Elmore Store

I made really good time on the 9.5 miles to Elmore Store. Since I had arranged for a pickup at a fixed hour, I had the opportunity for a leisurely lunch in a warm friendly environment at the store.

Kathy Miller, 5th generation owner of the store, set me up and brought me a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven - delicious.

Kathy, representing the Vermont and National Grocers Associations has testified before Congress and the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernanke) regarding credit card fees to small businesses. So cool.

In this historic year of catamount thru skiers, Kathy had also met Sam, who finished a few weeks ago - she had a picture of him at the Canadian border. I promised to send along a picture of me at the border as well.

Mount Mansfield from Elmore base

The 14 miles around Mt Elmore was easier than I expected, except for a few miles thru meadows the trail was well used. Although bitterly cold at the start, -9, it was a great day for skiing, nothing but blue sky all around.

The night before I met Steve at the Lost Nation Brew Pub. Steve could easily identify with my journey, he's climbed Rainier, McKinley, and the tallest peak in Antarctica - talk about adventure! At one point Steve asked, is your next challenge to ski hut to hit in Norway? I laughed and showed him an email I received just 2 days before from my Norwegian friend Ole inviting me to ski hut to hit in Norway in early April 😀.

I arranged for a ride back to my hotel from Sigh Searles, section 26 co-trail chief. Once again the timing worked out well, I just finished putting on my warm clothing when Sigh pulled up. Sigh is retired and teaches classic track skiing at Craftsbury. Sigh took a detour on the way back to the hotel to show me where the next section of trail had been recently re-routed and other skiers have had trouble finding their way.