rain had been steady the whole way, and didn't show any sign of letting up. I set up the tent, had some dinner and tea in the rain. I didn't really feel cold so it wasn't too bad. By now it was about 8:30 so I got into my dry clothes and snuggled into my sleeping bag. Now I felt cold! It took be awhile to get warmed up, but I finally felt comfortable and had a good sleep. The rain never let up all night. In the morning it would seem like it was going to let up, but it would just start right up again. My tent wasn't as dry as I had hoped. I may have to play with staking it so rain doesn't come in through the mesh between the wall and the floor. I was on a platform so the sides were staked a little higher than they might have been if I was on the ground. I had seam sealed the tent, but there was some leakage from the top so I guess I'll need to seal it again.
I finally decided it wasn't going to let up so I packed everything up and headed out. I went back around the pond and then headed up Stratton Mtn. I ran into an AT thru-hiker and then a couple doing thru-hike on the LT. The trail was more or less a stream the whole way. However, it was a pretty easy, gradual up so it seemed like I was at the top in no time. I took time to read the plaque...it didn't seem worth going up in the tower...and then headed out. The hike down went by quickly. I suddenly realized I was close to the road as I saw a car pulling into the trail head. Unfortunately, they pulled right back out before I got there. It would have been nice to see if I could get a ride back to my car. Oh well, 1 mile on the road and I was back to my car.
I ended up staying a the Avalanche Motel in Manchester and having dinner with 2 AT thru-hikers. It was a lot of fun listening to their experiences and asking them lots of questions.
On Sunday I got up at 6 AM, but it was still raining. So, I hung out for awhile as I had heard it was suppose to let up. It did finally seem to stop raining so I headed out for Dorset. After a couple of stops I ended up starting up the trail a little before 11. Of course, it started raining. Oh well, it wasn't too bad and it seemed warmer than Saturday. There were a lot of trees down all along the way. There were several stream crossings that may not even exist during dry times. A couple of them I tried placing a couple of rocks to step across, but the rocks just rolled down the stream. So from then on I just walked on through. I figured it was a short hike and I could change when I got back to the car. There are several logging roads/snowmobile trails up in there so you have to pay attention...especially for the return. I went up and over the south peak and realized that really wasn't necessary so I skipped it on the way back. The metal remnants of the tower weren't much to look at and there weren't any views to be had. When I reached the wooded summit of the north peak I was surprised to find a cannister...I shouldn't have been, but I just hadn't thought about it. Then I thought I wasn't going to get the cover off! I noticed Poison Ivy in there, Jeffrey, Donna and Arm Solo (no relation to Han). So I signed in as Dawn Solo...also no relation to Han. On the way back down I made no attempt to keep dry. I did avoid the really deep pools, but walked through a lot of them. My Nagevi's would squoosh the excess water out and be quite comfortable to walk in even though they were wet. I got back to the car about 2:30 and was very happy to get into some dry clothes. It was a nice weekend in spite of the rain. Only 3 left on the NEHH list!
I finally decided it wasn't going to let up so I packed everything up and headed out. I went back around the pond and then headed up Stratton Mtn. I ran into an AT thru-hiker and then a couple doing thru-hike on the LT. The trail was more or less a stream the whole way. However, it was a pretty easy, gradual up so it seemed like I was at the top in no time. I took time to read the plaque...it didn't seem worth going up in the tower...and then headed out. The hike down went by quickly. I suddenly realized I was close to the road as I saw a car pulling into the trail head. Unfortunately, they pulled right back out before I got there. It would have been nice to see if I could get a ride back to my car. Oh well, 1 mile on the road and I was back to my car.
I ended up staying a the Avalanche Motel in Manchester and having dinner with 2 AT thru-hikers. It was a lot of fun listening to their experiences and asking them lots of questions.
On Sunday I got up at 6 AM, but it was still raining. So, I hung out for awhile as I had heard it was suppose to let up. It did finally seem to stop raining so I headed out for Dorset. After a couple of stops I ended up starting up the trail a little before 11. Of course, it started raining. Oh well, it wasn't too bad and it seemed warmer than Saturday. There were a lot of trees down all along the way. There were several stream crossings that may not even exist during dry times. A couple of them I tried placing a couple of rocks to step across, but the rocks just rolled down the stream. So from then on I just walked on through. I figured it was a short hike and I could change when I got back to the car. There are several logging roads/snowmobile trails up in there so you have to pay attention...especially for the return. I went up and over the south peak and realized that really wasn't necessary so I skipped it on the way back. The metal remnants of the tower weren't much to look at and there weren't any views to be had. When I reached the wooded summit of the north peak I was surprised to find a cannister...I shouldn't have been, but I just hadn't thought about it. Then I thought I wasn't going to get the cover off! I noticed Poison Ivy in there, Jeffrey, Donna and Arm Solo (no relation to Han). So I signed in as Dawn Solo...also no relation to Han. On the way back down I made no attempt to keep dry. I did avoid the really deep pools, but walked through a lot of them. My Nagevi's would squoosh the excess water out and be quite comfortable to walk in even though they were wet. I got back to the car about 2:30 and was very happy to get into some dry clothes. It was a nice weekend in spite of the rain. Only 3 left on the NEHH list!
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