August 5

We had about an inch of rain last night. I woke up to my neighbors - Push & Shove - talking. It was around 5:45 so I got up and packed up all my stuff and brought it to the shelter where Beth was still sleeping. So were most of the others in the shelter. I woke up Beth and packed up her sleeping bag. We were probably out by 8:30, but this time we were one of the first ones out.

The fun foliage for the day were ghost pipes. They were all over the hillside as we climbed Harmony Hill. The humidity was still with us this morning but the sun kept trying to peek through.

It was so close to being clear, but not quite. At the overlook we could see the outline of the buildings of Bennington and just made out the mountains behind it. But they were really just ghosts in the haze.

Ah well at least it wasn't raining. In fact except for the occasional drop from the trees ad the humidity it was much drier than yesterday. I did mention that it was wet yesterday, didn't I? Even the mud was less - well muddy. Very few mud wallows, more like mud slicks. Though I haven't yest decided whether I like to wallow or slip better.

The hike off Harmony Hill was draining. It is a very steep descent - lots of stone staircases. My knee was starting to complain. Towards the bottom I had to turn around and walk backwards. But I survived and I wasn't in agony at the bottom. Yeah!

Our next challenge was getting a ride into Bennington. Our luck was with us, and the first car to go by stopped for us. His name was Randy and he as a real character. He was an old hippy minister. He tied our packs to his roof with hemp rope then cleared out a small spot in the back for us. His van was stuffed with stuff. He'd been traveling around the country for 40 days and had his junk strewn everywhere. He let us off in the middle of Bennington and said a blessing over us before we left. He was such a riot.

Then it was off to find the post office and our mail drop.

On our way over I heard my name being called. It was Gray Jay and Right On a couple of the gal section hikers we met at Seth Warner Shelter. They were taking a zero day. Brown Dog was not with them however. Brown Dog was resting back at the hotel.

We all sorted through our mail drops on the lawn and Gray Jay and Right On wet to Friendly's. We went there after we were done but didn't see them. In fact we couldn't even get in the door it was so crowded. So we left and went a couple of blocks away for pizza. Yum.

Now I have to say the people in Bennington are wonderful. Everyone was super nice. The guy mowing the lawn in front of the PO told us he would throw out our trash and Pizza guy was sweet. You have to put this in perspective. We had been on the trail for three days. We hike in long pants and they were covered in mud and we don't bring changes of clothes so we smell. But not one person batted an eyelash in this pretty little town. And everyone smiled and gave us directions when we needed it.

We called the cab after lunch and were told that it would be 25 minutes, so we told them we would be at Friendly's. Beth had a huge ice cream cone. I just drooled (I'm lactose intolerant). The cab came in about 35 minutes.

Beth and I were ready to be back on the trail. It was hot in town. As we got back up into the mountains, the air cooled off.

The trail goes straight up at the start but leveled off a bit later.

We finally arrived at Melville Nauheim Shelter. Jerry Springer was in the shelter and Push & Shove were trying to dry out their tent. But trying to dry the tent was in vain as the rain let down at about 4. And it rained and it rained. We heard the weather report later that night and 2-3 inches were predicted with flash flooding. Ok so today was a bit wet too.

I decided to stay in the shelter. Dry seemed better than my tent. I can live with mice, but my sleeping bag is down and the condensation from my tent was starting to get my bag a little damp.

Fizz and Little Fizz cam in and set up on one of the upper bunks and then a couple of other AT thru hikers came in dripping.

I didn't want to cook in the rain so we pulled out the mashed potatoes and salmon, which can be made without heat.