zero to stratton pond shelter

miles: 12.2 (10.8 + 1.4)

we decided to take a zero yesterday and get right back on trail. we had talked about sitting the week out and starting again on monday, but ultimately decided less time off trail was better.

we also decided that since we’re close enough to home we could self-support. we woke up early and dropped a car off at rt 2 in mass before driving back up to rt 11/30.

we were on trail shortly after 10 and quickly made it to spruce peak shelter, which was notable for the fact that it has a wood stove. would definitely be a cozy place to come in the winter (once COVID is over) of course assuming you could find or carry wood.

we carried on and made it up to prospect rock in time for lunch. a SOBO through hiker, “batgirl” was there with her partner, who had joined her for the morning. he had packed in a special lunch, and rags inadvertently named him “lunch camel”, which batgirl took to immediately.

as we were preparing to shoulder out packs two planes flew over at barely over treeline, freaking everyone out.

rags was pretty cranky today. it’s hard going home for a night, showering, sleeping in a soft bed, and then giving it all up for voluntary homelessness again. she also decided to swap out her shoes, as the barefoot merrells were a bit too narrow and causing some toe pain. unfortunately the shoes she chose, also merrells, were now giving her stabbing pain in the base of her feet, especially on flat surfaces like bog boards. despite that we still made pretty good time.

early afternoon brought us to the bridtover the winhall river.

we kept on hiking and made it to stratton pond. we decided to hike the extra .7 mile to the camping area. it was odd, there clearly used to be a trail all the way around the lake, but for some reason 1/4 of it was closed. the trail to the camping area went 3/4 the way around the lake rather than the short way. ugh.

when we got to the camping area things got worse. first of all, the camping area we could see on guthook was down part of the closed trail. the camping area we were at was horrible. it essentially looked like a road that folks had decided to tent on. it was hard, dirty, and uncared for. fires had been lit at the bases of trees. the privy was clearly an unmaintained afterthought. we hiked up and down the west side of the lake trying to figure out where we were supposed to be camping. eventually we decided it looked too bad and hiked an additional .7 mile back to the trail. rags’ and her feet were not amused.

we got to stratton pond shelter and realized that there are plenty of tent sites around. i hadn’t seen them last time i was here due to the torrential downpour from the hurricane. that being said, i still wouldn’t have set up my tent in that weather. by the time i was all set up and in the tent, i’d have soaked most of my gear.

there were some section hikers at the shelter as well as batgirl and “bb”, formerly named “loaner”, but then someone thought that wasn’t right and renamed her “badass babe” which became bb. batgirl had adopted bb as her trail daughter.

the weather was great and we all ended up at the lake together filtering water and taking in the last of the days rays. it was a strangely social occasion.

dinner was more socializing and then as usual, early to bed. tomorrow we’ll be summitting stratton mountain. it’s our last big mountain on the way home.