Thursday June 6, 17.3mi/27.8km

Winturri shelter (1722.9) to West Hartford (1740.2) (VT)

It rained heavily all night, finally stopping at 6am. The other two started packing up at 6am, and departed at 7:45am…a very long time. We left by 8am, and had an easy morning of downhill.

Most of the views today were from a field or meadow.

At the first road crossing there was a farm market, so we stopped for a second breakfast and got ice cream, pie, and soda pop. Then, more grassy meadows!

It was a pretty uneventful morning, and I passed only one other day hiker and her dog. At the trailhead, the info board had some artwork from a local elementary school. These are always interesting to see. It’s also in French!

Of course, after crossing the road, there were more meadows.

And in the forest, many of the trees had tubing attached to them. I’m assuming these are sap collection lines, for maple syrup.

There were also many old rock walls nearby, probably marking old property lines.

We stopped for lunch at a great spot, on a gravely patch next to the trail, sitting in the sunlight. It was one of the best lunch spots in awhile. No sitting in a dark, dirty shelter today!

After a final stretch in a forest, we came to a small village and crossed the White River.

We stopped by the library to fill our water bottles, and the librarian explained that the house next door letss hikers stay and sleep in their finished garage. It was very early, and we had only done 17 miles, but it sounded nice. So, we wandered over and the owners invited us in.

Linda and Randy offered us a soda pop and some muffins, and we chatted for a bit.

Then, back up to the garage to watch some old VHS movies on an old school TV. Mrs Doubtfire, Hook, Jumanji, Back to the Future… most of the tapes were a Robin Williams movie, haha.

After removing a wayward bird that found its way inside, I went to bed. Tomorrow, we get to New Hampshire!