Day 143
Bromley mountain to Little Rock Pond Shelter
Miles Hiked: 16.8
AT Milage: 1672.7
Last night the ski patrol warming hut stayed incredibly warm. At one point I was able to sleep in just my sleeping bag liner! I woke up before sunrise and packed my bag. On my way out I saw the sunrise from the summit and got a quick picture of it before heading down the mountain and up the next one called “Stlyes Peak”.
It was really windy the whole time I was climbing the wooded and viewless summit, but I enjoyed my climb nonetheless. It felt like a perfect fall day with crisp cool air. The trail was still incredibly muddy from the rain two days ago. Stlyes Peak and Peru peak wilderness reminded me of hiking in the smokies. There was tons of moss, conifers, and deep brown and green hues in the soggy forrest.
I made it 7 miles to Peru Peak shelter before I had to sit down for a break. I ate my food, did stretches, and took care of my feet. After the break I went 5 more miles before stopping in at Long Branch shelter. Before long branch shelter, I climbed Baker peak which was an incredibly steep and slick rock face. I wish I would have gotten pictures but my phone was already tucked away deep in my pack because it started raining. There was a bad weather bypass but I chose to skip it. On top of the peak I could see dark troubling clouds coming straight at me which encouraged me to hike faster to the next shelter. While I was at the shelter, an expected thunderstorm rolled in and the sky turned black. I decided to wait out the storm and I was very happy I did. Lighting flashed right infront of the shelter and thunder boomed directly overhead, then it began to downpour. I sat at the shelter for over an hour before the sky was clear. While I was waiting an older gentleman named Chris, who I camped with the past two nights, came in soaking wet from the storm.
I still had five more miles left until my destination of little rock Pond shelter. I hiked two more miles straight downhill to another small shelter where I took a quick break waiting to see if it was going to storm again because I heard thunder in the distance. I crossed over a cool suspension bridge over a large river with tons of large rocks and rapids. It started to pour rain again after I left but I only had three more miles left now. I finally arrived at little Rock Pond around 4pm. The sun came out and warmed the air up a little bit. I set my stuff up at the shelter and then went to enjoy the rather large pond surrounded by mountains. I saw a loon and king Fisher both fishing on the quiet waters. There were lots of newts in the water swimming around. I was going to swim a little bit but it was really shallow and another lady I met at the shelter told me she saw leaches in the water. I decided not to risk it.
I camped with Chris who is heading back to his home in NYC in a few days, “June Bug” who is a retired lady from Ohio out for a 500 mile section, and Tina an older lady who is hiking the Long trail to Canada. It was a nice and enjoyable evening. I’m so glad I got to camp by the really pretty pond.
Happy Trails!
Des Hikes Thru 