Miles: 15; Elevation gained: 1,500 feet; LT mile reached: 73.8

This stretch is an exact replica of a practice , or “shakedown” hike as they say, that Chris and I did about a week before departure. Just to see we have the right gear, everything works, etc. Starts out with a nice little 500 foot climb to Styles Peak, where Cliff and I stealth camped in ’18 and which has a nice ledge looking mostly east with the town of Londonderry in the valley below and Magic Mountain in the distance. This morning, however, the sky was hazy and it’s a safe bet it was from what my Dad calls “the Hades that is 3,000 miles west.” It’s a hell of a thing, no? That our day in Vermont can be darkened by fires so far away? Can’t imagine what it’s like to be in the middle of it over there.

The hike then heads over Spruce Peak and down to Griffiths Lake, which has tent platforms and should have a caretaker, though we haven’t seen one yet, despite their tents still up. The only real vista is from Baker Peak, which you get to by climbing up the edges of flat sections of rock that look like they’ve been shoved diagonally into the mountain. From there we descended to the Big Branch River, one of those Vermont streams chocked full of SUV-sized boulders. The good news here is we were NOT stung by yellow jackets, as happened to both of us on the shakedown. The mild ascent up the road to Little Rock Pond takes about an hour, and 15 minutes in, it started raining and I’d forgotten my rain jacket at home. Never hiked so fast in my life, and totally lucked out as the rain stopped by the time we got going in the morning. Better to be lucky than good!