Category: Long Distance Trails

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!

Start: Manchester, Vermont (AT mi 1654). Stop: Bromley Mountain (AT mi 1657). Today’s miles: 3 miles. Total AT mileage: 632.3 miles

I woke up to my alarm at 9am, contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep-but decided to get up and hop in the shower instead. I showered and packed my stuff, then ate my left over food from the last day and a half. Close to 10, I took all my stuff to the lobby and hung out there with FarOut and Sauce.

Cholula took Curmy to town to do laundry and then came back to drive us to the trailhead. We didn’t get started until close to 12:30. We hiked up to the top of the mountain, where a ski lift and little ski patrol building was and took a break. It was gorgeous! Stunning views all around, and a ski lift to hang out at.

After hanging out a bit, we decided to just stay. A few minutes later, I asked them if they knew if there was any water here.. whoops. There’s not.. the water caches were empty. So, we made the choice to walk a mile back down the way we came to get water. If we had carried on, then we’d have to go another 7 miles to camp with water.

Walking the extra 2 miles without a pack wasn’t bad at all, and it helped stretch my legs, too.
Once we got back, a storm rolled in and rolled out. When it left, I set up my tent in a huge clearing. It looked lovely, but the wind was insane. I left it up and went to the ski lift where FarOut and Sauce set up camp. As we were sitting, thinking on dinner-huge storm clouds started rolling through.

I made a snap decision to go take my stuff down and set up inside the shelter where some women section hiking were already set up. They had told us there was room for us if needed.. and I didn’t want a wet tent in the morning. Once I put everything up in the shelter, claiming my spot, I headed back over to the ski lift to actually work on dinner.

We sat and chatted and watched the storm roll through. It was beautiful, but cold. While hanging out, a group of 8 ish young, loud hikers showed up. Some are setting up tents, some are taking over the shelter, all of them are currently cooking in the shelter. Lord. I’m getting so old.. because they’re annoying the crap out of me. I should have stayed out in the wind with my tent LMAO.
Lessons learned. We’ll see how this goes.

I slept in until TEN AM! Holy cow, it was amazing. I woke up to the sun shining and feeling completely refreshed. It was fantastic!

I laid around awhile, and then got to working on Andrea and my trip coming up, along with talking to my mom and trying to work on their trip to come to Maine when I get to the half way point. All of the logistics, and not knowing for certain I will be where I tell them I will be by XX date is a bit stressful. Actually, it’s a lot stressful.

So, to battle that stress, I went out to the pool. I had the whole thing to myself! One of the people working at the motel saw me out there putting on sunscreen, and he came over to skim the pool for me before I got in. This is the nicest Econo Lodge I’ve ever been to! Haha the last one we stayed at didn’t have a pool at all, and honestly if it did-I wouldn’t have gotten in it.

I swam in my sportsbra and undies and laid out in the sun-careful not to get too caught up and get burnt.. talk about making for a horrible hiking experience, it’s hard enough on its own, let’s not add tender burnt areas to the mix! I soaked up every second of this beautiful day. I stayed out there for a couple hours, then decided I better go get my tent and make sure it’s completely dried out too.

I got my tent and went outside with it in the big grassy area next to the parking lot. This property is actually quite pretty. I was laying on my towel out there in the grass while my tent was draped over a bench for maybe 25-30 minutes, when Sauce came out. He said he and FarOut were going to walk next door to a farmers market if I wanted to go with.. and then, seconds later, it started to sprinkle. I darted up and packed my stuff back up, so it wouldn’t get wet again.. and dropped it all inside, put on some clothes, and headed with them to the market. The rain didn’t last at all. Thank goodness.

When we got to the market, we ran into Curmudgeon and Derby!! They had just walked up from the trail when we got there! Lizard was on her way, too! We all caught up and shopped in the cute little market.. then gathered our nee goodies and headed back to the EconoLodge. Curmy checked in, Cholula was on her way to us in a loaner car because of a breakdown on the side of the road. She’s decided to get “off trail” technically, because of her injuries, but she’s going to be supporting Curmy the whole way by driving and being able to slack pack him and whatnot. She had taken their car to get an oil change and maintenance check for her new adventure.. and they forgot to put new oil back in the car. So, their car is at a shop having its fate determined, and she got a 2021 loaner SUV for the day. While it completely sucks, the loaner is pretty awesome.

After he checked in, Curmy, Derby, Sauce, FarOut and I went to the pool to hang out, swim and have a few beers while waiting for Lizard and Cholula. Cholula showed up first, and maybe 20 minutes later Lizard appeared! All that’s missing from our tramily is Towelie! He’s doing better but taking easy days until he gets back in the swing of things.

We all caught up and enjoyed the sun-until a thunderstorm rolled in and had us scurrying back inside. Cholula came and tossed something at me.. A BUG NET!! I wish you could understand the excitement I felt in that moment! It sounds so silly, but I wasn’t able to find any yesterday.. and it’s going to be raining for the next several days on trail, and a net means I can safely sleep in the shelter without getting attacked.. not to mention the peace it should bring while hiking too. I just have to get over the idea of something over my head. I think once I realize the horror of the alternative-I’ll manage.

We all got ready, Cholula drove Derby and Lizard to the hostel they have for the night. She came back for the rest of us, and she drove us to an outfitter in town. I got a new, lighter shirt (it claims it helps with the smell, too), some fuel and a dry bag for my electronics (my other one was holding moisture on my wet tent floor lol). We shopped, and then tried to go to the book store, but the power was out across the downtown area from the storm. So, the bookstore was closed. We tried to go to the Thai place to eat dinner-also closed because of the power outage. We were walking back to the car when we saw a place open. Union Underground was the restaurant and it was so damn good! I got Buffalo chicken Mac and cheese. So. Stinking. Good.

After dinner we just hung out a bit, talking, before heading our separate ways to get some shut eye. I’m pretty sure I was asleep minutes after getting in bed. I kinda think I should just live at the EconoLodge in Manchester, Vermont.