The Maine Junction and into New Hampshire

Coors, Strider and I were sitting outside of the Price Chopper in Rutland, VT on Tuesday July 10th trying to figure out where to sleep that night when Bird called and said his aunt was offering us a free place to stay in a rental cabin she watched over. Pizza had already gone to the Yellow Deli for the night. We didn't know if this cabin had bathrooms or electricity but we took Bird's Aunt, Donna, up on her offer of a free place to stay. We got picked up around 7PM and drove to Killington. Donna made us a spaghetti dinner before taking us over to the cabin - it was a huge rental house with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, laundry, WiFi, huge TV, and a hot tub. Bird spent the night at his aunt and uncle's house but Coors, Strider, and I watched movies, drank a box of wine, and soaked in the hot tub. There were more World Cup games on the next day that Bird and Strider wanted to watch so we were pretty sure we would be taking a zero day, only my 7th of the hike, on Wednesday July 11th.

The next morning we got up 'late’ - slept in until 8AM. We decided over breakfast that we wouldn't be doing any hiking that day. Donna made us a delicious breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, English muffins, and orange juice. Afterwards we went back to the cabin and napped. We contacted Pizza to see if she wanted to join us at the cabin for a zero day - she got a ride to the cabin and joined in on the relaxing. While Bird and Strider were busy watching the soccer games were, Coors, Pizza, and I walked to the corner store deli and bought sandwiches, and later ordered pizza. At night we sat in the hot tub for about an hour and looked at a sky full of stars and the milky way.

On July 12th I got everyone up around 6:00AM to get packed and head back to the trail. We piled into the car at 8:30 and were dropped off at US 4 (AT mile 1701.9) at 9:00. The first 3.3 miles to VT 100 weren’t difficult but I wasn’t feeling great (maybe too much boxed wine). About a mile into the day the trail split at the Maine Junction where the Long Trail continues north to Canada and the Appalachian Trail turns east towards New Hampshire. I was hoping that would mean the amount of hikers on the trail would thin out again.

There was a nice stretch around Thundering Falls but the 3.5 miles after were pretty steep. The trail climbed about 1,300’ - Strider had to make a side trip on VT 100 to the Post Office, adding about 1.5 miles and still beat me to the first shelter. Stony Brook Shelter was 10 miles into the day and Bird and Pizza were both there, along with Easy Pete, who we had met back in Connecticut, and a crazy lady. We didn’t know where she came from, what she was doing, but we were glad to be leaving the shelter after a short break.

The rest of the afternoon was more difficult than I thought it would be - at least it wasn’t too hot and the bugs weren’t so bad. The morning was only in the 60s. I stopped at the Lookout Shelter - a privately owned cabin that is open to hikers - it has a small roof deck with a great view. The last 2.6 miles to the Winturri Shelter (AT mile 1721.8) went by somewhat quickly and I arrived around 6:00 PM.We were starting to see a lot more SOBO hikers. Back in New Jersey I sent my stove home because I was tired of all of the foods I was cooking. I decided to try cold soaking - I made couscous that night, it was fine but mostly just meh. I didn’t have an appetite for anything and it was becoming harder and harder to find foods that I wanted to eat.

On Friday July 13th I woke up at 5:00AM but it still seemed rather dark so I slept another 20 minutes before getting up - I was out by 6:00 AM. The first three miles were downhill to a parking lot where I found a couple of hikers getting out of a car, I assumed they were out for a weekend hike. The next hill was pretty steep but wasn't even a mile. At the crest of the hill one of the hikers I had seen in the parking lot passed me - she was cruising. I did a double take - was she hiking in crocs?! At the next creek I caught up to her as we drank trail magic soda. Her name was Rampaige and she was from Colorado. She had hiked the CDT and the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT). I asked her about the crocs and she said she had put them on to finish out a long day on a previous long distance hike and liked them so much she has hiked in them ever since.

At the top of the next climb there were raspberry bushes and I stopped to pick berries by the handful. At cloudland Road, 10.2 miles in, I walked down the road to Cloudland Market - it was around 10:15AM and I bought a soda and a pint of strawberry ice cream. I talked to a couple of SOBO hikers while I ate. I was beginning to see just how much southbound hikers exaggerate the upcoming trail. They always seem to think that the hardest part of the trail is just ahead. I sat on the front porch of the market for about 45 minutes while I ate my ice cream - I thought by this point in the trip eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting wouldn’t be a challenge, but I struggled to eat it all.

I only had 10.9 miles left to hike that day and it was only 11:00AM  - but it seemed like it took forever. I stopped at the next shelter at 11:45 for lunch and stayed there for about 45 minutes, hoping someone would catch up to me but no one showed up. There were a lot of short steep climbs and more raspberry fields. The trail descended downhill to the White River into West Hartford. You can jump off the bridge into the river, but I was not interested. The couple who own the house across the street provide trail magic to hikers everyday - he called me over and offered me a soda and watermelon. He had a log book you could sign and there were tons of other northbound hikers around - Textbook, Overdrive, Quesadilla, Cap Cap - all who I had seen on and off for the past couple hundred miles - had passed through that same day. Bourbon Bob had been there 5 days before - I was surprised he was moving so quickly but someone said he had basically run out of money and was just trying to hurry up and finish.

When we got to Vermont we had decided as a group that we would slow down, hike a few less miles most days, and enjoy the rest of the trail. But that meant seeing lots more of the same hikers. I had gotten used to passing people because I had been doing bigger miles on a regular basis than most northbound hikers around me for almost the entire trail. I know the thru hike is not a race - “the last one to Katahdin wins”. But my competitive side was showing and seeing other hikers regularly who had done the same number of miles as me that day took awhile to get used to.

After a short road walk through ‘town’ there was a steep three mile climb that seemed to take forever. I arrived at Happy Hill Shelter (AT mile 1742.9) at 4:50PM after 21.1 miles - Strider didn’t show up until 6, the others not until around 7. I had cold soaked ramen for dinner. It was ok.

I was hiking by 6:00AM on Saturday July 14th, excited for my last morning in Vermont! I walked the easy miles into Norwich, got to Elm Street by 7:30 - there was a one mile road walk through a beautiful neighborhood. At the end of a driveway there was a cooler of Cokes for hikers. It was early but I enjoyed the caffeine. A little further down the road there was a sign for free swimming in a pool - I was too excited to get into town and into another state, I kept walking. I turned 0.1 miles off trail to Dan and Whit’s General Store to resupply - I had heard that I was cheaper than resupplying in Hanover. I only had to buy food for a couple days until Sixlegs arrived on Monday. Coors showed up at the store and we walked across the Connecticut River into New Hampshire together. State #13! I was excited for the miles ahead in New Hampshire and the challenging but beautiful terrain.