Day 141: Summiting Mt. Greylock
Saturday, July 27th
Wilbur Clearing Shelter
20.5 miles total
1596.6 miles total
It might as well have rained last night. I woke up more wet than ever just from the dew. Cowboy camping getting a 0 out of 10 for me right now I’ve had nothing but bad experiences. A few of the people were up and gone by the time we got up but most of them remained. The caretaker kept coming out and reminding us not to walk in the neighbors yard and to take our trash when he’d told us 100 times already. We went to the Cumberland farms to use the bathroom then hung out at the cafe for a bit. I caught up on my journaling and played some chess on my phone. I figured there’s no point in rushing to get anywhere anymore, might as well be around people I like because that’s a big part of this trail. Sure I’ll enjoy my time alone but that not really what this trail is for, you’re not alone out here.
The chaffing just isn’t getting better, and even after I took my shorts off and hiked in my underwear it still hurt from where it had rubbed earlier. Hopefully I’ll find a solution soon. I made it to Cheshire and saw joes stuff at a picnic table and so I stopped and had lunch there. I wish we had made it here last night the tent spot in town is really nice they even had poles for hammocks, porta potty, potable water, and bikes for town. If only we hadn’t vortexed at the blueberry farm and the trail magic.
After the walk through town and fields the climb to Mt. Greylock (the highest point in MA) began, after I stopped at the DG for some chips. It was an 8 mile ascent to 3489ft. Some sections were hard but it wasn’t too bad just a long climb. It’s nice to impress the locals too when they ask how far you’ve gone. Now it feels really impressive and now people care about hikers again. Though the hospitality isn’t like the south it’s still been really nice to be seen.
We dried our stuff out at the top fairly quick. Had snacks and drinks and enjoyed the beautiful view, with bricky of course. Everyone showed up not far behind and soon enough it looked like a full on yard sale up there. We stayed long after most people had left and made dinner up there so when we got to camp we could just setup and go to bed. Tomorrow we go to Vermont!
Day 142: Vermud
Sunday, July 28th
Congdon Shelter
17.1 miles today
1613.7 miles total
Sometimes it’s just so hard to get up from the warm cocoon, me bundled up in my hammock. But it must be done. We got out at a reasonable time and I was able to make it the 3 or so miles into town without too much pain. I was walking down the street because that was the trail and in the distance I saw a hiker talking to this guy sitting in a chair in the road. I thought that was odd and as I approached I realized it was camo. He apparently waited an extra day and a few hours so he could get the brick from me. He told me he already asked Joe and said it was my decision. He really wanted the brick and I felt bad as more people came over saying “he’s finally here you can get the brick.” He never told me he was going to wait, I told him we’d be hiking for a while with it and he said to just let him know who I give it to. I couldn’t say no. So I gave it to him, we signed the paperwork and did the official exchange. I went followed them back to this trail angels house where they’d all stayed. When Joe found out he wasn’t happy, I late found out he did not give the okay to me and camo lied about that.
In the end it all worked out because he said he’d just carry it to the border so Joe could still take it into Vermont. (That also means I don’t have to carry up the hell of a climb that was to come.) We resupplied at the grocery store, charged our things at the urgent care and ate subs outside while sitting on the ground. We were there for a few hours and I talked with lucky charm and fives.
Yeah the climb was kinda hard, the last up was just straight up big boulders. Literally before I got to the boarder of Vermont there was two big mud patches. Vermont is known for its mud, it had a mud season and people call it vermud. It really lived up to the name and it’s been dry this year.. I teared up a little thinking about and getting to the boarder. It’s crazy to think about Spencer telling us his long trail stories (the long trail is a 273 trail through the length of Vermont that the AT follows for the first 105 miles) and now we’re here. No only are we here but we walked all the way from Georgia to here. Only 3 states left, 583 miles left, it’s coming to and end soon.
We got to the shelter and it’s packed! Now that I’m going to bed the shelter is full and every tent spot is full there’s gotta be at least 17 people here. I’m glad just walking built a fire because I used it to dry out my sweaty clothes even if though they’ll get wet tomorrow it’s nice to start the day with dry clothes.
Day 143: When life gives you a place to stay..
Monday, July 29th
Kate’s House
4.3 miles today
1618 miles total
I know we want to get to Maine soon and we need to keep our mileage up but this offer only happens every once in a while and it’ll be unique to our hike.
So it was a 20% chance of rain.. which means 100% up here in the green mountains. It started at midnight I was told but I woke up at 2 to the sound of it and when I woke up at 6 is was still going. I checked the radar quick and it looked like it was going to rain harder at seven so I sucked it up and packed up all my wet things into my bag and got into the shelter to make breakfast. Everyone was still in there but luckily I had room. I watched people slowly pack up and leave. Eventually it was our turn. I put blister tape on my thighs to try and prevent the chaffing but they didn’t last a couple miles before they came off. And it slowly started to hurt.
I got up over Harmon hill and passed some people doing trail maintenance — moving big stones to step on and avoid the mud. It’s always so nice to see the people who put so much time and work into this trail because you can easily take for granted how nice the trail is on a daily basis. Just before the road I saw moonshine talking to the guys so I had to see what the deal was. Apparently moonshine stopped to talk to the maintainers and one of them offered their home for a few of us to stay at, and to just call his wife to let her know.
So we consider it and get down to the road, of course there’s no service but we do see shades! This is the blind hiker I met at the Amicalola falls lodge the night before I started my hike. It was so good to see her again, she’d jumped up here to avoid the heat but had been struggling with the rain and her guide dog not wanting to go down the steep declines. She’d been wanting to see the yellow brick for a while so we got pictures with her and all.
Then it started to rain more and shades had someone dropping off food for her and bringing her to town, this lady names reset who’d just finished working at the angels rest hostel in Virginia. She offered to take us back to town when she got back so we took it. Even though it would only be a 4 mile day we thought we wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stay at this persons house. Of course there was no service at this gap but moonshine found some WiFi at a roofing company down the street. So he called the guys wife Kate and she was probably not happy to have 4 strangers come to her house but nonetheless she allowed it. Luckily moonshine did all the talking and he’s got great charisma.
So reset takes us to into Bennington, VT. A cute little town. We were going to stay in the garage but Kate was very nice and let us stay in the spare bedrooms upstairs, she let us dry our tents and hammocks outside, do laundry and take showers and even drove to the store to grab food for us to cook. We almost cried it was so beyond kind. He’s this sweet lady who’s husband is out doing trail maintenance for a few days and sends 4 guys to her house to stay the night but her kindness and trust was more than anything I’d ever expect in a person. She even let us drive her car!
We watched the Olympics and drove around town to resupply and grab a couple things for dinner and we ended up getting Kate and her husband Jim a gift card to the local market as a way to say thank you. Spencer cooked the burgers and brats and we shucked and boiled some corn and heated some baked beans. It was wonderful! And we were stuffed! I haven’t felt that full in a while, I couldn’t sit up straight. We even had a little ice cream later for dessert while watching men’s gymnastics. (Now I know I said I wouldn’t ever eat ice cream again but it’s been long enough, people can change their minds and it wasn’t bad when you only eat a few scoops) Once it hit 10pm I was out and so tired I didn’t even brush my teeth until the next morning.
Day 144: Catching Up
Tuesday, July 30th
Story spring shelter
19 miles today
1637 miles total
Breakfast at the local diner was the best choice ever. Vermont maple syrup is the bomb.com but not as good as yours Izzy.
We got back on trail by 11ish and said our goodbyes to Kate. She really was so nice and said she’d consider doing that more often because we were so cool. That climb out of the gap was a bitch. We all went slow because of how full we were, like that climb from the restaurant in the Shenandoah. We stopped for water quick and I kept going and caught up to bibo! It was a bit of a surprise but I forgot hoe said he was going back on trail today after being off for 10 days. We haven’t seen him since woods hole! Like miles 600 something. So we caught up on life over the next 5 miles or so to the next shelter where we stopped for lunch. He was really feeling the pain of being back on trail.
Lunch was good, some chips and tuna. Got to dry some things out. Then we kept going. So today I hiked in my long underwear and it’s been the best thing ever. Finally no chaffing, it’s a little warmer but I’ll deal with it for now. I felt like I could hike how I used to again, little to no pain at all just crushing miles. At the shelter I met some people thru hiking the long trail or doing sections. I just setup my hammock as quick as possible, got some water then made 3 packs of ramen for dinner and had a couple snacks. That was pretty much it. Now it’s time for bed 30% chance of rain so I’m assuming the worst, it’s already getting windy now before I get to bed.
Day 145: Torrential Downpour
Wednesday, July 31st
Modern motel
21.1 miles today
1658.1 miles total
It didn’t rain last night, but by the time I got everything packed and went to eat breakfast it started sprinkling. Sometimes things just work out perfectly. The little red efts started coming out and walking around like they’ve always been there. They seemingly come out of nowhere. I left at 8 and it was still sprinkling. I got to the parking lot before the climb up to Stratton mountain and there was trail magic! Mary said the hotdogs were ten dollars and I believed her but luckily it was just a joke. They had hard boiled eggs, fruit, nuts and soda. It was so good. Her and her husband only do trail magic there a couple times a year so we were lucky! The 2k ft climb up to Stratton wasn’t that bad and because it was just below 4k ft high it looked, felt, and smelled like the Smokey mountains. Nothing but red spruce at the top with moss covering everything and the fog of low lying clouds moving through the trees. There was no view at all from the fire-tower when I first got there but a few minutes later the fog drifted past and I could see for miles in every direction. Then the clouds would cover it up again. With kept going with an expected storm to hit any minute. I got to the shelter and only saw Joe at the shelter with moonshine and later found out Spencer missed it and just kept going. By 2 it was a big thunderstorm that rolled through so much so that we filled out 2L water bags from the rain water coming off the roof. I had just run out of water before that. By 3:30 most of it had settled so we left to try and get to the final destination.
2 miles away I hear thunder again and a few moments later.. downpour like never before. It doesn’t stop either. Soon enough I’m soaked to the bone and eventually my shoes are so wet they’re getting heavy. It was fun though because at that point you just don’t care anymore. I’m running where I can to get there quicker and the trail is a river, gives puddles up over my shoes and streams are forming on the trail. Finally I make it to the shelter and the rain doesn’t let up for another hour and a half. Those people that woke us up at the drive in because they were drinking were there and more kept to themselves. We figured that if we just went 2.8 more miles to the road we could just split a hotel room 4 ways so it wouldn’t be super expensive and we could be dry and not get all our stuff wet. So we waited for the rain to die down and then went for it.
At this point the small streams were rivers and some parts of the trail were harder to cross because it was just flooded. We heard the warning sirens from the nearby town going off too. We made it to the wood just after seven and right before moonshine came out of the woods this guy driving through offered us a ride into town! I’m so glad we did that but I was so exhausted after that shower and 4 slices of pizza I was out.
Day 146: Vermont is Beautiful
Thursday, August 1st
Big Branch
16.4 miles today
1674.5 miles total
I was a little restless last night but felt like I got enough sleep. We walked up the road to a diner but it was closed. Moonshine and I decided to checkout the farm stand across the street, score, fresh peaches and blackberry cider (non alcoholic) was the start of my day. So effing good. Spencer had an urge to leave quick so we could do 19 miles to a shelter he’s gone to since he was young. Me and him caught a hitch into town to resupply quick but I still had to get new shoes and stuff so I went there while he went back to trail just after 10. I stopped at a McDonald’s and scraped down two McGriddles then asked this older fellow for a ride to the store and he said sure! Elliot helped me pick some new shoes, surprising the wife version of the hoka speedgoats felt pretty good. It’s funny those are the shoes I started the trail with and after trying on all those other kinds I’m back to basically the same shoe. I hope it’ll get me to Maine. I picked up a new shirt that was more breathable, some soap, an extra pair of socks since it’s been so wet, and they fixed my tekking poles ( I fell on one the other take and broke it). Then I met another thru hiker, milkman, and together we got a hitch in under a minute back to the trail.
We both filled up on water and had a very nice conversation about other trails and why he doesn’t mind blue blazing or hiking “shortcuts.” By then it was nearly 12:30 and I’d only hiked less than a mile. I kept a good pace going up bromley and at the top was the best view ever. 360 degrees big mountains everywhere. I didn’t want to leave but after a shit I had to in order to get the miles in. It was super muddy today and you couldn’t tell that my shoes were brand new.
I can see why it’s called the green mountains, it’s so green! It’s just so beautiful I love it. I’d totally come back here. I ran into fives and lucky charm before the second big climb and talked to them about religion and the universe. By the time I got 10 miles in it was 4 and I knew it woukd be really late if I did 10 more to the shelter we planned. I took an hour to eat a late lunch with moonshine there and Joe showed up and didn’t plan on doing ten more either.
I’m glad we didn’t because this campsite it pretty good right by the river. And mojo and ziggy are here! We haven’t seen them since daleville when my friends came to visit.
Day 147: Keep the Blues Away
Friday, August 2nd
Clarendon Shelter
17 miles today
1691.5 miles total
Last night was so uncomfortable, I didn’t get enough tension in my hammock and I felt like a banana all night no matter how I laid. But it was cool sleeping literally right by the water and nothing was that damp in the morning. We were up and out quick to get to the closed privy. A couple miles later I got to the pond and I wish we could’ve stayed there. It was soo nice, perfect spot. I would go back there in a heartbeat. I saw people swimming there too and really wanted to stop but I knew I’d have a chance to somewhere else. I signed the log and talked to the caretaker before leaving. At the next water source I’d caught up with moonshine and hiked with him for a bit through the beautiful pine and moss covered forest.
We took a snack break at the water and filled up. Funny enough though right after that was some really good trail magic, the whole works, everything you could think of they had. I saw Spencer had just been there so he wasn’t too far ahead. They even had a big bell tube thing to ring when you approached to let them know you’re coming. When I got there, there wasn’t but a couple people and by the time I finished my food there was like ten or something. It’s cool we got a good little bubble again.
The hill after, and there’s always a hill after trail magic, was a bitch. I started cramping because I ate so much and I had to stop several times. It was really hot and nearly 100% humidity too by this point and I’m having to hike in the long pants so I’m drenched. But I’m glad I got this new shirt. Then I met Spencer down in the gorge for a nice swim and we stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. It wasn’t that cold but still refreshing, I got to clean my clothes and dry out too for the first time in a couple days. We waved to everyone passing by over the bridge and ending up making dinner there too before leaving.
The climb out of there was super steep and I was instantly drenched in sweat. We setup camp then hung around the fire that just walking made and talked with everyone. Everyone was asking Spencer about the whites and what gear we should have.
Spencer later found some chaga mushroom and brewed us a tea it had a nice earthy flavor to it.
Tomorrow is the climb to killington peak.
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