1739.2 miles in

Croc had to leave Pine Grove Wednesday (July 27) night because his friend forgot to bring his heart medication, so he gave us instructions on how to lock up.  I cooked spaghetti with hot italian sausage and Avo made a linguini with a vegetarian garlic cream sauce.  We cleaned up, went to bed, and in the morning (July 28) we made breakfast and then Mrs. Brown (Blisters) gave us a ride back to the trailhead.  Thursday’s hike was very nice – it started with a waterfall, then field with a nice view (Rand’s View).  Jackrabbit frolicked in the field, and we continued hiking to Giant’s Thumb (a rock shaped like a big thumb).  We stopped for lunch at Lion’s Head, which was a rocky outcropping overlooking a pretty impressive view.  We continued to a stack of rocks facilitating an observation tower at the top of Bear Mountain which also happened to be the highest point in Connecticut.  We continued on to a long walk along a rocky bluff called Mount Race which also provided great views.  Jackrabbit used the panorama feature of his camera to take a photo while I ran from one side of him to the other, which had the effect of one contiguous photo with me standing on both edges.  I’ll make it the banner image for this site eventually.  We camped at a campsite along the Race Brook Falls Trail, 0.3 miles off the AT.  We met Groove and Papa Bear there which turned out to be pretty fortuitous because it was their 70th (and therefor last) day on the trail.  Jackrabbit had met them on their first day out and helped them bearbag, so it was nice that he was there for their last night too.  We spend the night talking about how it felt to be done with the journey, finally going home.  It’s a very bittersweet feeling.  It was sad to see them go.  Before turning in for the night, Groove filmed the last bit of his video series called “The Hunt for the Blue Dodo” or something.  Search for “blue dodo” on YouTube and you’ll probably find it.

We awoke Friday morning (July 29) to weather that looked like it was about to dump rain all over us.  We hiked up Mt Everett but didn’t get a view because of the fog.  Jackrabbit and I continued onward and discovered an area thoroughly infested with mosquitoes.  While we were hiking, Jackrabbit was behind me and informed me that there was a cloud of at least 24 riding my draft.  We both continued moving quickly, afraid to stop and let the bloodsuckers catch up.  We leaped over muddy pits and root tangles, terrified to stop or slow down, and that’s when disaster struck.  As I planted my poles and vaulted over a muddy patch, my pole lodged in the mud and the handle popped off the pole.  Panic struck and I was frozen in terror as I spent 0.34 seconds contemplating whether it was worth my life to retrieve the pole.  Screaming, I made my decision and ran Southward, ripped the pole from the mud, and sprinted Northward while slapping my face and arms frantically.  After about 100 feet I slowed enough to reassemble my pole and we continued onward until we exited the swamp.  We had been informed my SoBos that there was a section of trail submerged knee-deep in water due to a new beaver dam, so when we reached some railroad tracks just South of US 7, we cut through a lumber yard’s driveway to keep our feet dry.  While walking down the railway, we saw someone in the distance who we later discovered was Larb.  He missed the lumber yard and continued following the railway for at least a mile before cutting to US 7.  Once we reached US 7, I went into Great Barrington with Jackrabbit so he could pick up a package of new trekking pole tips, and so we could both eat real food.  We went into Subway for lunch, and while we were there a large group of very loud high school kids came in and triggered our demophobia.  Interesting fact about Great Barrington – there are no stoplights at intersections.  A local told us that you just walk out into the street and the cars will stop for you, unless of course the car has New York plates, then they’ll hit you.  We hitched back out of Great Barrington and hiked on to Tom Leonard Shelter where we were reunited with Larb, Handstand, and Jake (“Kahn”, because the hat he wears makes it look like he’s got one of those traditional mongol hair styles with the ponytail).  Larb told us about a SoBo he met named Fern-toe with whom he’d instantly fallen in love, and informed us of a missed-connection he’d written in one of the trail registers.  It’ll never work out – they’re lives are headed in opposite directions.  We stayed at the East Mountain Retreat Center, even though it was 1.5 miles off the AT, because Jackrabbit and Handstand had mail drops sent there (new shoes for Jackrabbit and a hammock with fully-enclosed bug net for Handstand).  This was the last day Larb’s friends were with us – they’d come out to hike with him for a week.  We had pizza delivered to the bunkhouse and stayed up late sharing stories and bourbon.

On Saturday July 30 we had leftover pizza for breakfast, then failed to get a hitch back to the trailhead so we were forced to walk the 1.5 miles again, then we hiked 19 miles to Upper Goose Pond Cabin, which itself was 0.5 miles off the AT.  We resolved to never again hike over a half mile off-trail for anything.  During the day’s hike I stopped for water at Jeruselum Road.  A fellow hiker named El Flaco told me to “follow the hose past the bathtub and it’s coming out under pressure at the source”.  I disregarded the man’s advice because he was obviously insane.  Amazingly, as I walked down the road I found a hose coming out of the woods next to a “Treat your water” sign.  I followed the hose up the hill and sure enough, the hose was connected to a bathtub, which was in turn connected to an iron pipe coming out of the hillside.  The pipe was apparently clogged because there was barely a trickle flowing into the bathtub, but the iron pipe had cracked in places and there were streams of water spraying out the cracks.  The most-upstream crack in the pipe was packed full of slugs, so I had no choice but to gather the downsteam slug-water.  It tasted fine.  At Upper Goose Pond Cabin I met up with Gimli, Scribbles, Flaco, Milo, Smiley, PC, Seven, and probably some others I can’t recall at the moment.  The cabin was a very nice place right on the pond, and had canoes available for the hikers to use.  Gimli and I boated around the pond for awhile.  Jackrabbit, Handstand, and Larb didn’t show up until I’d been at the cabin for 3 whole hours, so I rubbed it in a bit.

I awoke Sunday morning (July 31) to the smell of pancakes.  Apparently the caretaker at the cabin cooks pancakes for everyone in the morning.  In addition, the “Cookie Lady” lives 10 AT-miles North from the cabin at a working blueberry farm, and they send free blueberries with SoBos who are going to the cabin so that the pancakes can be blueberried.  While eating breakfast I heard that Jackrabbit, Handstand and Larb had left around 5:00am, presumably to beat me to Dalton.  I woke at 6:30am and caught them at the Cookie Lady’s where we had sodas and ice cream, plus self-picked blueberries for $2/pound.  The Cookie Lady baked some cookies for us and we all signed the register, and also added a checkmark to the state from which we hail – I was the first thru-hiker from Iowa.  We chatted with SoBos Nate & Woody, who informed us that it’s better to stay at Tom Lavarti’s in Dalton than the secret hostel called The Bird Cage.  We took their advice and stopped at Tom’s when we reached Dalton, and Tom greeted us by asking “You guys want some ice cream?”.  We did.  Tom brought out four sundae dishes with ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top.  Afterwards Tom drove us to the mall so we could watch a movie.  When we got to the mall, the food court was closed.  We hadn’t eaten, so we were crushed and panicked.  The Chinese stand was still lit and people were cleaning up though, so we intercepted them and asked if we could buy whatever food was left.  They were actually nice enough to re-open the kitchen and cook us fresh food, so we all had two heaping plates.  After eating, Gimli, Jackrabbit and myself watched Captain America, and Handstand & Larb watched the new Harry Potter movie.  Larb cried.  It felt bizarre when the movie ended.  It seemed like we should be going home, not back to Tom’s house to continue hiking in the morning.  Tom drove us back to his house where we weighed ourselves on his scale again, and I realized that since I’d arrived at Tom’s 4 hours earlier, I’d gained 9 pounds.

We went to breakfast Monday morning (August 1) with Tom at Duff & Dell’s.  Jackrabbit ordered a sandwich he called “The Jackrabbit”, which is a hamburger patty and fixin’s sandwiched between two grilled-cheese sandwiches.  It looked amazing.  Tom then drove us to the post office where I got some replacement gear, cookies from Mom, a letter from my aunt Jennifer, and a book and Big100 bar from my friend Prescott.  Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and gifts, though Prescott’s book wasn’t my first choice of literature and I have the Kindle anyway, so I left it in the hiker box at Tom’s for another hiker.  We wasted time at Tom’s while eating Mom’s cookies and while I performed field repairs on my pack – the aluminum stays were wearing through the fabric.  I was able to correct the issue using my emergency kit of duct tape, super glue, and dental floss.  While we were sitting around on the porch, Tom told us of a past thru-hiker named Brewmaster who would brew a batch of beer, then mail it ahead to ferment in the post office such that the beer would be ready when he reached the town.  Apparently the ploy worked very well until one of the containers leaked/burst and beer got everywhere.  Even after we started hiking, we stopped for Powerade at a gas station on the other side of Dalton, and for sodas in Cheshire before we reached a shelter on Greylock mountain.  We met Rain Dancer, Pair of Aces, Gumby (a new one), and IcyHot at the shelter and played a game of Pig Out before going to bed.  It’s a dice game, but with rubber pigs instead of dice.  I won.

I woke late (8:30am) on Tuesday August 2 and hiked to the summit of Greylock.  On the way there I slipped and stepped on my pole, snapping it in half.  Once I reached the summit I discarded the smaller of the broken pieces, beat the longer one with a rock until it was relatively round-shaped again, and crammed the segment back into the rest of the pole.  After adjusting the lengths a bit, the pole works good as new.  We ate cheeseburgers at the restaurant atop Greylock, then hiked on to the Williamstown/North Adams road crossing.  I almost went into Williamstown because I saw a place called Desperados and was wondering if it was a Mexican restaurant, but ended up just hiking on.  Jackrabbit went into North Adams to pick up another package.  I passed a blue-blazed “bad weather trail”, but followed the white blazes instead (obviously).  About 100 yards after making that decision, I started to hear some pretty impressive thunder.  Once I reached the top of the very-exposed ridgeline, I saw the massive thunderhead making all the ruckus.  I hiked pretty darn fast after that.  I crossed into Vermont, which marked the beginning of The Long Trail, which is also the AT for 105 miles.  At the VT border we had less than 600 miles to go.  I stayed at Seth Warner Shelter with Jackrabbit, Larb, Handstand, Rain Dancer, Aces, and a bunch of weekend and Long Trail hikers.

I was up at 7:20am on Wednesday August 3 and ready to hike by 8:00am, but everyone else was dragging their feet like crazy so we didn’t get moving ’till 9:20am.  We passed a pretty pond, a stream called Roaring Brook, and a bunch of beaver dams & ponds.  One of the beaver ponds was even higher than the AT itself, which was strange.  I easily hitched into Bennington with Jackrabbit and we tracked down a place called “The Vortex” which is kind of a hostel.  The people at this house let hikers stay free for their first night, and $15 or work-for-stay afterwards.  They have a barn with couches, darts, a pool table, stereo, and other lounge-ish things.  It was a nice place.  We ate dinner at Friendly’s, which actually had the “Grilled Cheese Burger” on the menu (and listed the calories at 1,500).  We stayed up late eating ice cream, drinking, and just generally being hilarious.  During the evening it was decided that our group of four (myself, Jackrabbit, Handstand, and Larb) will henceforth be referred to as Comedy Central.  Also present that night were Rain Dancer, [Pair of] Aces, Gumby, and IcyHot.

I awoke early on Thursday August 4 and cooked pancakes for everyone present.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy them (the secret is whole milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon).  After breakfast Comedy Central went to Friendly’s again for second breakfast, then we hiked out with IcyHot, Gumby, and Rain Dancer.  Aces stayed behind for awhile, telling us she’d catch up.  Amazingly, we got a hitch from a pickup truck that took all seven of us back to the trailhead.  The day was a mostly uneventful hike.  There was a lookout tower with tent sites around it that would have been a nice place to stay, but it wasn’t far enough along so we pushed on to Kid Gore Shelter.  It didn’t have much for tent sites, but we made do.  The place had a really nice view.  Jackrabbit had a sore tummy all day.

Friday morning (August 5) I woke to the sound of rain.  I ate and packed inside my tent, then hopped out to quickly stuff my tent into the pack and start hiking, and realized that it wasn’t actually raining.  The “raindrops” were actually just a really heavy dew that was dripping off the tree above me.  Everything was pretty damp that morning because of it.  I was the last person out of camp because I’d slept late when I thought it was raining.  I caught up to Gumby and Rain Dancer pretty quick, then IcyHot caught up to me and we hiked together to the top of Stratton Mountain.  IcyHot usually stops to rest every few miles, but since he was pacing me we walked 7 miles uphill non-stop.  I went slower than usual, but I still almost killed him.  At the summit I met up with Jackrabbit and Larb, and we talked to the caretaker and a guy interviewed us and put us on YouTube We climbed the observation tower and hiked on to William B Douglas Shelter.  The shelter turned out to be a very nice place.  It was 0.5 miles off the AT so we had it all to ourselves.  We had a camp fire and the water source was a crystal clear and cold spring.  We ceremonially burned Handstand’s useless bug net.  Gumby and IcyHot were going home the next day so they shared their food.  The day felt really easy, even though we did 20 miles.  Jackrabbit continued to have stomach problems.

Since Saturday August 6 was Gumby and IcyHot’s last day, we all hiked together to Manchester Center.  On the way, we started a new thing where when a SoBo comes toward us, Jackrabbit starts playing Chariots of Fire on his iPhone, then we all hike in slow-motion.  We reached the road to town and got a partial hitch (they couldn’t carry everyone), so Larb went into town to get his package before the post office closed.  We had trouble getting a hitch for the rest of us, and Jackrabbit was feeling very unwell so I wrote “Hospital” on my sleeping pad and Jackrabbit held the sign.  An old lady pulled over almost immediately, but then drove off quickly and wordlessly once she saw Handstand.  Fortunately, a guy in an SUV was right behind her and offered us a lift without even seeing the sign.  He was nice enough to drive Jackrabbit to the hospital and then take the rest of us to the outfitter.  It turned out Jackrabbit had giardia, so he got a prescription and had it filled that afternoon.  Jackrabbit’s had a tough hike – he injured his knee, had a severe allergic reaction to poison ivy, caught Lyme disease, and now giardia too.  We ate at Up For Breakfast, then we headed to the hotel where we shared a room with Comedy Central, Rain Dancer, Aces, and Trump.  Larb, Handstand, and myself had all purchased a six pack of Smirnoff Ice so we spent the evening icing each other.

Sunday morning (August 7) we headed into town to eat at Up For Breakfast again.  Jackrabbit got a hitch but the rest of us hiked 2-3 miles to the restaurant.  I had the Hungry Hiker again (2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausage links, home fries, and coffee).  After eating, I drank the rest of the half’n’half and maple syrup.  We hitched back to the trailhead after breakfast.  It was sprinkling so I fashioned a pack cover from my poncho.  At the top of Bromley Mountain we discovered a ski lift and what must be a ski lodge during the winter, but for the moment was a secret hiker’s shelter.  The previous night’s rain introduced us to the true mud of Vermont.  We passed a couple of shelters that have an overnight fee, and stopped at a stream close to Old Job Shelter.  The shelter itself was 1 mile down a side trail, so we tented at the stream right on the AT.  We had a campfire, Handstand iced me, and we crawled into our tents right before being hit by a pretty impressive thunderstorm.

We were slugged on Monday morning (August 8).  The heavy rain overnight brought out slugs of all shapes and sizes, and in the morning all of our tents and tarps were crawling with slugs.  It was kind of gross.  I packed up and hiked 0.2 miles to Big Branch Shelter to use its privy and to write the fifth installment of my zombie stories in the shelter register.  I caught up to Trump, Jackrabbit, and Rain Dancer at Little Rock Pond where they were swimming, despite the fact that it was about 65F and cloudy.  We hiked on and the day turned beautiful.  The weather in Vermont seemed to be fairly consistently overnight rainstorms, misty morning, and warm sunny afternoons.  We continued to White Rocks Cliff where we found a lot of precariously-balanced rocks all over the place.  We took lunch there, then continued on to Gould Brook where the guidebook said there was tenting – there wasn’t, exactly.  We were able to pitch our tents, but I wouldn’t quite call that a tent site.  Handstand iced Larb.  As of this campsite, we had 500.5 miles to go.

It was very chilly Tuesday morning (August 9).  I did my morning routine from inside my tent to take advantage of the trapped warm air, then quickly packed the tent and hiked out.  I climbed for 5 miles to Cooper Lodge Shelter where I stopped long enough to write my sixth zombie story.  On the descent from [Mount] Killington I was singing Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer, and after I sang the lyric “we’re half way there” I paused to catch my breath.  While breathing, I heard the song continue ahead of me.  The singer turned out to be Jackrabbit who had stopped for snacks with Handstand.  We hiked on and took the side trail to the Inn At Long Trail.  We tented across the street from the pub because it was free to do so.  Larb and Rain Dancer headed into town right away to catch the post office while it was open.  Jackrabbit and I headed into the pub to eat, and Handstand headed into town because he was determined to stuff himself at the Chinese buffet.  After eating, Jackrabbit and I hitched into Rutland for groceries, and we met Larb & Rain Dancer outside Wal-Mart, where Larb informed us that the Chinese buffet had burned down.  We all enjoyed a laugh at the image of Handstand standing hungry in front of a charred building.  After we’d all resupplied we were sitting outside the Wal-Mart eating Subway and repackaging our groceries when a nice lady walked by and offered to drive us back to the Inn.  We accepted.  She also offered to let us stay at her house, but we declined because we didn’t know where Handstand was and we couldn’t fit all five of us, with packs, into her car.  We were very grateful for the offer, though.  We spent the night drinking at the pub until the rain stopped, then headed out to our tents.  Before going to bed I sewed a strip of velcro onto my pack’s belt pouch to replace the broken zipper.

It rained all night.  On Wednesday morning (August 10) we packed up and headed into the Inn’s hiker lounge to eat breakfast.  I ate food from my pack because I’d purchased way too much.  My biggest problem is over-resupplying.  We really didn’t want to hike back up the steep rock steps on that side trail back to the AT, so we asked a trail angel named Santa’s Helper to give us a lift to the US 4/VT 100 trailhead, effectively skipping 1.5 miles of AT.  So sue me.  While waiting for Santa’s Helper, we had a competition to see who could fit the most baby carrots in their mouth.  Rain Dancer won with 24.  Also, the sun came out for 5 minutes so I dried my tent – it’s amazing how fast that tent dries.  We got our ride and started hiking.  The trail was incredibly muddy.  The first stream we crossed was running high, so there was no way to cross without getting your feet wet.  Even though my feet got wet, they dried pretty quick since I’m wearing sandals.  We passed Kent Pond and saw the Bed & Breakfast that lets hikers tent for $10, which grants the use of their hot tub and swimming pool.  We checked out Thundering Falls and everyone dawdled there for too long so I hiked on alone.  I took lunch at Stony Brook Shelter.  I followed the side trail to The Lookout which turned out to be a cabin with a crow’s nest on the roof.  I would have stayed there if there’d been water, but there wasn’t, so I didn’t.  I hiked on to Winturri Shelter, our group’s intended meeting point.  I met a SoBo named Twisted Turtle, and eventually Rain Dancer showed up, but we never saw Jackrabbit, Larb, and Handstand.

Jackrabbit showed up while we were eating breakfast Thursday morning (August 11).  He told us they’d decided to stay at The Lookout despite the lack of water, simply because the view was so good.  Apparently they were willing to go to extremes for the sake of beauty – Jackrabbit told me Handstand even saved his urine in a gatorade bottle, just in case.  Larb and Handstand showed up shortly after, and went straight for the water source.  They were pretty thirsty, but I was informed that they made it to the shelter without having to use the urine.  Good to know.  I hiked out about 3 miles and then followed a road 0.2 miles to a farm that sold milk, vegetables, meats, cheese, and pies.  Larb showed up while I was waiting for the place to open, so we split a blueberry peach pie and a bucket of strawberries, and I had a quart of chocolate milk too.  Handstand showed up shortly after and got a mini-pie and ice cream.  After recovering for an hour I hiked out.  When I left Larb was packing, and Handstand had just told me 16 miles “is nothing”, and he was taking a nap.  I didn’t expect to see Handstand again until late that night.  About 5 miles later there was another place where you could get ice cream, but I resisted.  I caught up to Rain Dancer at Thistle Hill Shelter, and then Jackrabbit caught up to us shortly after.  He hadn’t been able to resist the ice cream at that second stop.  We continued on to West Hartford and stopped at the General Store which was directly on the trail.  Jackrabbit had been given a card by Cruzin’ way back on Max Patch in Tennessee on which she wrote that the card was good for $10 at this General Store.  We asked about it and sure enough, they honoured it.  Cruzin’ must know the owner or something.  We had sandwiches and I had a quart of whole milk, then we hiked 1.5 miles further to Podunk Road & Podunk Brook where we camped with Spud & his dog Lucy.  We had a campfire, Spud gave me a beer, and we spent another chilly night outside.

This morning (Friday August 12) we hiked 8 miles to Hanover, NH.  That’s right, New Hampshire.  12 states down, 2 to go.  I’ve got 441.8 miles left.  Once we reached Hanover we headed to Mai Thai because an info pamphlet said they had a lunch buffet of Thai food, but that proved to be untrue.  They probably had to cancel the buffet option when they saw what hikers can do to an AYCE establishment.  Instead, we headed to Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza because they give a free slice to thru-hikers.  Also, it turns out they carry Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, my favourite affordable beer, so I had one of those as well.  After pizza we headed to the Bagel Basement because they give 3 free bagels, one with cream cheese, to thru-hikers.  After that we split up and I headed to the college library to update this blog.  Tonight we’re getting picked up by the folks at Tiggers Tree House hostel and tomorrow we hike out.

During the hike today I dared to dream of Katahdin.  Up until this point I’ve been hesitant to think that far ahead.  I’ve been setting small goals.  It’s finally starting to seem like I might actually finish this hike.