Day 122: 13.2 miles hiked (trail mile 1602.4)
Hesitant to leave our cozy bunks, we enjoyed a slow start this morning. Just before leaving the lodge, we met the owner of Greylock Resort and learned about the Caretaker Program, a system that Massachusetts has for community members to propose and execute business plans for transforming old state buildings.
Before descending the mountain, we took a moment to explore Greylock Monument, a tall lighthouse-style war monument built in 1931 to honor our veterans. The mountain was encased in a soupy fog, so we didn’t get much of a view from the tower.
While descending Greylock mountain we encountered trail magic from a former AT thruhiker named Schmutz, and three of his relatives. They had chips, fruit, beer, and Gatorade. It turns out Schmutz is setting off on a SoBo thruhike of the PCT in a few days and will be documenting his experience on his YouTube channel and Instagram under the handle “sobodoc”.
Near Williamston we detoured a half a mile off trail along a highway to a Stop n Shop for a resupply. It happened to be the fanciest grocery store we’ve visited on trail! On our way out we ran into ET. He joined us for feasting and repackaging at a shaded picnic table outside—what a luxury! —where we munched on cheesecake, berries, and sandwiches. ET is a well-travelled young guy from NYC and is only a couple weeks into his flip flop thruhike. We hiked with him awhile and then carried on to the next shelter when he stopped at a campsite.
On the last leg of our hike, we climbed through a burned section with lots of little buds springing up through the ashes. The contrast of life and death, dark and light, was beautiful.
Near the end of the day, we crossed into Vermont and the start of Vermont’s Long Trail. This 273 miles trail overlaps with the AT for its first 105 miles before charting its own path to Canada. We are told that a Long Trail thruhike is something of a rite of passage for young people in Vermont.
Vermont is lovingly called “Vermud” by some thruhikers and lived up to its nickname. We do a lot of rock-hopping in parts of the trail that are just mysteriously gloppy, with no water source in sight, even!
At the Seth Warner Shelter tonight we ran into Meta and Grasshopper and met a woman who is setting out to thruhike the Long Trail. It was a pleasant surprise to find a bear box here, even though it was unlike any one we’d seen before and suspect it might have just been a large tool storage box. We all used it anyway.
Hiccup and Prime showed up just before dark. There was a moment of alarm when Hiccup thought he accidentally locked everyone’s food in the weird toolbox, but through a team effort we were able to get it open again. We ate the last of our perishable sandwich fixings for dinner and turned in for the night. It is warm enough, and without threat of rain, to sleep without the rain fly.
Day 123: 21.6 miles hiked (trail mile 1624)
Impressive beaver dam
We left the shelter around 7am and hiked until we encountered a beautiful beaver pond that was too nice to pass up the chance for a scenic break. There were little salamander larvae in the water which made the whole scene feel like we were living in the land of the dinosaurs.
We braked for lunch at a shelter and then made a steep descent down to a river, followed immediately by a climb straight back up the other side. We did over 5,500 feet of climbing today, which is a lot for what we’ve gotten used to lately. This kind of thing is preparing us for the Whites so I suppose we should be grateful.
I usually just take photos of the above average shelters. So here is an average shelter (kind of old and rundown) with bonus points for windows and a covered picnic table!
We hiked through the Glastonbury Wilderness from afternoon to evening. It was a lush and green section with lots of ferns and moss. Apparently, there is plenty of folklore about the Glastonbury Wilderness area, too, people disappearing and that sort of thing. I wish I’d researched before hiking this stretch. It was a major push to climb Glastonbury Mountain at the end of a high-mileage day. Just before dark we limped into Goddard shelter a short walk from the summit. We were enthusiastically greeted by a handsome golden retriever named Ember, out for a section hike with her parents. We then pitched our tent on a soft bed of pine needles and spongy soil just behind the shelter, surrounded by lichen and moss-draped trees.
Day 124: 19.4 miles hiked (trail mile 1643.4)
We left the shelter around 8:30 and climbed to Glastonbury Mountain fire tower where Prime and Hiccup had camped. The view from the top was exquisitely eerie thanks to the fog.
While later eating a snack at a rather exposed and thus battered shelter (but boasted a decent view over the valley from the shelter floor) Meta and Grasshopper caught up to us. They had stopped to camp nearly four miles from the Glastonbury shelter, so they had already done some good mileage this morning to make up for it. We are all aiming for a shelter about 20 miles away from Glastonbury Mountain, which will make for a big day for them. We hiked with them all day to motivate one another, and the time and miles quickly passed thanks to good conversation.
Ember cleaned out our peanut butter tubs for us
Just before our big climb we encountered some trail magic! Someone left a bunch of cokes chilling in the cold brook. It was a welcome morale boost.
Together, we hiked up Stratton Mountain, where Benton McKay is said to have come up with the idea of creating the Appalachian Trail. On top of the mountain, we passed a humble little cabin belonging to the caretakers of the mountain: a woman and man who have been living in that cabin from Memorial Day until October every year for the past 50 years.
Caretaker’s cabin
We also took a moment to climb the fire tower and were rewarded with some incredible views.
Meta and Grasshopper, below the tower
Later, when we finally made it to our shelter, I was ceremoniously inducted into the “Order of the Snake Stompers” for helping Meta and Grasshopper do their longest day yet!
Day 125: 10.6 miles hiked (trail mile 1654)
As of today we are more than 3/4 of the way to Katahdin!
We left the shelter at 7:30 having never met the caretaker who supposedly collects $5 from each camper as a fee for maintaining the space. Aside from the bear box, the shelter was standard, and we tented anyway, so we were glad we didn’t have to pay even such a nominal fee.
Stafford Pond
Our first moose track sighting!
We hiked ten miles to the trailhead parking lot in some of the muggiest weather we’ve encountered. We got a hitch into town in 20 seconds flat. The woman who picked us up had hiked the Camino de Santiago in 2018 and lived in the next town over. She dropped us off at Thai Basil in downtown Manchester, Vermont, about four miles from the trail. Since the restaurant seemed a bit upscale, we sat outside to offending the patrons and waitstaff with our thruhiker stench.
After lunch we visited the Mountain Goat, the local outfitter, where Ranger got a new pair of shoes. He is trying out the Scarpas now which seem really promising. His La Sportivas tread wore out in just over a hundred miles so we will be returning those when we finish the trail. We then walked to the Price Chopper for a resupply and the Green Mountain Hostel caretaker picked us up from there.
Green Mountain Hostel is at only 50% occupancy tonight at the discretion of the hostel caretakers, which was just fine with us. It is perfectly catered to thruhikers, with a well-organized hiker box/shelf, a laptop for use, snacks for sale, all the toiletries you could ever need, a full kitchen, and best of all: it’s sparkling clean.
Green Mountain Hostel
At the hostel we met Mama Bear and Baby Bear, a mother and daughter duo who are finishing the trail together after having to get off due to Covid last year. When caretakers Duffy and KC offered us the chance to slackpack tomorrow and stay here one more night, we didn’t hesitate… it will be incredible to cover some miles while light on our feet, and have another night at this charming hostel.
We made a delicious home cooked meal for dinner and turned in.
Day 126: 17.7 miles hiked (trail mile 1671.7)
We set out on our sobo slackpack about 18 trail miles north of Manchester and started hiking back to town. Mama Bear and Baby Bear headed north from the trail junction since they had slacked south the day before.
Baby Bear and Mama Bear
Around mid-day we crossed paths with Meta and Grasshopper and their high-school age nephew Ezra who is joining them for a two-week section hike. They must be the coolest aunt and uncle in his eyes. We also saw Parmesan, Killer, and Wizard.
We experienced a beautiful forest on top of the mountain just north of Mount Bromley, and Bromley itself had spectacular views. During the winter it functions as a ski resort and had a ski lift and warming hut that hikers can use. At the summit we saw Hiccup and Prime. We had lunch up there and watched an ominous storm brewing in the distance and inching our way.
After lunch the storm began to look rather serious, so we hustled down the mountain in hopes of avoiding being smacked. The storms in these mountains are something else. It seems one minute everything is dandy and the next you’re practically drowning and praying to not be struck by lightning. Once back at the road we caught another easy hitch back into Manchester with a friendly construction guy who told us the reason everyone seems so happy in Vermont is because weed is legal here. Back in town we did a mini resupply at the local health food store where Duffy picked us up.
At the hostel we each had a pint of ice-cream since the hostel had a policy that your first ice cream (from the freezer stocked full of Ben and Jerry’s) costs only a dollar. They even had dairy free option! I then worked on the blog—which turned into a nap in the living room—while Ranger did his own thing on the computer.
For dinner we had leftovers from the night before: veggies, beyond brats, and baguette, with the addition of diced sweet potato and a zucchini from Derby. We met the other lodgers, including Stroop, Lizard, Derby, Outlaw and Waterdoc who started SoBo this year just outside Katahdin since it wasn’t open for the year yet when he started his hike. It’s been so fun overlapping with the Long Trail (also trail magic has been strong through these parts). We might be a little sad when the two trails diverge in a few days. We are told the Long Trail gets exponentially harder once it splits from the AT. One day we want to come back and finish it!
Day 127: 21.8 miles hiked (trail mile 1693.5)
Duffy dropped us off at the trailhead at 8:15. He had some good advice for us on Katahdin where Ranger’s parents meet up with us at the end of our thruhike. Baxter state park is known for being a logistical nightmare due to the popularity of the site, daily visit number caps, and no cell service.
A short way into our hike we passed a crystal-clear pond near Little Rock Pond shelter and waded in a way. We wanted to swim, but it stayed shallow, and we didn’t want to risk getting cuts on our feet so didn’t go any further toward the center in search of deeper water. Hiccup and Prime stopped to say hi, too.
Later, we met Buttercup, who we had caught word of on trail already. She discovered backpacking in her late sixties/early seventies and is now solo hiking the entire trail at 73 years old!
After hiking over 1600 miles without seeing a single grouse (though we heard them thumping their wings) we startled not one but three grouse throughout the course of the hike, sending them flapping loudly into the forest as we hiked by.
We spent some time at a shelter to eat lunch and keep an eye on the weather since we had been hearing thunder rolling in the distance for quite some time. Here we ran into a section hiker with his smart/outgoing elementary-age twin children who were well versed in backpacking (parent goals!). Stacy (a LTer) and her big dog Nacho also showed up, followed by Killer and then Wizard.
We decided to brave the threat of storms and press on to the next shelter which Guthooks comments warned has had a lot of recent bear activity. Feeling strength in numbers, Killer and Wizard joined us for the next four-mile stretch. We lucked out on two accounts: we must’ve only gotten the very edge of the storm and we also saw a Peregrine Falcon soaring above the cliffs, even hearing its call! Peregrine Falcons have a fearsome reputation for attacking hikers if the trail winds too close to the bird’s nest.
The Gorge looked like a wonderful swimming spot!
The Gorge
After crossing the Gorge, where there were some local kids swimming in the river, we received trail magic from the parents of two teens, ages 15 and 18, who are halfway through their SoBo thruhike of the Long Trail. They gave us Oreos and drinks, which helped us climb the steep ascent to the next shelter. Ranger and I felt good so decided to press on another six miles to Governor Clement Shelter, right at the base of Mount Killington, to position ourselves to climb the mountain first thing in the morning while still fresh. We hiked raced against the setting sun through some lovely forest, said hi to Mama Bear and Baby Bear who had decided to tent in a densely wooded stretch, and then arrived at the shelter right at nightfall.
As of today, we have less than 500 miles left on trail.
Day 128: 12.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1706)
It started raining just as we were about to crawl out of the tent, so we slept in instead. The rain tapered off around 8 and we left camp by 8:30, hiking four miles up Mount Killington. We skipped the .2 mile blue blaze to the actual summit because we were fogged in.
Black flies were thick on top of the mountain, but it was Ranger to the rescue with his bug zapper. This was the first that we’ve really had the classic cloud of black flies. They look innocent until you find one boring into your skin like a scarab beetle from The Mummy.
Later we hiked through an amazingly green part of forest showed us why these are called the green mountains.
Then, half a mile off trail we reached the Inn at Long Trail where we lucked out and snagged one of the last walk-in thruhiker rate rooms available. We love our folksy little room: no tv, old but well-built furniture, cozy, nice bathroom… everything a thruhiker could want. My sister Andrea sent us a resupply box with my new Superfeet insoles and our tent footprint, and some surprise snacks! Between the food we have left over from Manchester, the food I was able to forage from the hotel hiker box, and what Andrea sent, we ended up having enough food to get us to Hanover, New Hampshire without having to take the bus to Rutland for a resupply.
With some unexpected free time, we were able to meet up with friends for food at the hotel pub. We had dinner with Gadget, Deep Fried and Trippin, Mama Bear and Baby Bear, and Anahaga. It has been raining outside all evening and we are sleeping with the window open, grateful to be in a cozy, dry bed.
