Start: Bromley Mountain (AT mi 1657). Stop: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1670.3). Today’s miles: 13.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 645.6 miles
Due to the amount of people in the shelter, and the stuffiness, I didn’t sleep well at all. Some of the kids came back into the shelter after leaving to hang out with the others when they finished eating. The ones that came back were loud and had their headlamps on. There really isn’t a way to sneak into a shelter and blow up your air mattress though, to be fair.
The women all got up at 5 something, I slept until 6:45. I mean I could hear them, it’s not like it was sound sleep, but I just didn’t want to get up that early. If the rain storms hadn’t stolen our sunset last night and our sunrise this morning, I’d have considered getting up.. but it was white as a cloud out there, so no thank you.
I got up at 6:45 and packed my stuff. I brushed my teeth and used the bathroom, then started down the trail by 7:08am.. I ate my breakfast while walking, mainly because I just didn’t want to be there anymore. I’ve been eating oatmeal bars, protein bars or belvita cookie things for breakfast, so I don’t have to cook. It’s working out nicely.
The start of the trail downhill was so overgrown that I was almost certain I went the wrong way. Within the first hour of hiking (after my breakfast was eaten and washed down with some flavored water), I saw 2 snakes and fell on my butt once. Well alrighty then, Vermont. It was also a sloshy mud pit from the rain yesterday. At some point, I just quit caring about trying to keep my shoes out of the mud and trampled right though it. The first 4 miles included a decently steep downhill and a moderate uphill.. enough to make me pause a few times to catch my breath. I seemed to be hungry all day, I ate a probar before 10am, ate lunch at 11am at a shelter, and then munched on snacks where I wanted to camp for the day at 3:30, before eating dinner at 6. Lol
I saw 3 more snakes, one much fatter than the others, and was able to snap pictures of a couple. At the start of the day I had my phone put up so it wouldn’t get wet with the rain.. but then it held off all day (until 7pm that is, it’s currently pouring on my tent), so I got it out at some point and listened to an audiobook. It helped pass the wet time.
There was one gorgeous section that required walking up sideways rock fronts to get to the top of the mountain.. it was slightly terrifying, because of how slick the rocks were, but so absolutely beautiful. Now realizing that these mountains get covered in enough snow to ski on during the winter months makes more sense as to why there’s so much lush vegetation everywhere, and why all the tree trunks and rocks have so much moss on them.. well, and all the mud, too. It stays pretty wet in these parts.
I got to an area along a quick moving creek with campsites along the waterway. Then I saw the suspension bridge down a ways.. I checked the app and decided I wanted to stay here, since the shelter was a bit farther, but had no good camping. I was pretty sure Sauce and FarOut would love it here too, with the water being so close and so lovely. But just in case, I only set up my tent to claim the area from others passing by, and didn’t unpack anything else or wash off yet. Technically, stopping here would keep me on course for meeting Andrea in the middle of the month, but if they decided they’d rather push on, I could have the tent back down in less than a minute and be good to follow them.
I didn’t have service to text them, so after putting up my tent, I stretched out on a rock and finished my audiobook. They showed up roughly an hour or so later.. they looked around the site and decided they liked it, too. Sweet! That larger group of hikers was headed to the shelter ahead of us anyway, so staying here would definitely ensure missing them. That alone is cause enough to stay.
I finished unpacking and then we went and bathed in the water. My rash seems to be clearing up, but I’m sure hiking in the rain won’t help any. Oh well. I do what I can to make it heal.. also, the black flies are absolutely nuts. Those are the boogers burrowing into my hairline, and FarOut’s too. They bite and the marks swell up, especially on FarOut. She seems to have a worse reaction to them on her skin, but I have a worse reaction mentally lol! We both ended up wearing our bug nets around camp all evening! The 3 of us ate dinner together and then while sitting out attempting to make plans for the next couple of days (which is hard when you don’t have service), it started to rain and caused us to retreat to our tents.
I do love my tent for the most part, however because it’s one piece and doesn’t have a separate rain fly, camping in the rain one day is fine, but unless it can dry out the next day, it’s a disaster.. totally soaked inside. I know the weather looked like rain all week for us, so tomorrow night may be a disaster for me.
I sure hope not. Also, I hope everything inside stays dry tonight, too. Camping in the rain can get stressful if you let it. And with the craziness of these bugs, I really don’t want to sleep inside a shelter. Last night’s shelter was actually the ski patrol hut, so it was completely enclosed with doors and windows. Shelters are typically open on one side. Depending on how far we’re able to get, I might only have to deal with it tomorrow night.. and then get into the next town Saturday night, but with it being a holiday weekend.. who even knows if rooms will be available.
So much to consider out here sometimes. Either way, I’m on track to meet Andrea in New Hampshire so she can hike the White Mountains with me, and then also on track to Mount Katahdin, which means seeing my mom, Uncle Keith, Aunt Kathy, and my cousin Michael the day after I summit. I’m so looking forward to seeing all of them! I pray nothing comes in the way of our plans.. or at least nothing that can’t be managed.
Anyway, I’m off to sleep to the sound of the rain on my tent (it’s just about 8pm now), and really hoping I wake up to all dry belongings! Sweet dreams!