Start: Minerva Henchy Shelter (AT mi 1683.7). Stop: Cooper Lodge (AT mi 1697.8). Today’s miles: 14.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 673.1 miles
I slept so good, once I fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until after 7am, and then took my sweet time packing. So long, in fact, that it started to downpour before I got done. Whoops.
The whole day was a rainy, muddy mess. It was gorgeous though. Sometime mid morning I got cell service at a rocky outlook that was misted over with clouds. I pulled out my umbrella and sat on a rock in the rain to update this blog. I didn’t know if or when I’d get service again. I enjoyed my little break, taking almost 30 minutes to upload pictures and whatnot.
I carried on, listening to an audiobook. My phone was in a ziplock inside the brain of my pack. Only the headphone wire was coming out.. it worked well enough. The day was slow and trudging along. I didn’t feel a rush to get there any faster, since I’d be cold and wet there, too. At least hiking keeps my body temperature up more.
Parts of the trail were so stunning. The greens are truly vibrant and almost glow when they’re wet. But the water puddles and mud made for soaked, sore feet. I sloshed along and finally made it to a shelter to eat lunch sometime after to 2. ‘Squatch was there, that’s the section hikers name from last night. I really enjoy his company. We ate lunch and chatted away about our day. He’s got like a linebacker’s physique, and thinking about him slipping and sliding was a little amusing.
I left before he did, with hopes of getting on top of Killington Mountain (4 miles uphill from where we ate lunch) and airing out my tent. The rain had mostly let up by this point, so I really thought I had a chance. The trail crossed several creeks that were gushing, so I had to just walk through without the hope of rock hopping. No chance my feet would ever be dry today.
On the uphill, it literally felt like hiking through a disaster zone. So many downed trees! They were mostly cut and out of the way, but it looked creepy. Plus the mud was absolutely ridiculous, sucking your shoes in, making you worry about losing one in the mess. If it wasn’t thick mud like that, it was water puddles that you couldn’t avoid, or slick roots to slide on while trying to go uphill. It was.. interesting.
When my audiobook finished, I turned on some upbeat music and tried to zone out and get it done. I mean, it was only 4 miles. Ha. While going up, I ran into TownLegs, TBird, and DoubleDecker coming towards me! They somehow all 3 got to a road crossing and set up a slack pack! Sheesh. I was super jealous!
I finally made it to the top around 5:30. It had started raining again about a mile back. I was drenched. I set my pack in the shelter, which looks awful, and went to look for FarOut and Sauce. I didn’t see their tent anywhere. There was someone else tenting up the hill. By the time I made it back to the shelter, ‘Squatch was coming in. Then, my phone went off. I had service! It was FarOut, they decided to hike down the mountain to get a ride into town. If I had gotten here earlier, I’d have done the same, but it’s too late to hike that many miles in the rain this late in the day for me. My chances of hitching would be gone and I have had horrible reception the last few days. I couldn’t chance it. But I was happy for them that they got to get hot showers and clean laundry tonight. Happy and jealous. Lol
I changed into all the dry, warm clothes I have, including a warm headband over my ears. It’s in the low 50s and will hit 48 tonight, according to the weather app. My tent is too wet to set up, so I claimed space on the shelter bunk that isn’t broken. Ha-what a disaster.
‘Squatch set up his hammock, and then was nice enough to get my water when he got his so I didn’t have to go back into the rain. Honestly, if he hadn’t offered, I was just not going to get any either way.. haha. I had close to half a liter, that would make dinner and give me a swallow afterwards, which would have been fine enough, if it meant not having to get wet again.
We ate dinner together, and then Spice showed up. She did the AT last year and is doing the Vermont Long Trail now. Then, Spotts and Snapshot appeared. There are 2 bunks that aren’t broken in the shelter, so, Spice and I are sharing one slab of a bunk, Spotts and Snapshot are sharing the top one. Maybe all these bodies close by will make it warmer, although I highly doubt it.
I’m all tucked into my quilt next to this rock wall on one side and Spice on the other. I hope I don’t smack her if I get up to pee later. LOL my plan for the morning is to hike down to town and stay at an inn that offers hiker rates at a first come first served basis. Let’s pray 7 people don’t beat me there! I’ll sleep inside, do laundry and resupply, then head out the next morning to keep on track with meeting Andrea.
Goodnight y’all.