Less than 500

You want to talk about a slow day. I barely moved. I don't know why, but I was dragging today. 

It rained again. My new rainjacket worked quite well, so I was happy. I waited out a little of the weather in the shelter on top of killington mountain. Used to be a nice place, but graffiti covers it now. There was a crazy daredevil chipmunk in there, though. Ran right up to me. I guess someone had fed it in the past, but I wasn't about to share. 

HTK was staying in the same shelter as me again, we'd gone about 15 miles. He told me his mom was reading my blog, so I promised I'd tell her hi for him. "Hi HTK's Mom!"  It was an early day for me. 

There was this. 

The daredevil. 

Good walking and great cooking.

Relatively uneventful day. Saw a lot of pretty waterfalls. Trail was pretty smooth and dry, though at one point I stepped not a rock which shifted in the mud, splattering my leg with mud. Ran into an interesting guy named Whiskers. His name is rather self-explanatory. 

Hiked off and on with Hard-to-kill all day. We were pretty excited about a restaraunt, called the Whistle Stop which was right off the trail. But then we walked into the last shelter before it, and found out it closed at 3. Rather depressing. We met a couple named Dozer and Jackrabbit there, they were very friendly and gave us good info.  

I'd received a text on my phone the day before from some trail angels around Rutland (where we were) who'd offered to pick me up, feed me, let me use their shower, etc. I had no idea how they'd got my phone number, but I asked if they could give me and HTK a ride into town for dinner. 

Plans Too Much picked us up, and drove us to his place, where Karthryn had cooked pot roast. We had a great dinner with them and a great conversation. Turns out Machine gave them my number, as Plans was a vet and they like to help veterans out. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to bring Mrs. Sparkles up here to visit sometime. 

Plans drove us back out to the trailhead and we hiked one of the steepest sections yet into the next shelter. It was just a mile, but rough. We stumbled into the shelter after dark, but it was a large one and there was only one guy there, a SOBO section hiker named Newton. 

Section hiker whiskers. 

Rock sculptures

Hard-to-kill with his first ever rock "sculpture." He was very proud. 

HTK at dusk. 

The 5th of July.

So Jeff at the Green Mountain House will give a ride to either town or to the trailhead. Gear went to the trail, but I needed resupply so I opted for town. But first, I had a great breakfast. I had a bowl of Frosted Flakes, then finished off my pint of Ben and Jerry's, and then ate the spinakopita from last night's dinner, and then went to town. Ice cream for breakfast. I really hope I can keep this tradition when I get back to reality. 

Really liked Manchester Center, though I think a lot of my appreciation came from the beautiful weather. I resupplied on food, then checked out the outfitters. It was an EMS. I was wanting some new rain gear, if I could find something cheap or relatively so. No luck though. So I bought some Seamgrip to try and fix my poncho. As I was leaving there, I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. "Is this Midnight Sparkle?" "Yeah.." "It's Backpack! I heard you were in Manchester! So am I." So that was awesome. He was going by Coconut now, but he and Spice Kit (formerly Boots) were zeroing in town. 

Unfortunately Spice Kit was under the weather, which was why they were staying in town, so Coconut came out to meet me for lunch alone. He looked great. Like, lost 80 pounds great, which he had. I didn't think he'd had that much excess on him, but he was definitely skinny now. We talked for quite a while, swapping stories and exchanging info about people we knew. I was very tempted to stay in town another night to hang out with them. But I figured I needed to move on. 

As I was leaving, I heard some extremely loud music, which piqued my interest. There was apparently a new building with stores trying to draw attention. It worked on me. They had a mime! I had to get a picture. And then I figured I'd check out the store. Bought an inexpensive rain jacket. So that was exciting. 

Then on my way out of town, I came across a Ben and Jerry's. An actual Ben and Jerry's ice cream stand. Never seen one before, so I had to stop. I mean, I would have stopped no matter what type of ice cream it was. Of course I got a milkshake. So wonderful. Someone (I think it was Gear) said the other day, "When people ask me what I gained from the trail, I'll tell them 'diabetes.'"

Then I hitch hiked out. Got a pretty quick ride from a lady who told me I was the first thru-hiker she'd seen this year. She knew where the trailhead was, which was good because I didn't have a clue. 

The hike today was very lovely. Went up to a ski lift. Several people I know had slept on the gondola benches, swinging in the breeze. I thought that sounded great, but I needed to cover more miles. So I pushed on. Eventually I hit the top of Baker's Peak, right as it was starting to get dark. So I cowboy camped on the peak, in a little wooded section out of the wind. Pretty great day. 

Coconut! Been trying to catch this guy for months. 

The mime! Who sees a mime while hiking the trail? This guy. 

Windy up by the ski lift. 

Bakers Peak at dusk. 

An almost uneventful day.

Have I told you guys enough about how great an experience we had with the Catamount Motel? This morning just continued it. They had Dunkin Donuts and coffee for us. Just all around pleasant people to hang out with. If we hadn't made reservations at the Green Mountain House for the Fourth, we might have stayed another day. 

But we did, so back to the trail we go. At the trailhead met another hiker, Hikermonkey. Also ran into PG14 and Mr. Jingles. Played leapfrog with the two of them all day. Trail was pretty good. A little overgrown for my taste, but not too bad. Very muggy though. 

The skies were threatening Gear and I all afternoon, and when we were about a mile or two from the shelter we were planning on staying, they opened up. Gear put his poncho on, but mine had sprung a leak and was pretty much useless, so I just got drenched. Waded through a river for that last section. 

When we got to the shelter, I was saddened to see a bunch of people inside. I like my tent, but I much prefer to stay in a shelter when it's raining. Most of the people inside, however, were actually tenting. Some were just hanging out and cooking in the shelter. Three Long Trail hikers were there, plus PG 14 (who was hammocking) and Mr. Jingles, who, along with two section hikers, was staying in the shelter. The section hikers were One Ten and Tipsy. 

The shelter leaked, and was crowded because the LT hikers left all their gear in the shelter despite tenting. The shelter was called Story Spring Shelter, and PG14 said that the spring it was named for was the roof. I thought it was funny. 

The Green Mountains. 

I may or may not have crossed this bridge. 

Selfie in a fire tower. 

4th of July

It was still raining this morning. Sigh. Cold and rainy. It's always hard to start when the weather is like that. My bed was warm, and more importantly dry. I knew my clothes wouldn't be dry because of the humidity, and I was dreading putting on wet clothes. But I eventually forced myself to do so, and hit the trail a little before 0730. 

Kind of sorta had to make some miles. Twenty-one, because we had reservations at the Green Mountain House. I had no idea how I was gonna get there from the trailhead, but I figured something would work out. 

One Ten and Tipsy had reservations there also. Gear took off pretty early, and then they did. I caught up with the two of them fairly quick, and talked with them a while. They're pretty hardcore section hikers, backpacking almost every weekend. I think they told me 40 weekends last year were backpacking. They're much more hardcore than I am. Twenty-one miles a day as a section-hiker? Straight beasting. 

It was another good hiking day, except there was no sun. Mist and fog. Of course today I saw the view that was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail. Like McAfee's Knob, just mist and fog. C'est la vie. 

Ran into HTK again, and he suggested I check out Prospect Rock, which I'd planned on skipping, particularly with how depressing the Benton Mackaye spot had been. So I walked down to it, and ran into a group of four day hikers from NY. 

Normally, when I come across a group of people, one or two sort of act like the spokesperson for the group. The others usually let them take the lead. Not this group. They were all invested in the conversation, and were all four exceptionally interesting. I was in interesting people overload. My head was bouncing around trying to engage them all. I wondered if that's what living in NYC is like. I could have spent an hour talking to any one of them, but time is always limited. 

I made it to the trail head with plenty of time, and ran into One Ten and Tipsy there. They had passed me while I was taking a break at one of the shelters, and One Ten told me "You're really hiking your own hike!"  I took it as a compliment. They had their car, and were gracious enough to allow me to ride with them to the Green Mountain House. I was thoroughly impressed with how far and how quickly they went today, especially considering how nasty and wet it was. 

The Green Mountain House is awesome. A lovely two story house that is just that, a house. The owner maintains it as a hostel, but it's a really lovely home. He also had all the free Cokes you could want, breakfast supplies (cereal and milk!), and a free pint of Ben and Jerry's. For one of the least expensive rates I've seen on the trail. Definitely good value, and I've been told that he doesn't make any profit, which I believe. 

Gear, One Ten, Tipsy, and Squatch were there. Squatch is the guy making documentaries about the AT, and he interviewed me and Gear for a while. He's fun to hang out with. 

It was the Fourth of July, of course. Gear had some sparklers, but I kind of thought it would be too depressing to light them so I ordered Greek food instead. It was okay. Should have got the pizza, though the salad was good. 

So, being Independence Day and all, I figure I'll appeal to your patriotism. The Hike for Heroes program has a worthwhile objective. I don't get anything from these guys or from the money raised, so I have no reason to blow smoke. I don't even get a t-shirt. So, you know, if you value freedom and all that, it would be pretty cool if you helped out those guys still maintaining it. 'Merica. 

The view that inspired Benton Mackaye to create the Appalachian Trail. I would have gone home. 

HTK at the tower 

Pretty ponds in Vermont. 

Me at Prospect Rock. 

Interesting New Yorkers. 

Tipsy and One Ten. 

Vermont

I've heard or read several times over the past few days that Vermont is a lot of people's favorite part of the trail. I'm only fifteen miles in so far, so I'm going to reserve judgement, but there's definitely a lot of steepness and mud. I've been hearing that they're very into letting the trail be natural here, which means they don't clear tree falls, don't cut back vegetation, and apparently don't reblaze the trail. Sounds frustrating. The people are great so far, though. 

Hard-to-kill was indeed at the same shelter as us last night, in his tent. It never did rain last night. We took off around 0730, me, Gear, and HTK. Passed the 1600 mile mark today. Stopped for lunch in a shelter, and I definitely dozed off for about half an hour. The humidity, mud, and heat were taking it out of us. 

Started hiking again, but I let Gear and HTK go on ahead. I was listening to a sermon I'd downloaded, and was walking a little slower than them. When I came to the road into Bennington, the heavens were just starting to open up. It was pouring. I was just glad it had waited until I got off the steep stone steps leading down the hill. 

I heard yelling from the parking lot, and there was Gear at a car waving at me. I ran over, and there was a trail angel there. He gave me a drink, and Gear told me they'd been talking about the Catamount Motel, a place with very reasonable rates and very hiker friendly. I'd been hearing about this place for a while, but we'd only done a little over 11 miles today so I wanted to go on. Then lightning flashed and the heavy downpour started flying sideways, so I jumped in the truck and said let's go. 

I'm easily bought, I admit. But these guys were great to us. The room is clean, amenities are nice, free ride to and from trail, but mostly I loved that they treated us like family here. The managers acted like we were guests in their own home, and they were wonderful hosts. We were even invited to a steamed clam and lobster dinner. They had brought live lobsters and clams from the coast. This was my first experience with eating a lobster that was staring at me, but I was given a tutorial. I only dropped one claw on the floor. Ate it anyway. It was really good, and I stuffed myself on the overlarge crawdads. Didn't particularly care for the clams. They were okay, but there was a little too much grit/sand for my taste. 

Also met the other guys hiking for Hike for Heroes. They are staying at the same place. With a big truck. They had no idea who I was, which, considering how few the funds are that I've raised, is fair enough. They are now doing a flip flop, and heading south. Only one of them is still actually hiking, the other has become the support team. Sigh. Would be nice. They are holing up for a few days due to an injury. Like them on Facebook, if you get the chance. 

I've been ridiculously blessed on this trip. So many great experiences.  Have to make some hard miles tomorrow if we want to make our reservations at the Green Mountain House for the 4th of July.  As always, check out my Hike for Heroes link to the right of this page. 

Part of the lobster feast. 

This stuff was awesome!  

Williamstown.

We got up early, anyway. The opportunity to leave and make some miles today was there...but we didn't take it. Had a pretty good breakfast at the hotel, and checked the weather. It was going to be 90 degrees today. That is rather unpleasantly warm, and no one was really anxious to get on the trail and face that. Particularly with the humidity. 

So while debating, we decided to go to the Dunkin Donuts next door. I had this odd idea about getting back on the horse that threw me. Gear was packing up, and Alchemist and Monty Lou were going to the library, so I went by myself until Gear finished up and came over. I brought my pack in and chose an empty table next to an outlet. 

When I set my pack down two older gentlemen asked me about hiking, and we struck up a conversation. One of the guys had an interest in hiking the trail, but was worried because he didn't have any experience. So I (and Gear when he came in) tried to give him information, answering any questions they had. They were very entertaining to talk to. 

Ted, the marathon runner, bought us coffee. Looking at the two of them I briefly considered getting black coffee, no cream or sugar, because they seemed like that kind of gentleman. But I figured I needed the calories, plus it was too hot to drink hot coffee so I got an iced something or other with ridiculous amounts of sugar and milk. Geared Up got a Coolata. Better man than I. Second day in a row I wished I had that gift card that was given me in Vernon. 

Now I think of if, I've had good luck in DDs. In Hamburg, the guy gave me a donut because he thought I was homeless, in Vernon I got the gift card, and today the free coffee, and then a ride the couple miles to the library. We really enjoyed talking to those gentlemen. 

Williamstown is a very pretty town. There is a college there, and there are some exceptionally attractive buildings there. If I knew anything about architecture I'd spout some of it off, but basically the buildings were old and pretty. There were a couple of art museums, a theater, and a lot of other cultural attractions. But mostly the people were super friendly. 

The library was awesome to us. Apparently this one had been voted best trail side library for three years. I believe it. Just spending the day hanging out in a library was one of the trail events that I had really wanted to take part in, and I'm glad I finally got the chance.  There was an attached museum about the history of Williamstown, which I visited. I now know more about the history and founding of Williamstown than I ever expected to. 

Geared Up spent the time reading the new Stephen King book and arguing with people on Facebook about ultralight hiking. He's an ultralight proponent, carrying about 12 pounds total with him. Some people were saying ridiculous things such as he would be the cause of deaths or would need to be rescued due to his minimalist gear, which is mildly amusing since he thru-hiked the PCT last year and is now nearly 1600 miles into the AT. Good news, though, that a reporter wants to interview him about his ultralight experiences. Maybe he'll get a cover shot. 

After hanging out there for several hours, we went to get food. Oh, and we ran into Monologue at the library. He'd spent the night sleeping in the bushes on campus, and then this morning somehow got a date. He was pretty nervous about it. Anyway, we went to some Thai restaraunt. Very good. I don't remember what my dish was called, but I stuffed myself and it was great. 

Then the World Cup was on, and we half-heartedly attempted to find a place to watch the game. I bought a pair of socks in one of the stores, and we went to a market. The store had only just opened, and we talked with the owner a while. She owned a catering business first, and told us stories of Bradley Cooper hanging out when he was in town for a theater run. Chris Pine was going to be starring this year. 

Eventually we left and headed back to the trail, after the World Cup match. I gave hitching another try, and wonder of wonders, someone stopped. It was an Iraqi war vet, infantry guy. Talked with him while he drove us back to the trail head. 

We were getting started at something like  1830. Kind of a late start, but we beat the heat, I guess. Gear and I did 7 or 8 miles to a shelter, but during that time we crossed into Vermont!  Mud is apparently what we are to expect. Three states to go. Also, we have less than 600 miles to go. We are sharing the shelter with two guys doing the Long Trail, a 300 mile trail that shares part of the AT. There are a couple of tents out there, but I think it's going to rain, so shelter for me. Hard to Kill might be out there. 

I took like no pictures today, but this is the Vermont sign. Yay.