Appalachian Trail (day 70) - Black Brook to Manchester / mile 1658

"It was here, in 1909, that James Taylor conceived of the idea of a "Long Trail" extending from Massachusets to Canada. Then, in 1921, Benton MacKaye further expanded that concept into a footpath linking scenic ridges of the entire Appalachian range - and the Appalachian Trail was born." Stratton Mountain Information Board

I decided to take it easy today but still had a productive day.

Morning started with a climb to the Stratton Mountain Fire Tower, it was a steady push with no difficult sections other than mud hopping, Vermont's special it seemed. I got to the top before midday and to my surprise the tower was opened, I climbed it and since it was a sunny day the view was spectacular! A panoramic outlook of the Appalachian range, it was almost shocking to finally see it from above, so far we just had few side snippets every now and then and only when the weather was good enough.

Trail was all downhill from here, I've changed my initial plans and decided to stay in town tonight. I needed a morale booster and at this point I was running ahead of schedule anyway. I called Jeff the owner of Green Mountain Hostel in Manchester and booked a bunk bed for the night.

Last 8 miles of the trail before town were super cruisy and I've arrived at the road leading to Manchester at 1:30 PM, it was almost like having a nero. What followed was the fastest hitchhike I had on AT, and probably the third fastest ever. I stuck my thumb up and the third car stoped in front of me ten seconds later. Ben has just finished his work setting up event tents for the day and picked me up on his way home. He was an avid traveller, spending half of year working and half travelling across Europe, Americas and many tropical countries. This year he was going to Hawaii and South Africa with his wife.

Once in Manchester, I went to the outfitters and bought a new pair of darn tough socks as the thick cotton ones I've picked up from the hiker box after my first pair got holes, would not dry and I got sick of them. Lady at the counter has recommended trying Maple Creemees, a type of ice-cream made only in Vermont, I went across the street and bought one for 8$, it was quite tasty indeed!

After that I visited Price Chopper supermarket and topped up my provisions, mainly snacks of course. Then I called Jeff and asked him to pick me up as the hostel was located away from the center. He turned up few minutes later and took me to what ended up being the most organized hostel I've seen on AT so far. Beds were bunkless to start with, shower and laundry included in price. First soda was free and the first Ben & Jerry's ice cream costed 1$. Hiker box had a lot of useful things as well and I upgraded both of my hiking poles (again). Jeff was shuttling people back to trail in the morning and there was "make it yourself" breakfast also included in price. For 55$ per night in Vermont it was an absolute bargain.

There were three other hikers staying here tonight, Iceman and Cap were l going north from Georgia like myself and Yukon was flip flopping from Harper's Ferry. I did all my usual chores, performed a small pack shake down and left few things I wasn't using like gas canister transfer tool and those damn thick wool socks in the hiker box. Finally I had a leftover cheese pizza from the fridge for dinner (thanks Kevin, whoever you are!)

It was a great day overall.