It was a cold night camping at Cooper Lodge. The cold wind blew all night long under the edges of the tarp and through the front opening. At first I could feel myself warming during pauses of the breeze, but eventually my body couldn’t keep up with the repeated blasts of cold air and I slept on the cold side of the edge of comfort.   Here is the tarp setup where I suffered through cold winds all night long on Killington. We had 14.1 miles to make Minerva Hinchey Shelter....

We planned on a 15 mile day, but ended up hiking 16 miles to Mountain Meadows Lodge. Turns out that Thundering Brook road crosses the trail twice and we had picked out the wrong one. What’s another mile when you are hiking 15 miles.   Today I was on stride. Felt good all day. Cooler weather and dry socks might have helped. Used some moleskin on some blisters from yesterday and feet did well. I went off trail twice. First, we lost the trail while leaving Winturi Shelter on the blue blaze. Using Guthook we bushwhacked back to the shelter trail. Not a good start. Next, I missed the trail when cruising the last half mile trail. Backtracked and Sheffy never missed me. Had fun climbing this trail ladder.   Stony Brook Shelter where we had a short lunch. I helped move this wedding trellis in return for a ride to the Deli store. Mountain Meadows Lodge: Hot showers, laundry, room, pizza delivery,  and breakfast. Thundering Brook Falls

The sun came out. Only 12 miles today, but they were tough. Hiked from Thistle Rock Shelter to Winturi Shelter. After 2 strenuous days, the sore muscles showed up on this shorter day. I also started getting blisters from the wet socks and steep descents. We are at Winturi Shelter. Piper showed up. Later after dark Shaker rolled in followed by Beast about 10 minutes later. Sheffield and I are tenting, rather I am tarping. A limb fell nearby last night. With better weather hopefully the limbs will stay on the trees tonight. Another salamander today. Winturi Shelter - I tarped outside the shelter.