It rained pretty steadily that first night but by morning the clouds had passed and there was blue sky above. My alarm went off at 5:30AM on Wednesday, July 31st and I sat in my sleeping bag a little longer with my dress underneath me trying to dry/warm it with my body heat. I was packed up and hiking at 6:15AM after stopping to fill up my water bottle. I had already found my first piece of gear failure - I was given a lifestraw as a gift and figured I'd try it out, thinking it would be similar to the BeFree I carried on the AT. It is a piece of junk, it's basically like trying to drink out of a coffee stirrer. So I switched to using my Nalgene and Steripen. Lesson learned, definitely should have tested it out better before bringing it on my hike.
It was cool but foggy, the air was heavy with moisture. I started the day dry but was soon soaked from all of the dew/rain covered leaves and branches overhanging the trail. I was thinking about how good my ankle felt when - deja vu - I stepped on a small stick and rolled it again. Seriously? I walked ~2,200 miles last year without injury and I rolled the same ankle twice within the first 15 miles of this trip? It again initially hurt to put pressure on it but as I kept walking the pain became manageable.
It was 8:00AM by the time I made it to Bloodroot Gap, only 3.3 miles away. I was moving slower than expected. The next 3.6 miles to Sunrise Shelter were very easy - flat and smooth terrain. I got there around 9:15AM and Strider walked in a couple minutes later. A hiker was still at the shelter packing up. He was a 22 year old from North Carolina, trail name Jester, who had done a SOBO thru hike of the AT and was out to hike the entirety of the Long Trail northbound this year. He had until Saturday the 10th to finish, requiring an average of about 14 miles per day, so we didn't think we would be seeing much of him after that day, considering we had to be done by Wednesday. At 9:30AM I got back on trail. There was an easy mile to Brandon Gap and then started a pretty good climb. Jester caught up with me at the bottom of a rock staircase - I was happy to let him pass and break cobwebs for awhile. There was more climbing than I was expecting the next 5.5 miles to Sucker Brook Shelter where we stopped for lunch around 1:00PM. Strider and Jester were already there. We could hear thunder in the distance and were expecting more storms that afternoon, hopefully we would be done hiking by the time the rain started.
We passed several ski lifts throughout the day and crossed lots of ski runs and snowmobile trails. Around 3:00PM the rain started. I was hoping the tree canopy would keep me dry but after a few minutes the sky opened up and I got soaked. At around mile 20 for the day I stopped at Boyce Shelter and found Strider, Jester, and another NOBO hiker taking a break. The rain had just about stopped and the sun came out. We had another 3.8 miles to go but the terrain was difficult and the miles were going by slowly. We had entered the Breadloaf Wilderness - there weren't any big climbs or summits, the trail was a twist of roots and rocks, which reminded me of the trail in southern Maine. We passed the biggest stretch of moose toilet I had ever seen - piles on piles of moose poop! Still no animal sightings yet, other than bugs, birds, and toads.
The climb up to Breadloaf Mountain really took a lot out of me - I could still feel the fatigue in my legs from the half ironman I raced three days prior. There was a side trail to the summit, which I skipped. I made slow progress to Emily Proctor Shelter and arrived just after 7. The shelter and camping around was full of a highschool group how had decided to pack 10 people into an 8 person shelter. Strider, Jester, and I found a few tenting sites, and I slept on a pretty good slope that night. We ate dinner together and shared stories of our AT thru hikes. Strider and I decided we would hitch into Waitsfield on Friday to resupply, rather than making it until Saturday. We were hungrier than expected and our food supplies were dwindling.
We had hiked 24.4 miles on Day 2, which would have been a pretty average day last year. I had been walking for about 13 hours..the progress was slow and difficult. I began worrying about the rest of the trip. I knew the miles were only going to get harder, we had four 4,000+ foot mountains to go over and the terrain in northern Vermont is supposedly much more difficult than the southern miles. We didn't have much flexibility in our schedule and I knew that if we got behind in our miles we wouldn't have time to make them up. My hips and back were already covered in a rash and chaffed from the sweat and rain and my feet were in pain from sliding around my shoes that were still a little too big. I was coming to the realization that this goal was pretty aggressive. This wasn't last year's thru hike, and I couldn't pick up where I left off. But I would do the best I could and enjoy my time in the woods.
It was 8:00AM by the time I made it to Bloodroot Gap, only 3.3 miles away. I was moving slower than expected. The next 3.6 miles to Sunrise Shelter were very easy - flat and smooth terrain. I got there around 9:15AM and Strider walked in a couple minutes later. A hiker was still at the shelter packing up. He was a 22 year old from North Carolina, trail name Jester, who had done a SOBO thru hike of the AT and was out to hike the entirety of the Long Trail northbound this year. He had until Saturday the 10th to finish, requiring an average of about 14 miles per day, so we didn't think we would be seeing much of him after that day, considering we had to be done by Wednesday. At 9:30AM I got back on trail. There was an easy mile to Brandon Gap and then started a pretty good climb. Jester caught up with me at the bottom of a rock staircase - I was happy to let him pass and break cobwebs for awhile. There was more climbing than I was expecting the next 5.5 miles to Sucker Brook Shelter where we stopped for lunch around 1:00PM. Strider and Jester were already there. We could hear thunder in the distance and were expecting more storms that afternoon, hopefully we would be done hiking by the time the rain started.
We passed several ski lifts throughout the day and crossed lots of ski runs and snowmobile trails. Around 3:00PM the rain started. I was hoping the tree canopy would keep me dry but after a few minutes the sky opened up and I got soaked. At around mile 20 for the day I stopped at Boyce Shelter and found Strider, Jester, and another NOBO hiker taking a break. The rain had just about stopped and the sun came out. We had another 3.8 miles to go but the terrain was difficult and the miles were going by slowly. We had entered the Breadloaf Wilderness - there weren't any big climbs or summits, the trail was a twist of roots and rocks, which reminded me of the trail in southern Maine. We passed the biggest stretch of moose toilet I had ever seen - piles on piles of moose poop! Still no animal sightings yet, other than bugs, birds, and toads.
The climb up to Breadloaf Mountain really took a lot out of me - I could still feel the fatigue in my legs from the half ironman I raced three days prior. There was a side trail to the summit, which I skipped. I made slow progress to Emily Proctor Shelter and arrived just after 7. The shelter and camping around was full of a highschool group how had decided to pack 10 people into an 8 person shelter. Strider, Jester, and I found a few tenting sites, and I slept on a pretty good slope that night. We ate dinner together and shared stories of our AT thru hikes. Strider and I decided we would hitch into Waitsfield on Friday to resupply, rather than making it until Saturday. We were hungrier than expected and our food supplies were dwindling.
We had hiked 24.4 miles on Day 2, which would have been a pretty average day last year. I had been walking for about 13 hours..the progress was slow and difficult. I began worrying about the rest of the trip. I knew the miles were only going to get harder, we had four 4,000+ foot mountains to go over and the terrain in northern Vermont is supposedly much more difficult than the southern miles. We didn't have much flexibility in our schedule and I knew that if we got behind in our miles we wouldn't have time to make them up. My hips and back were already covered in a rash and chaffed from the sweat and rain and my feet were in pain from sliding around my shoes that were still a little too big. I was coming to the realization that this goal was pretty aggressive. This wasn't last year's thru hike, and I couldn't pick up where I left off. But I would do the best I could and enjoy my time in the woods. 
No comments:
Post a Comment