Day 146

First day on trail with my new pack and it’s a wet one! I only planned a 10.6 mile day because I wasn’t sure how much of the 5.6 miles out of town I’d have to do. It was my plan to put a thumb out and hitch a ride as everyone tells me it’s super easy. Even the people I met in town told me they pick up hikers all the time because they’re used to it and they know it’s tough for us. It’s definitely a hiker town and they have a lot of love. Well, because of the big rain cloud heading my way and possible thunderstorms, I decided to try to call the only real taxi guy in the town. He answered and said he could pick me up on 15 minutes and take me to trail. That helped a lot. I was happy to see the ski lift I’ve seen in so many other hiker’s video; the ski lift on Bromley Mountain. If it wasn’t such a short distance for the day, I would have loved to stay there. The ski patrol warning hut is left open in the summer for hikers to stay in. There’s a privy nearby and the warming hut keeps you out of the weather and has electrical outlets. Very nice! I just had to do more miles than that even if I was planning a short day to make sure my injured shoulder holds up okay. I also have to be careful as my immune system is compromised with the corticosteroid. For those reasons, I only hiked the 10.6 miles to Griffith Lake campground. It’s another one of the $5 campsites for the Green Mountain Club but if the caretaker comes by wanting to collect, I still have my receipt from Stratton Lake, which covers me for 7 days. The only camp spots here where you can put a tent are wooden platforms. I’m SO glad I picked up my platform anchors since I use a trekking pole tent that isn’t free standing so it must use guy lines to hold it up. The tent anchors work well as long as the boards on the platform are flush against each other or not too wide apart. I was able to make it work. Lastly, I’ll say my new pack is awesome. Osprey packs are a bit overkill with all the extra straps, loops for hanging things, etc, but I’m happy with the pack and even more that it’s under 3 lbs. I always thought of Osprey packs as the massive packs full of features and pockets that weigh 5+ lbs. That’s a lot of weight just for a pack no matter how comfortable it feels. Good for a weekend hike but for long distance, I’d prefer to save as much weight as possible while still having a pack that rides on your back well. This pack did amazingly well today and once I had all the straps adjusted and got into the hike, I didn’t really have to adjust anything again for the day. My shoulder inflammation is still there and I’m still feeling pain just while I lay here on my sleeping pad writing this but it’s not as bad as it was. I expect it to get better each day as I continue using the cream and take the corticosteroids. I feel like I should have pushed on. It sucks stopping and setting up your tent before 2pm with so much daytime left but I’m just going to take it easy a few days with the shoulder and the weather is so nasty right now, raining on the tent and pretty chilly, so I’m just going to relax under my quilt and rest up. I’ll do more miles tomorrow and see how I feel.