Tumbles had quite the leg adventure last night, restless leg syndrome is an understatement. I thought I was the only one awoken by it until I heard Yeti say, "you good man?" We all started laughing. Tumbles has a tyvek mat, then like a 5 inch air mattress and a sleeping bag, not the quietest. Rob told us to call him around 7:30 and he would let us know when he would be here to get us, we called and he said 8:30; damn guess I should get up. We got packed up and ate breakfast and at 8:18 he was here, guess I won't be rubbing down my feet with Arnica. We all crammed in the van, Chip and I sharing the front seat. Spider wanted to stop to get re-supply food so we stopped at Price Chopper. Seems they partied quite hard last night and it's amazing they were all functioning still. We hung out in front of Price Chopper while they got food, and a few got coffee. Yeti cracked open a Busch and showed the town what hiker trash is all about. Once we were ready to head to the trail, Spider wanted to stop at a gas station for cigarettes...ok, this is getting a little ridiculous. Some of us need to get on the trail some time this morning to actually hike. Thankfully Rob caught on and said he would drop us off at the trail and then run Spider around. We got back to the school parking lot where we were picked up the day before and hiked on through the town. We even saw some great hospitality by a house near the trailhead that offered water to the thru-hikers. Man this normal pack business sucks! The guys walked on into the woods not to be seen again until Vermont (luckily that was only a few miles.) They stopped at the border to have lunch and was finished by the time I got there. I made a tuna and chip wrap and we had a little photo shoot with the signs. From left to right: Tumbles, Break Time, Me (with a full mouth), Triple P (Lynn), and Yeti. I love the state of Vermont so I wanted a photo with <3 VT. Break Time needs to work on his heart hands they look like a bat says Lynn, but I still enjoy the photo nonetheless. After hiking on, I was always in the back of the pack which I am used to now. Vermont is quite muddy and I know why it is called Vermud. Originally today we were only going to do like 7.4 miles to the shelter but we got there way early from all the slack packing so we stopped for a break with some more Southbounders. They told us of some decent stealth spots, and we gave them Rob's number for when they reached town. I tried to sit down on a tiny rock and fell straight on my back, that felt fabulous. I lay there for a minute or two before trying again. We planned to stealth at a pond a few miles up so we could hang out and go swimming, this was before we got there and noticed "pond" meant swamp in Vermont. We won't be camping here. We did break for a bit while Yeti sunbathed, and the other guys and Lynn got water. Our next option was a stealth on top of a little mountain that showed it had water in our book, perfect. I didn't get water since I still had .5 L and there would be water at camp. We sat and talked about food and recipes until we got hungry enough to push on to camp for dinner. It was about 1.5 miles or so to the spot and I had a second wind and wasn't too far behind Tumbles and Yeti. Once we got to camp, Tumbles and I set up our tents practically 5 inches apart to leave room for the other two tenters (it was a small stealth spot and Yeti hammocks.) We noticed no springs, or streams, or blue blazes of any sort. Yeti went about 300 yards North on the trail, nothing. I went down a little worn path in the back of the site, but it thinned out to nothing. Great, I have practically no water and need some for dinner. Tumbles asked if I could just eat what I have for lunch and then tomorrow eat my dinner for lunch, that's not really an option since a lot of the time my lunches and dinners and interchangeable and I was not doing peanut butter for dinner. I knew that the guys had some water and I made it known I just needed 2 cups for dinner but no one offered. This frustrated me since earlier in the day I had told them they could use my gas tonight since they were almost out. With no hesitation I said, no problem you can use my fuel it's practically full; and now I just need 2 cups and between the 3 of you no one offered? This water situation really perplexed me. I ran down the trail North and found nothing. Looks like I will be going back South. I left camp and backtracked running over the situation in my head over and over. I got to a non moving water source and for about 5 minutes looked up and down it to debate pumping from there and not going any further. I really didn't want to go all the way back to where they had filled up before, but I also didn't want to get water from a non moving source. I kept walking South. Yeti came up behind me and we talked briefly about how I was upset no one offered. He said he didn't hear me say I only needed 2 cups since he had 3L back at camp and was going to get water for the others. Ugh! We came up to a slow moving stream which was good enough for me, Yeti went back to the original source since they use drops to filter. I pumped water and headed back to camp. The others were all sitting around in a circle talking and snacking and I was still frustrated so I went right in my tent and made dinner. After eating, composing myself, and making tea; I came to join them while I ate my dessert and drank my tea. This is a great group and I really like hiking and talking with them. We sat and talked for awhile and then Yeti tried to start a fire, and then I rescued him. No we just resorted to some hand sanitizer and tissues and got it going. Everyone pulled up a seat around the fire and I sat and tended to it. The nights are really getting cool again which is very nice, but it may be time to bring back my down jacket! There was a persistent mouse that kept coming up near us and the fire until we turned on our headlamps and off it ran. After awhile Lynn and Tumbles called it a night, then Break Time, and eventually Yeti and I.
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