My Trails

9/17/12 – 1732 miles
Today was a fun day. It was great having Daryl along to hike with and enjoy each other in this quest of mine. I thought I would have to slow down but he keppt right along with me and even walked out ahead for a while. Daryl is in great shape from playing basketball but I imagine he will be sore tomorrow from a different kind of exercise.

Yesterday, I hiked 16 miles to a shelter 4 miles from where I would meet Daryl. I only met two other hikers all day – Bad Penny and Kleenex. Kleenex was slack-packing a section to a road where she was supposed to meet her sister. Her sister never made it to the meeting place because the road was washed out so Kleenex had to walk 20 miles to another road. I lent her my headlamp in case it got dark before she made it. So today Kleenex Daryl, and I all started at the same place.

Kleenex hiked on ahead of us but we caught her srveral times during the day. Tonight we are camped in the back yard of of a couple who love hikers. It is in the town of West zHartford, VT. There is a deli in the general store a few houses down and we ate ice cream and hamburgers there. Just before dark, the three of us played Yahtzee – a game I downloaded to my phone – and then got into our tents as it started to sprinkle.

I think Daryl may have trouble adjusting to the time change, I’m not sure how much sleep he will.get.tonight. Oh, we already picked out a trail name for him – Dead Eye.

8/15/12 – 1700 miles
Yesterday was a slow 9 miles to the Mountain Meadows Lodge. I say slow because my ankle has been sore the last few days and I walked carefully to the place where I would take a rest day. When I arrived here nobody was in the office so I sat and waited. There was a sign saying the owner was out on the grounds and would be back soon.

I received a text from Kleenex saying that she forgot to pick up her trekking pole where she got a ride to friends earlier that day. She asked if I would pick it up when I came through. I had already passed the spot where she left it but I went back anyway. It was only about a quarter mile, easy walking without a pack, over level ground around a lake. I wanted to find it before anyone took it – I know she would do the same for me. When I texted her that I had it, I know she was relieved. I put it in a safe place where she could pick it up the next day.

This place is nice. They give hikers a special rate that includes breakfast, hot tub, kayak use, and free laundry. Last night I bought the dinner, cordon blue chicken with salad and desert, at a very reasonable price.

Today I rode the bus into Rutland to see a movie and get some supplies. The rest of the time I have been resting. Tomorrow I will walk to a shelter about 4 miles from where I will meet Daryl for the start of our hike. It will be a short couple of days into Hanover where we will pick up more food for the start of the New Hampshire mountains. Sounds neat.

8/13/12 – 1692 miles
Less than 500 miles to go. I passed the sign on a closed section of trail. Irene did a number on some of the VT sections, but they are still passable, so hikers are ignoring the detours and using the trail. Usually, only the bridges are gone and some blowdowns are across the trail.

I’m camped tonight with a nice couple called the Troverts. They have a journal on trailjournals.com if you want to look. They hiked yesterday with Kleenex and today with me.

Gondola on Killington

This shelter is very near the top of Killington Mountain, a huge ski and mountain bike complex. Hikers get to ride the gondolas for free so I hiked a short side trail to the top and rode the gondola down and back up. At the bottom I bought a sandwich and ice cream bar. The views from Killington and the gondola were awesome. Tomorrow I may stay at a Mountain Meadows Lodge near Killington VT. I need a rest and shower.

8/11/12 – 1656 miles
I’m camped tonight beside a picturesque lake called Griffith Lake. It’s near Peru Peak Shelter for those who are following me on the AT map and near Danby, VT for everyone else. It has been raining for two days. We are blaming the SOBO’S because the weather has been fine until they started showing up. We think they brought it with them.

I’m not getting good cell service here in the Green Mountains of VT, that’s why updates have been slow. It’s also getting harder to resupply up here, too. I had to hitch six miles into Manchester Center to buy food today. Some places are easier than others to get rides – it only took about 15 minutes each way – but some towns are not friendly to hikers and fly on by.

I hiked 24 miles yesterday and only about 10 today after my resupply. It rained for most of both days but at least the rain has been warm to walk in. There’s nothing you can do but get soaked. If you wear rain gear, you just get sodden on the inside from sweat.

As I walked into the wood today, wearing freshly laundered shorts and shirt, it made me disgusted that after paying $5 to clean and dry them, the rain and sweat would waste my money. So this is what I did:
I took off my shirt and put it in my pack. I took off my shorts and put them in my pack. I made a mini-skirt out of two bandanas to sort of cover my underwear and hiked that way the rest of the day.I look at it this way: there is no dress code on AT and I’m tired of wasting money at the laundry.

8/8/12 – 1601 miles
I spent yesterday morning lounging around the motel, enjoying the time off from hiking. It was a short walk across the street where I could resupply and sample a couple of restaurants. The motel offered a continental breakfast but I was more interested in bacon and eggs than cereal. To top off the morning I walked a block to a Dunkin Donuts and secured a coffee and a half-dozen glazed rings to eat out on the patio.

The night before, I received a text from Kleenex sayings she would be in town the next afternoon and asked that I reserve her a room at the motel. I checked and found out that I got the last room for two days. It seems there was a conference of some sorts going on and everything in town was booked. I only had a single room but we were able to obtain a roll-a-way bed so she would have a place to sleep.

And so the trail once again brought us back together for a couple of days. We washed clothes together, ate dinner and breakfast together, and caught up on the Olympics on TV. This morning we took the motel shuttle back to the trail and climbed four miles to the VT border, paused for a picture, and continued on to Congdon Shelter for the night.