Category: 2018 Appalachian Trail

Oh what a night. Late December back in ‘63…I was only 2 1/2 months old and my dad would pace the house checking on everyone every couple of minutes whenever there was a thunderstorm. He was scared of storms (not to the degree that Bunny is) and couldn’t sit still during a storm. As a result, my sister, brother, and I all grew to feel very secure in storms knowing that my dad was walking around keeping an eye on us all through the storm. I still love storms and sleep the deepest sleeps during a thunderstorm. That is, if I drug Bunny. 

It stormed last night. We had lightening, thunder, and heavy rain. Bunny kept ducking every time there was a lightening flash. Once we got in the room, I cranked the AC so we couldn’t hear anything outside and got her to take a Benadryl so I could enjoy the storm and she could get some sleep. The forecast called for rain all morning, so we weren’t in a hurry to get up. 

Bear (raarr) woke up at 5:30 as usual (as relayed to us by Sassy). They were already done eating breakfast by the time we headed down there at 8:30. Compass and Tiger were taking a zero at the motel yesterday but we hadn’t seen them until breakfast. Initially, I thought Compass hated us but today he was friendly and talkative. This is his second thru-hike. His first was 15 years ago.

After breakfast, Bear (raarr) talked the owner of the motel into driving us into town since the bus doesn’t run on weekends. This is a new owner that has only had the place for four months and he is in the process of renovating the place. He just put a new roof on last week and is now working on the insides. They are a nice Indian family living on site. I’d highly recommend this motel, and not just to hikers. 

We got dropped off in downtown Hanover.  It was only a little after 10 so none of the lunch spots were open. We found a place called “Lou’s” and went to check it out. There was a long line and we were going to move on, but a local man told us the story of Lou. He fought in WWII and landed at Normandy. He swore if he made it home alive, he would never leave town again. He did survive and came back to start a restaurant which he worked at 7 days a week for 35 years until the residents of town made him take his wife on a vacation. Lou’s is listed in the top 39 college eating experiences (Dartmouth is here in Hanover). It’s been featured in several national newspapers. After hearing this story, we had to stay. We’re all glad we did.  

It was noon before we were done eating. I wanted to stop and get our free slice of pizza, but everyone was whining about how much they had eaten and how they were never going to eat again.  The usual lies after a big meal. I could have handled a slice of pizza since I ate sensible (just a half order of biscuits and gravy, some home fries, a couple of sausage patties, 3 slices of Bear’s (raarr) toast, a few bites of Bunny’s blueberry/peach pie, and a half dozen cups of coffee). I don’t know why my stomach started hurting after I had a snack this afternoon. 

Eating a large meal and then hiking uphill seems to have a universally similar effect on all of us. We Brown blazed it to Velvet Rocks Shelter just a little over a mile out of town. While we were waiting for everyone to have a chance to defile the privy, a National Forrest Ranger, John, stopped in to check on things. He asked how our hike was going. Bear (raarr) asked him if he had hiked the AT. John said he grew up in NH and had hiked the Whites multiple times and had no desire to see any more of the AT as it would surely be a letdown. His dream is to hike the PCT. 

There was only one significant climb today and that was immediately after we left the shelter. We climbed up to Velvet Rocks which is a popular day hike from Hanover, but saw only another nobo hiker. Newt started a little more than a month after we did so we don’t feel too bad about our location on the trail. The DOC (Dartmouth Outdoor Club) maintains this section of trail. They have put in a rope on a steep section for day hikers to pull themselves up with. We are not sissy day hikers that need a rope, we are thru-hikers that can handle anything the trail throws at us. I made sure to shame everyone into not touching the rope (mostly because I was straddling it as I was climbing up and if they had used it, I would be talking soprano for a while). 

We stopped for a snack around 3. Bear (raarr) has to have a pop tart every day or…(actually, I don’t know what the “or” consists of because he always gets his pop tart). I had a protein bar.  That was the final straw for my stomach. It had already been gurgling quite a bit (I’m pretty sure it was the coffee) but now it started off gassing in climate changing dimensions. I dropped to the back of the group to not get yelled at by Bunny (according to her, my farts are always gross while her farts are always cute and amusing—I’ve been in a tent with her for 6 months straight, they are not cute and border on life threatening).  My stomach was cramping so bad, it caused me to walk funny which, in turn, got my right Achilles irritated. 

I spent the final two miles doubled over, hobbling to keep pressure off my right foot, and farting every other step (even I will admit they were not cute, harmless ones).  These were the little suckers that grab on to the inseam of your pants and won’t let go. They stayed with me for about 50 yards after initial release. On a pleasant side note, I was not bothered by any flying insects today. 

For the third time in the last 7 days, I was the weak link and last one to camp. At this point on the trail, Bunny is carrying me (I just wish she’d carry some of the food instead).  We still got camp set up and were eating before 7 which is our normal arrival time. We had some Indian food for supper which helped to calm my stomach. The only hitch tonight was my pitiful bear bag. I hung it right next to Sassy and Bear’s (raarr) tent in the hopes that they would scare away any intruders. Bear (raarr) should be able to handle letting his friends know that the food is already earmarked for another one of their kind. 

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Breakfast is included at the hotel so that was what we had. It was decent but only carbs. After breakfast, we did an inventory of our food and then caught the free bus to town.  Our first destination was the Outfitter to pick up several packages we had mailed there including Bunny’s glasses which we ended up paying more money in shipping that what they had cost to buy new. 

Now that I was wore down from the bus ride and Outfitter visit, I was drug, against my will, all the way across town to the Co-op to buy food for the next few days. We had to walk right by the pizza place that gives free slices to thru-hikers, but we couldn’t stop. After we got our food, we had to retrace our steps back to where we had started, once again passing up free pizza, on the way to lunch at Molly’s. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a relaxing food haze until it was time to eat again. We napped and watched TV to pass our recovery time. We needed to make contact with Peter and Marcia to see how their abode hunting was going and if they’ll be able to join us any on the trail. They have had success and might have time to join us for some day hiking after the first of the month. 

Like I said before, we really enjoyed our time in Hanover. The owner of the motel offered to come pick us up in town if we stayed out later than the bus ran (they stop at 6 and we were already napping by 3). Today was what a day off was supposed to be—total relaxation. I can hardly wait until our next day off in four days. 

EFG

Thistle Hill Shelter has a famous and popular privy from the old Cloudland Shelter. The Cloudland Shelter burned down but everyone rallied to save the privy and relocate it to the new shelter on the other side of the mountain.  It’s a privy with a view; 360 degrees of view, in fact. I would like to assure the reader that at no time was there any danger of me seeing Bear’s ass in the following photos. 

Rich had decided last night that he was going to call it a day at West Hartford, VT.  His claim was that he can’t hike fast enough to keep up with us.  It was an alleged 6 miles of easy hiking to town that was very reminiscent of the roller coaster in VA.  It was taking us longer than we thought it would. When we stopped for a break near 11, Rich realized how late it was getting. He had arranged for an Uber to meet him at 12:00. It turns out Rich can keep up and even outpace the four of us when he thinks he might be late for his ride and have to spend another day hiking. He was a dot to us. 

West Hartford is just on the other side of the White River. A bunch of sobos had told us we could jump off the bridge and swim to a nice sandy beach downriver. Sounds like a plan. Bear, and I were almost down to our skivvies while we were waiting for a one armed man to jump (no, he didn’t kill one of our wives). Sassy and Bunny got scared and refused to jump, so we decided to skip it to save them from shame. I guess I may have overstated my fear of Bunny and Sassy turning into Thelma and Louise if they won’t even jump off a bridge with a near 100% chance of survival.

We did catch up with Rich at the trail magic house for a soda and to say goodbye.  This is another trail angel that keeps sodas, cookies, and fruit on the porch for hikers. We all stuck around until Rich’s ride showed up. I’m continually amazed at all the wonderful people we have met along our journey since we have started hiking last year. To think that we met Rich and Laura in passing last year and now we have some new friends in exotic New Jersey. 

We still had one more big climb to get out of VT.  To know that we were putting an end to Vermud energized us. We ended up in Norwich with magic along road.  The residents of town set out treats for hikers at the end of their drives. We had cokes, candy, fresh made banana bread, cookies, and fruit as we walked our final mile in VT. Had this been at other end of state…

Ironically, the Connecticut River separates VT from NH. The river is shared between the two states meaning we crossed the state line and left our 12th state and entered Hanover, NH in the middle of the river.  Unlike the Kennebec River in Maine, this one has a bridge so no canoe ride was required to get across.  I have clear recollections of having been here a couple years ago with Peter and Marcia, but they assured me we didn’t come here. Clearly, Bunny and they are starting to lose their memory. 

Hanover was immediately friendly to us.  Everyone we met offered congratulations for making it this far.  This is a very hiker friendly town with a list of trail angels willing to help out hikers as they arrive.  We chose to have dinner at the Skinny Pancake and asked for a table off to the side because we were very aware of our smells.  Walking down Main Street, we could smell the clean of people which emphasized our smells to ourselves. Even so, no Good Samaritans came over and told us how bad we smelled like the public minded man in Cheshire, MA. Instead, people came to our table and wished us luck on our journey.  Hanover/Norwich is now at the top of my list. 

Rather than bother a trail angel, we just called an Uber to get to the motel.  There are new owners at the Sunset Motor Lodge and they are in the process of renovating the place.  He offered to do our laundry as soon as we could get it to him.  We showered, gave our dirty clothes to Bear (he is setting a bad example and doing the laundry), and called it a day.  I didn’t even surf the channels looking for a rerun of Big Bang Theory. 

EFG

Bear started rolling early this morning, but he ended up being the last one ready. It wasn’t entirely his fault, though…he lost his socks.  He had them in his hands as late as breakfast but they just disappeared. We searched the entire cabin but they were nowhere to be found. As a last resort, he asked Sassy to check her pack. 

For the last couple of weeks, people have been complaining of lost items wherever we have stayed. We thought nothing of it—not all hikers are as organized as we are. Sassy dumped her pack out for Bear to search, but she tried to hide one bag from him. She claimed it was “her clothes bag filled with untouchables.” When he dumped it, Sassy was had.  She not only had his missing socks, but several other items people had recently “misplaced.”  

I have worked hard this past year to keep Bunny from returning to her kleptomania. We do not go to buffets anymore just to avoid the temptation of Bunny stuffing her pockets full of goods. I’m afraid now that Sassy and Bunny could very easily turn into Thelma and Louise. Bear and I have to sleep with an open eye from here on out, not only for our protection, but for the protection of everyone we come in contact. No matter what, we cannot let the two of them be together in the front seat of any vehicle. 

All of this nearly scared the crap out of me, so we brown blazed it to Wintturi Shelter.  I’ll carry water to a dry camp, but I will not dig a hole if there is a privy within 5 miles. We got to the shelter and who did we find? Our concentration camp buddy, Rich. He had hiked in 4 miles before dark last evening trying to make it up to The Lookout, but had run out of light. 

Rich was a bit apprehensive about hiking with seasoned thru-hikers. Truth of the matter, so are we.  That’s why we hike with Bear and Sassy. They are “lashers” that are just in the process of getting their seasoned legs. In a few more weeks, they’ll have them and then Bunny will have to make the decision of hiking with a couple that are fun to be with, or continue hiking with me…Easily Forgotten. They often count off and stop after 3—I wonder who she’ll choose. 

We passed some sobos who gave us news of farm stand ahead.  We hadn’t been paying close attention to the maps the last few days and had overlooked this place. The 4, née 5 of us (even I forget me) all agreed to stop in for lunch. Rich bought some fruit and a blueberry/peach pie for all of us to share. Bunny and I bought stuff to make sandwiches, chips, a big pickle, drinks, and a couple of pints of ice cream. Bear and Sassy just got a couple of drinks and ice cream. 

Rich has a bigger problem than walking with thru-hikers—he tried to eat like a thru-hiker.  After he had less than 1/4 of the pie he had bought, he disappeared into a sugar buzz that kept him frozen for a good 10 minutes. I considered slapping him to get him back, but he returned on his own. After my sandwich, chips, 2 cokes, and 1/4 pie, I went back in to get my pint of ice cream I had reserved for dessert. Sugar is normally the enemy, but out here, it’s more of a puppy dog. We need calories to keep moving. 

Rich went ahead of us after lunch because we had a nice climb. The 1200’ gave us a chance to burn off all the excess sugar. I really sweat it out.  Sadly, more than sweat came out of me as my lactose intolerance seems to be getting worse. Rich blew ahead of us. He has no worries about keeping up with us. It took us that uphill, a decline, and another small climb of 600’ before we caught up to him again.

We all hiked together and talked with Rich about his experience on the PCT, family life, his job, and just getting to know each other. It’s pretty amazing the amount of effort he spent to catch up with us to hike for a couple of days.  With recent heavy rains, his flights got delayed a day getting back to Newark and his youngest son is moving to college this weekend so his time with us is short. We met Rich and his wife, Laura, in Munich last year.  We only got to spend about 12 hours together in Dachau and then a beer garden afterwards absorbing what we had just seen. We are very honored that he has put the effort into coming out to see us again.

A couple of former thru-hikers have bought a house close to the trail and make their back porch available to current hikers. They close at 4, so we ran ahead to get there in time to have another cold drink and snack. There was a little confusion as to the which road crossing it was, so we lost Rich when he stopped to get water. We caught back up with him about a half hour later, but he didn’t get any more sugary treats. 

We came to a field and this time it was Sassy’s turn to crash. She doesn’t normally drink real Cokes and with everything else she has had today, it caught up with her. She had given me some 800mg ibuprofen with something else in it to relieve stomach pain, so I was feeling great. I’m not used to feeling good so late in the day so Bunny and I raced to shelter. That’s right, Bunny and I raced ahead. 

Some say it’s not right to perform psychological experiments on someone without their knowledge, especially not your spouse. I’ve been trying one on Bunny for a few days with great results. Bear found a setting in Guthook that changes the way maps are displayed. I have adjusted her maps so they appear more level.  I always tell Bunny to look at the numbers and not just the display (which she doesn’t do).  Now that the maps look flatter, Bunny is racing up and down the hills.  The rest of us can’t keep up with her. I was going to tell her what I had done, but after seeing the results, I may wait until after Katahdin. 

Bunny and I got into the shelter first and picked a spot big enough for 3 tents. When Rich got in, he decided to stay in the shelter.  Sassy was not feeling well at all and just ate a cracker and went down for the night.  Bunny and I went to the shelter to eat with Rich and talk about plans for tomorrow. By the time we got supper done and hung the bear bags, it was starting to rain.  We had a great day of hiking with Rich.

EFG

Nature was on our side last night. It rained like hell all night. Bunny was drugged so I could enjoy it and get some peaceful sleep. She woke up at 5 and started worrying like she is prone to do—Is it going to stop raining today? I don’t know, go to sleep. Are we going to make it in time? I don’t know, go to sleep. Will our boots be dry under the bench? They’ll be fine, go to sleep. But the last one got me wondering…I couldn’t remember how big the overhang was. 

We had agreed to meet for breakfast at 7. It wasn’t a long walk downstairs so I didn’t start getting ready until 6:58.  Bunny was frantic that I was still in bed, yet I still made it on time and even beat her to the table. Bear was there with the bad news—our boots were soaked. Mine were the only ones that didn’t have standing water in them because I had stuffed my socks in them. It was still raining. We discussed what we should do over breakfast. I voted for a zero being the only sensible one in the group. We could sleep all day, watch movies, get in the hot tub, let the rain pass, and dry out our stuff. I was voted down 3-1. 

Bear talked to the owner and told him our boot saga.  We were thinking the response would be along the lines of “oh well, sucks to be you.  Want to stay another night? I’ll need your credit card.”  He hadn’t been the most personable person to us so far. We got the impression that he was a bit resentful of having to take in hikers to make ends meet at their wedding venue. Instead, he was just the opposite. He was very accommodating to our situation. Bottom line, at least our boots got to sit in the sauna to dry out (I never did).

The time the boots spent in the sauna gave the weather enough time to clear up. The rain stopped before we had the chance to break out the wallets to pay for another night. Under the cover of blue skies, we made our way to a waterfall followed by one of the nicest boardwalks we have crossed since NJ. 

We stopped at Stoney Brook Shelter for lunch where we got bad news about Mizman from Jack Rabbit.  We thought it was strange that he hadn’t responded to the text we sent him a couple of days ago. Jack Rabbit told us he had dropped his phone in water, but that wasn’t the bad news. Mizman was eating lunch a couple days ago and broke a tooth in half. He made it to The Yellow Deli, but had to get off trail because the broken tooth was going to require a root canal to fix. Mizman is gone. Lady Bug and Stickers are also gone. Fewer and fewer people we have known since February are still around. 

We did make contact with our Dachau Buddy, Rich. We met Rich and his wife in a concentration camp (actually on a crowded train heading to the camp) last year. Not too many people are still alive that can claim that kind of meeting. He is going to join us for a few days tomorrow.  The original plan was to hike with us in his home state of New Jersey, but he was hiking a section of the PCT when we got there. He’s finally gotten a window to join us. 

Technical climbing was on the agenda for the day (if technical means climbing an aluminum ladder). The most exciting part of the climb was the two big piles of moose poop we came across after the ladder. Bunny wants to bag a moose this trip. Wildlife sightings have gotten fewer the further north we go. 

The Lookout is a private cabin a little off of the AT that has been opened up for hikers to stay at. It supposed to be big enough to hold 20ish people. There are a couple of drawbacks to it—1) no water, and 2) no privy. Nonetheless, this is where we are headed for the night.  For us to stay there, we need to carry enough water to cook supper tonight and breakfast in the morning. We “camelled” up and carried an additional 7 liters of water up the climb of death to the Lookout. 

Bear and Sassy got there well before us and held spaces in the loft for us.  All of the courteous young people took all the space on the first floor before any of us got there. They will soon learn what it means to sleep under an old man with bladder issues. Plus, I’ll have to get up and pee probably even more than Bear will. 

After staking out our space, Bunny went up on the roof platform to take pictures while I stayed below to cook dinner. Her enjoyment and happiness are more important than mine (apparently). Like a good husband, I know to keep my mouth shut until and can speak freely without censure. We ended up eating in the dark and were the last ones to go to bed. 

EFG

Maybe it was sympathy, but everyone else claimed to be feeling a bit wore out from the 50 miles we’ve covered in the last four days. I admit, I’m no spring chicken (and I’m still the youngest). I can always count on Bunny’s hip to be bothering her after a hard day.  Sassy’s knees are her weakness. Bear’s vestigial tendon in his leg (the same one that caused Derrick’s alpine injury in a parking lot on the way to a hike a couple years ago) is his weakness. We’re a group of nearly hobbled hikers. 

It was agreed that last night was to be “rest only” and we’d figure out what we would do today at breakfast. There is a bus stop right out front of the Inn with the bus heading into Rutland.  Resupply will be easy once we figure out where we are headed and when we will resupply next. My feet are still hurting so I was up for a short day. It was agreed that we’d hike 4 miles to Mountain Meadows Lodge where we could stay inside and avoid the rain that was supposed to come. With only 4 miles to hike, we could catch a later bus, shop, and eat lunch in town before heading out. We’d still get to the Lodge in time to eat supper. Since breakfast is included, we can extend our town meals to six in a row and still get some miles in. Leisurely day had won.

No pressure today. I called and made sure there were rooms available at the Lodge. With secure lodging for the night and a short walk planned, we had time to lounge a bit before catching the bus to town. Rutland held a lot of surprises for us. It’s the birthplace of John Deere who made it possible to break up the prairies. Which, in turn, made it necessary for some unlucky people to settle in crappy places like MO and IL. Our families were among those fools. 

Vermont was also home to Rudyard Kipling when he wrote the “Jungle Book.”  He actually lived in southern VT and was house locked because of all the mud.  He had plenty of time to write while waiting for things to dry out. This is where his body was found 10 years later with the finished book. It’s very difficult to make it out of southern Vermont alive, but we did it. 

After getting supplies, we decided to try our luck at the Yellow Deli. Bunny and I stayed with the Twelve Tribes just before Harpers Ferry and had a pleasant experience. The food at this Yellow Deli was just as good as our last visit to the tribes.  Before we eft they let us upstairs to look around the hostel. This is a much bigger setup than we expected to find. They can easily hold 60 hikers. We chose to stay at the Inn at Long Trail last night because we had heard so many people were headed this way and were afraid it would be full. If we weren’t getting to be in a bit of a time crunch, I’d be willing to stay another night here. 

We broke down and caught a bus back to the trail.  The thinking was, we are going to have to hike at some point today and 4p looked like a good starting time.  Of course, there was a little mud on the trail since it had rained yesterday and last night, but not terrible by Vermud standards.  After just one mile of hiking, we got to the “Maine Junction” where the AT departs the Long Trail.  It was a cause for much celebration leaving this pitiful “Blue Blaze” that Vermont loves so much that they don’t maintain the first 40 miles to maintain the old historical feel of the trail.

Turning east was met with immediate relief.  The sky turned blue, the trail dried out, bunny rabbits and squirrels lined the path and beckoned us to the promised land of easy walking—the Whites are only 100 miles ahead of us. Butterflies started fluttering around Bunny. Ahead, a rainbow opened up and a unicorn ran down the trail.  Life will be so much easier now. 

We even entered Gifford Woods State Park where the campsites were so inviting. If we hadn’t already made reservations ahead, we would have stopped (especially when we heard rumors of ice cream in the park office).  We met a young couple with two little kids who we stopped and talked with for a bit. They are both school teachers so they have their summers free. We tried to get the to drink the “AT Kool Aide” to hike the trail. She seemed a little more receptive to the idea than her husband. 

After the State Park, it was an easy walk to Kent Pond. I wish I had owned enough property to have 3 ponds the size of the ponds in VT. Every “pond” we have come across up here could hold 3 of my farms and still have water left over (my farm was only 67 acres). I’ve got to admit that Vermont is a beautiful state. We have really enjoyed the towns we have visited off trail. We just despised the first 40 miles of the Long Trail. I have softened up on it and may add it back to our list of trails to hike. 

We got to Mountain Meadows Lodge just as another couple of hikers celebrating their 7th wedding anniversary were ordering some pizza so we added to the order. Since we were so late getting in and there were so few people here, they were not going to prepare any supper. We liked the Lodge, but we felt like they were a little resentful having hikers there. They were not unfriendly, just stand-offish. 

It may be cliche, but we just did laundry yesterday and barely broke a sweat walking today, so we just ate and went to bed. I couldn’t even get anyone to get in the hot tub time machine with me. We did surf a bit on the internet and discovered that Lady Bug and Stickers have started calling themselves Lashers instead of thru-hikers. We also saw that Stickers cut all of his hair off and donated it to “Wigs for Kids,” a cancer support group. We tried to contact them, but haven’t heard back yet. We also haven’t heard from Mizman and are getting worried about him. The time commitment can be pretty daunting to thru-hike. 

EFG

“ 🎶 Babe. I’ve…got…you..babe 🎶 Rise and shine campers. It’s GROUNDHOG DAY!”  Today is our 6 month anniversary on the trail. It is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day to us. We get up, eat breakfast, pack up, hike all day, set up camp, eat supper, and go to bed. Sometimes it might be nice to be able to throw in a murder and not have it count against us, but such is life. I don’t have the heart to tell Bunny that the time duration for Bill Murray was 10,000 years. She’s had her fill after a mere 6 months. 

We did something a little different this morning to break up the routine—we ate breakfast in our tent since it was raining outside. It had rained a good portion of the night, not hard, but still rain.  We got the opportunity to pack up in the rain, also.  We regrouped in the shelter (which was unoccupied all night—Bunny and Sassy have developed aversions to mice) for final adjustments before heading out. This also gave me a chance to get my morning constitutional in and Sassy to fire off her second round of her double barrel. 

The first event for the day was to rejoin the 4000’ club.  We had roughly a 2300’ foot climb up Killington.  It was almost 4.5 miles to the top, so by the standards of VA, it was a level walk (any grade less than 500’ per mile is considered level—a neat little corollary to the VA standard is that the AT, as a whole, is a flat walk for 2200 miles). Killington is the first mountain since central VA that is over 4000’ above sea level.  It’s also good preparation for the Whites. 

We are, of course, traveling with Sassy and Bear. This has the additional meaning that every climb over 1000’ that ends with a potential view, will be fogged in.  We are 3 for 3 with them as of today. The fog was patchy when we made it to Cooper Lodge just below the summit. To reach the summit requires ascending a side trail behind the Lodge. It looked like it might clear off as Bunny began her summit run, but Bear quickly caught up to her ensuring a thick fog for us all when we made Killington Peak. 

It was no where near a total loss. There is a very nice lodge on the front side of the mountain (if Cooper Lodge is considered the back). We weren’t sure if it was open, but we got a good whiff of hamburgers on the peak. Sassy usually likes to be the caboose when we are hiking, but not this time. She was like a bloodhound chasing an escaped convict. She had a good sinus full of burger and all we could do was following her baying ahead of us in the fog. She did good and led us straight to the restaurant. 

We found what some might consider to be “reasonably priced food.”  I am not part of that subset of society, but I do understand it takes effort to get everything to the top of a mountain. I remember trekking around Annapurna with Katherine who wouldn’t pay 125 rupees for a tube of Pringles when you could get the same can for 80 rupees in Kathmandu.  The exchange rate was 85 rupees to $1, and a person had to carry everything into the mountains. I don’t think a $0.50 price increase to be unreasonable. I got a $19 hamburger. That included the ambiance of a fogged in mountain compliments of Bear and Sassy. In this case, it was worth every penny. 

It was a long descent from the top down to the bottom of the mountain. This is when I was betrayed once again, but not by Bear, or Sassy, or even Bunny. This time, it was my body and it started with my feet. Actually, it was Paul. The big bunion on my left foot (not to be confused with Babe on my right foot). It started when a root jumped up and tried to grab my foot. I’m normally a pious man not prone to swearing as will be confirmed by my traveling companions, but I nearly blacked out from the pain. When I regained my composure, I noticed my mouth had started spewing a series of “f” bombs. Since this is Vermont, no one really paid any attention. 

I hobbled on down behind the rest of the tramily. I am Easily Forgotten, so no one even noticed that I was falling behind. Every now and then, I would catch up when the rest stopped to talk to other hikers. At Churchill Scott Shelter, we passed the 1700 mile mark. I caught up once again to take pictures. Some nameless member of the group had to use the privy.  The only hint I’ll give as to who is to say that “yes, bears do shit in the woods.”  I kept going in the hopes of making it to the road at the same time as everyone else. I was feeling miserable, betrayed, and pissed off. I’m the youngest member of the group, but I’m the weak link. 

I thought it would be easy to hitch a ride to Inn at Long Trail which is only a mile to the east of the trail. Give the women the sign and let them do their magic. Nay, nay, nay—walk, we must. My left foot was throbbing and my right Achilles felt like I had a marble under my heel.  I’m too young to be falling apart. I tried to just keep going.  Bear slowed down and walked with me which helped to get my mind off of my pain. He’s got some great stories from his 38 years working for NASA. For a mechanical engineer, he’s a good guy. If he needed a EE for a system reboot last night, I could use a ME to keep my mind off of the mechanical failures of my body. This may be what it feels like to mature on the trail—after 30 years, I’m getting an appreciation for MEs. Nah, I’m just a little delirious from my pain.

The Inn has an Irish restaurant downstairs. We got the last hiker room available which turned out to be a fantastic deal for us. Each couple got a room and we shared a bath between the four of us. The Inn even had loaner clothes for hikers. We took showers and headed down to the bar for supper while our clothes were getting washed. A beer, some Irish Stew,  a Shepherds Pie, a few glasses of iced tea, and some ice cream in good company is all it took to get my spirits back up. I tried to trade our double bed to Sassy and Bear in exchange for a foot massage, but didn’t get a favorable response. I was aiming too high. 

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We tried to be quiet getting up. I carried everything up to the shelter to pack and keep the noise level down so Ambassador could continue to sleep. I don’t know what went wrong today, but even with getting up at 6:30, it was almost 9 before we hit the trail. Ambassador was already up and packed as we were leaving. 

The main advantage of camping near the top of a mountain is that the day starts off going downhill. There were several nice streams to cross with one that created a nice set of falls below the trail.  On this stream, we had to cross on a fallen tree. I admit to feeling guilty for this one but I didn’t warn anyone that the tree was very loose and tended to roll when you stepped on it. I was the first to cross and waited on the other side for everyone to catch up. Of course, I had my camera ready. If it had been colder, I probably would have said something, but it wasn’t a bad weather day. If someone would have fallen in, they would have dried off quickly. Plus, every one of them laughed when Bunny pushed me in yesterday. I was owed a water shot by one of the group. Only Bear got his foot wet and then he squealed to the women. 

We stopped at Minerva Hinchey Shelter for a snack. The shelters up here all have metal stripping on the edges of steps and platforms in order to discourage porcupines from gnawing on the wood. It’s also rarer to see a picnic table sitting outside because of the porcupine issue. The shelters tend to have built in tables inside. I was feeling a bit tired and could easily have taken a nap, but everyone else was ready to go after a few minutes. 

Bear was reading a Green Mountain Club news magazine left in the shelter that told who the maintainers of the Long Trail were. It turns out that a few old guys try to maintain shorter sections by themselves south of Stratton Mountain. I was kidding when I made my comments about the trail maintainers being old and infirm but it turned out to be pretty close to the truth. I know trail maintenance is a lot of work and I do appreciate all the effort everyone puts in, but these guys need some help. The rest of the state appears to be in much better shape. 

We ran into another group of locals at Airport Lookout.  Sassy and Bear were talking to one family that has been coming up together every year since their daughter was born; she’s now in her 20s and they still make the climb a few times a year. We asked if the view has changed much over the years. They responded, “This is Vermont. Nothing ever really changes here.” 

Bunny and I were talking to a couple of women and one of their sons. They were really interested in our story of just getting married last year, quitting our jobs, selling everything, and hiking around the world while we can. I like it when strangers encourage us and like our story. I also like it when Bunny tells it and doesn’t throw in negative comments like “I don’t know if our bodies will hold up.”  It is not the norm and she is afraid to be different. I know I don’t fit in and I’m tired of apologizing for being different. 

Next up (or rather, down) was Clarendon Gorge and a suspension bridge across the gorge. This was a very popular spot because it’s easy to get to from a parking lot. One woman joked about only one person at a time on the bridge and that really got Bunny going. The four of us were already near the center. I was trying to get pictures but she wanted off fast. I did what any good husband would do when his wife tells him to move—I ran. With pack, I’m almost 250# so when I run on a suspension bridge, Bunnies tend to get tossed around. Maybe she should choose her words more carefully. At any rate, the bridge wasn’t so high that death would be imminent if it broke; nothing worse than a few years of rehab at worse. 

When you drop to the bottom of a gorge, there are two choices about what to do next. 1) Call it quits and go home, or 2) climb out. Option 1 is not a possibility after nearly 1700 miles. We accepted the challenge of the Whites preparation climb up to Clarendon Shelter for lunch. It was worth the effort because when we got to the shelter to eat, we met a retired lawyer, Barry.  Barry is a member of the GMC and lives close by. He keeps an eye on things along the trail. Today, he was making sure the shelter was in good shape and passing out gourmet meals one of the member’s wife makes. We helped him pick up the trash all around the shelter after we finished eating. 

We still had almost six miles to go and we were all dragging a bit. We got passed by three south-bounders so I started talking to them to give us all a rest. I’m usually quiet and reserved, but I’ll do what needs to be done to get everyone motivated.  Slow Mo tried to thru-hike last year but got a stress fracture.  That didn’t end her hike, but when she fell and broke it completely, that did. She didn’t even make it out of Maine. Today, they passed the 500 mile mark and were all feeling pretty good. I gave them the good news that the trail was very easy for the next 800 miles with the one small exception of southern Vermont which might still be pure hell. 

Nearing our destination for today, we ran across the “500 miles to go to Katahdin” sign. Even with the Whites in front of us, 500 miles sounds so good. It’s definitely better than 2189.8 which was what we had left after our first day of hiking nearly 6 months ago. We just got a picture and moved on.  It was getting close to dark with almost another mile to the shelter. 

It was a very old shelter made from stone. It was the deepest one I have seen with plenty of room to set up a couple of tents inside between the platform and the sitting area. The women wanted nothing to do with it. We camped down by the river and ignored the shelter. It will be great as long as it doesn’t rain so much that the river comes out of its banks and washes us away. At least then I’ll be able to say “I told you so.”

EFG

Mud Bug stumbled into camp after dark just like the ghost of Patches. We saw her flashlight as she was setting up her tent. I got up to pee the third time (yes, there was a loud, flowing stream next to our tent, but that no longer has any effect on me) and there was a guy standing at the picnic table packing up to leave. We got up at 6:30 and were the last ones to leave other than Patches, er, Mud Bug still asleep in her tent. 

Vermont (notice, no snarky name calling) is finally morphing into the state we were hoping for. It was a perfect morning, in my opinion—low humidity, mid 60s, and cloudy. We even had dry trail without any mud for a few miles. We came to Griffith Lake and there was a cloudy mist swirling on the lake’s surface. Like the Grinch before him, Bear’s heart grew 10 times in size today. He said he was really starting to like Vermont. 

On the down side with such a rapid growth of the heart comes multiple complications. He now has pain in his chest from an over-enlarged heart, cardiomyopathy (improper heart beat), and kidney issues from all the extra blood flow. This could be the final straw for him. Sassy was ready to put him down (he apparently made the rookie mistake of heading into the backcountry with his wife AND keeping an active life insurance policy). We stepped in and saved him—this time. Only one intervention on the house. 

By the time we reached Baker Peak, we were enveloped in fog. This looks like what we can expect from here on out now that we’ve hitched our wagon to the Bear, Ass, and Sassy train.  From listening to their stories, every Peak is fogged in and every major descent will be in rain. We did catch up with Ambassador hoping for a glance below which appeared hopeful until we showed up. She said she was going to get out of our hiking rhythm and drop behind us with this kind of crap happening everywhere we go. She didn’t fly all the way from England to hike in the fog.  If she wanted fog, she could have saved the price of the flight. 

It is quite amazing how a fog panoramic creates an appetite. I’m not sure if it was the climb or adrenaline after rush from the fog. In either case, we were ready for a snack at Lost Pond Shelter. This was where we were hoping to make it last night, but decided our feet were too tired to make it to.  Now that we had walked the five miles to get here, we were glad we had not pushed on yesterday. 

We passed some sobos that told us there was great water holes ahead that were beckoning for us to jump in.  By the time we got to Big Branch Shelter, we were ready to at least soak our feet. Bear stripped down and was ready to jump in, but decided against it at the last minute. After cooling off for a while everyone decided they were ready to move on.  It was at that time Bunny used one of her most diabolical stunts to date. She said to me “be careful, the rocks are slick.”  In other words, she practically pushed me into the water. She needs to watch out because karma can be a bee-otch.

I usually check to see if there are any road crossings in our path for the day, hoping for magic.  The best food a hiker can eat is free food (and we do well thanks to Alice, but we carry that). We could see a parking lot with several cars and people standing around.  We lingered in the hopes of an invitation. It took us an incredibly long time of fiddling with our phones and loitering before we got a bite. A woman came over and asked us if we knew Mud Bug.  Do we know Mud Bug?  This led to powdered donuts, orange juice,  and fresh fruit. She couldn’t afford to spare any beer on us because she was keeping that for the Bug.  Even out here, it’s not what you know, but who you know.

Today was shelter hopping day.  We decided to have lunch at the next shelter, but changed our minds when we found some nice sitting rocks at Little Rock Pond. We ate lunch on a beautiful pond (some in the Midwest might call a lake—being in New England apparently includes the English propensity to understate things). We tried to get pictures of some rather elusive loons who kept diving underwater as soon as we got our cameras ready. I gave up but Bunny finally got a shot as we were leaving. I always think of Katherine Hepburn imitating loon calls when I see one (which leads me to thinking about Jane Fonda acting like a little kid which in turn makes me want to vomit—on second thought, I don’t like loons). 

We gathered up our energy for the final 5 mile push to the next, and last, shelter for the day. We came upon a series rock gardens on top of. Bear was  leading for a pleasant climb.  We decided to give Bunny another chance to lead—she promised to not get lost.  It was total chaos—she couldn’t decide if she wanted to go up or down, have a rocky or a muddy trail. Impeachment of Bunny as leader was inevitable when we finally made it to the turn for the shelter. We decided to continue the rest of the way to the shelter. Another mistake. She claimed she had no control of the trail, but we didn’t have these issues when Bear was leading. 

We arrived at an empty shelter with only one tent.  Ambassador was already set up in the best tent site. We looked around a bit to try to give her some privacy but decided to camp right next to her. Controversy began almost immediately.  Bear set his Big Agnes tent up right next to ours with the logo showing. I threatened to pee on the logo in the middle of the night (I’m still pissed at BA for lying to me).  Instead, our tent ended up in the fire pit. 

As promised, karma reared it’s ugly head, only it struck Bear (but he did laugh after Bunny pushed me in the water at lunch). It was difficult to find suitable trees to hang bear bags in and then his aim was less than stellar. Even I didn’t know mechanical engineers threw like women, but I do now.  It was the closest I came to seeing Bear get upset. His body was shutting down one piece at a time and the control system needed a reboot. Sounds like he’s about to admit to needing EEs in his life. 

EFG

Everyone decided to do something incredibly stupid before we left.  It was very depressing and made me feel stupefyingly stupid. After 1650 miles, I should know better than to be lulled by the masses, but I fell for it. I expect section hikers to do stupid things, but, by now, I should be beyond such frivolity. We weighed our packs. 

My goal has been to keep Bunny’s under 30# to give her some hip relief. She came in at 27#, and that’s even including the latest round of “must have” items she has decided will make life on the trail better. We will be shipping some stuff home in a few weeks once we get into New Hampshire and start carrying some more cold weather gear. But my pack…she-it. I lost in the battle of wills in the grocery store 2 days ago and now I suffer. 51 fricking pounds. My pack only weighed 47# leaving Hot Springs way back in March with all of our winter gear. I’ll show Bunny.  I’ll make her drag my body 5 miles to the nearest road crossing once I have a heart attack. (Actually, she should be savvy enough to grab my wallet, iPad, and camera out of my pack and just push my body into a mud puddle in the trail—most of them are deep enough that I won’t be found until someone does trail maintenance…oh my gawd, I’ll never be found. She’s diabolical, I keep telling you.)

Jeff took six of us to the trailhead on the 8:30 shuttle. We said our goodbyes and headed up the trail. We knew we had a bit of a climb up to a ski area to get out of Manchester Center. We have been keeping an eye on Bromley Mountain since we summited Stratton Mountain (this ski area inspired Benton MacKaye’s unrealized dream of commercializing the Appalachian Mountain range).  

At a viewpoint below the summit, we ran into a group of locals out for a day hike.  We had stopped for a snack and were being bombarded by house flies when the dragonfly brigade showed up. It was amazing to see such a large swarm take out the annoying flies. We now have new friends in Vermont. One dragonfly flew over and landed on his beloved human friend, Dennis. 

We continued on up to the summit almost 3/4 of a mile further and 400’ higher.  We stopped for another snack and enjoyed the views for a while. My opinion of the V state might be changing a bit but I don’t want to make any rash decisions about liking the state just yet. It does have a big plus for me that Col Sanders little brother, Bernie, is Senator here. 

We encountered some more boardwalks descending Bromley Mountain. This is where we discovered Sassy has a propensity to fall. We might need to keep a camera on her at all stream crossings in the future. She was kind enough to recreate her landing position for me since I didn’t know to have my camera ready for the initial fall.  Fortunately, she was not hurt. At our advanced ages, every fall has the potential to be a hike ender. 

We had another big climb to get over Styles Peak. VT is trying to get us ready for the Whites in NH. It’s been a while since we’ve had to climb so much in a single day. Something else unusual started happening for us today. We encountered streams that were not running down the middle of the trail. It was very enjoyable to hear Falls that were not spilling around our feet.

Mud Bug had told us she was aiming for Peru Peak Shelter tonight. We had thought we were going to go another 5 miles to Lost Pond Shelter, but we decided to stop early enough to enjoy the evening. There was good water flowing next to a pine forest camping area. The privy even had tp in it. We’d struck gold. This gave me time to organize all the food we had bought and I had just thrown in my pack because I was too pissed to deal with it.

A caretaker came by as we were finishing up our dinner. We talked to her a bit and shared our non-favorable impressions of VT south of Stratton Mountain. She told us that made sense because there weren’t any caretakers down there and the trail is maintained by individuals instead of the club as a whole. It was still a very crappy section of trail (almost 40 miles of some of the worst trail we’ve ever encountered), but I’ll ease up a bit on VT. It’s starting to get better the further from the swamp we get. We just need someone that will drain the swamp. Mr Trump, are you having any success with swamp draining?

EFG