Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: Stratton Pond Shelter (AT mi 1643.4). Stop: Manchester, Vermont (AT mi 1654). Today’s miles: 10.6 miles. Total AT mileage: 629.3 miles

I didn’t sleep that well. My legs and feet wouldn’t relax, minutes after I’d get comfortable, one leg would jerk out or a sharp pain would sear through my foot. All part of the adventure I guess.
I got up just after 6, packed and walked down to the bear box. Because it was so far from the shelter, and I didn’t want to backtrack, I ate my breakfast and brushed my teeth sitting on top of the bear box. I was on the trail minutes before 7am.. and I was on a mission: get to town.

I crossed paths with a few people walking south, but saw no one going north. The trail had a couple steep descents, but they were short and not too terrible. The rest of the trail was absolutely perfect-minus the bugs. It was smooth and calmly wound its way around.. if it went up, it was short and easy, if it went down, it was also short and easy.

The only complaint of the morning was those pesky bugs. If governments aren’t using bugs as a torture method, they’re losing a lot of valuable intel. I know I’d sing like a canary to make those damn bugs go away, and I haven’t even done anything. Question 1: “will my cell be gnat, mosquito, and fly free?” “Ok, yep. I did it. I did all of it.”

Anyway. Besides swatting at bugs and making mental lists of things I need to get while in town, the only other eventful thing to happen was another less than graceful fall. Luckily, I didn’t hurt anything, other than my pride of course. It doesn’t matter how much tread your shoes have when you step sideways on a wet rock. Oh, and I crossed paths with a snake that had his little head up and staring at me. God, they are SO creepy!

I got to the parking lot at 11:15am.. 10.6 miles in just over 4 hours.. go ahead and rename me TownLegs #2. It’s close to 4 miles to the Econo Lodge, so I sat down with my pack off, took my shoes off, and relaxed a bit waiting on FarOut and Sauce to come. No point in trying to hitch or secure a ride without them, since we’re going to the same place, the room is in Sauce’s name, and it was too early to check in. Not to mention I had no service.

Well, that was the case up until 3 minutes of typing that out.. because Ava, the caretaker from the Stratton Pond Shelter, showed up at that moment and asked if I needed to get to town. She was on her way to a training thing and saw me sitting in the parking lot, so she turned around and came to give me a ride! She promised it was easy to hitch from there, so I got in her white smart car (it felt like my pack took up the entire truck/backseat lol). She drove me to the EconoLodge, as I was walking in, FarOut called. They had just missed Ava! But the 3 of us would never have fit in her car anyway. They would try to hitch and call me back if they were unsuccessful, because I could ask the EconoLodge people to go get them if they had no luck.

I walked in at 11:47am, and the sweet manager let me check into my room, even without Sauce present. Cool. I ended up liking the room immediately, so I came back to the desk and booked the next night, too. Lol

FarOut texted that they got a ride but got him to take them past EconoLodge to town, so they could start laundry. I showered and then got my dirty clothes together and met them in town. I started my laundry, and walked across the street to where they were eating pizza and ordered some food. We sat at the bar and chatted while I waited on my pizza. By the time it came out, I had to go put my clothes in the dryer.. which worked out perfectly since the pizza was too hot to eat just yet anyway. FarOut and I ran across the street (ran is a bit of an exaggeration), and switched our clothes, then came back.

We finished eating and went to the grocery store in the next little plaza. It’s so hard to resupply sometimes. I’m getting sick of all the food there is to eat out in the woods.. but it just makes me appreciate town food a little more. We got all we needed, walked back to the laundromat to bring our clothes back over to the grocery store where the shuttle driver was picking us up from. He arrived 20 minutes later and toted us back to the EconoLodge.

They showered and got settled into their room, I laid on the king sized bed, chatted with Lauren a bit, then promptly logged into Hulu and caught up on some shows. It was my first time watching a show with intention since I’ve started this hike. It kinda felt weird. I’ve watched tv once or twice but it’s just been whatever someone else turned on.. it was actually therapeutic to watch something I’ve been following. I actually relaxed and enjoyed every second.

FarOut ended up ordering pizza from the same place we ate lunch at.. mainly because there were no other delivery options and everything close was closed. Good thing that we really liked it! When the food came, I went and ate with them in their room while we watched the Vanderbilt/Mississippi State baseball game. They went to Vandy so Sauce was definitely following it closely lol

At 9:45, I gave up on the game and retreated to my big bed. I bet I’m going to sleep so so well tonight. Today has been just the relief I needed! Not to mention all the words of encouragement I’ve received since posting about my nightmare-ish day yesterday. I really love my tribe. You people are so loved and appreciated. Sincerely. Thank you for being so kind to me.

Sweet dreams.

Start: Glastenbury Mountain Firetower (AT mi 1624.3). Stop: Stratton Pond Shelter (AT mi 1643.4). Today’s miles: 19.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 618.7 miles

Today.. well I’ll be honest, today sucked. It was a mentally tough day and mix that with long miles and 2 falls, you get a real pissed off me. Let’s just start from the beginning..

I woke up off and on all night to loud popping noises on my tent. When I got up at 11:30pm to pee-I realized it was rain. The firetower didn’t help prevent any rain falling on my tent, it actually made the cumulated drops that much bigger to splat all over the place. While I was up, I moved my pack to where it would stay dry, and then went back to sleep. I woke up again around 3am to realize I must have not covered my ground tarp completely, since beads of water were coming through the floor of my tent and my stuff was getting wet. Awesome.

I put electronics on top of other things, and did my best to keep my sleeping bag dry, then tried to sleep again. I woke up a little after 5 am to my watch alarm, we were supposed to be getting up to watch the sunrise from the tower, but it was pouring rain, so I turned it off and fell back to sleep. I thought I’d hear people up and moving, but I didn’t, until around 6:45, I roll over and see FarOut’s shoes at my tent. It wasn’t until then that I realized she was talking to me! Lol I guess I got my good sleep from 5-6:45.

Sauce and her stuff got soaked this morning too, they were all packed and heading out. Knowing that, I got my butt in gear and was packed and leaving a little after 7:15. I felt off though. Maybe still stuck in a sleepy fog or something. Sometime around 9:30, Wizard, Killer, Lilo, and Sweeps passed me. I thought they had already left this morning because their food bags were gone, but apparently I beat them out of camp.

We leapfrogged each other all day. The trail started down Glastenbury Mountain, which was painful on stiff feet. I was completely starved by 11:30 and searching for the next shelter so I could eat my lunch and lay out my tent to dry. I was less than a quarter mile from it when I slipped on a rock and fell all the way to the ground.

Surprisingly, I hit my right knee instead of the same spot I keep torturing on my left knee. Now, I need you to picture this. The trail is dark brown, almost black mud, with big rocks thrown in for fun. To my left is a beaver bog. Bugs are absolutely everywhere, including burrowing into my hair and trying to get into my ears. And it’s muggy as hell, so sticky humid that my actual legs were dripping with sweat, along with every inch of the rest of my body. And down I go, into murky, mushy, mud. And you know what? I sat there a minute and contemplated life- even the bugs thought I was a disaster, because while I was splayed out, attempting to brush off the mud from my legs, hips, arms.. none of them were swarming me. Hell, I’ll just stay down here, then.

I had gotten back in front of Wizard and them, so I just knew they’d come walking up on me while laid out.. but to my benefit, they didn’t. I got up, cussed a bit because the bugs were back, and carried on. A whole 6 minutes later, I was at the shelter, laying out my tent, getting water, and eating lunch.. while I was grabbing the water, Wizard and crew appeared and ate lunch with me. I really did just barely get by without witnesses to my fall and then meltdown. Cool.

I stayed almost an hour at the shelter. Killer gave me a little pep talk before they left (they all left before I did, I just wasn’t mentally ready for the climb we were in, or the next one either for that matter). It was helpful, and I’m grateful to her for her motivation. I put on some music, Bruno Mars Radio on Pandora, and jammed out. Granted, it was still sticky, hot, and miserable.. but I was in a better headspace.

I passed them again while they were getting water, I still had a liter from lunch so I was good. Sweeps said a sweet little, “you can still take a break if you need one, even if you don’t need water..” which was so kind, but I knew if I stopped so would my momentum and motivation, and I had almost 9 more miles to go, 5 of which were up Stratton Mountain, an 1800ft change in elevation from where I was standing. I had to keep moving!

That climb was nice starting out, and if I really think about it, the whole thing actually wasn’t bad, but I was plum miserable because of the bugs and heat. I tried like hell to make myself stay positive, but there’s only so many times you can smack yourself in the head trying to get a fly out of your hair before you’re angry at everything. The climb started to get tough, so I decided to multitask to keep my motivation up. I would upload a picture to the blog, while it was loading I’d hike up hill, when it would “save” I would pause for a breather and to upload the next one. I did that until I uploaded all the pictures for yesterday’s post, and then I sat on a rock and set up the actual post. I won’t lie, when it said “published!” I was sad because I knew it was time to get moving and I had nothing else to distract me besides Bruno.

Back to climbing I went. 2 miles from the top, I chugged the rest of my water. My app said there were at least 3 streams to get water from between the top and the shelter I was hiking to. One of the streams was only 0.2 down from the top! Perfect! So, up, up, up I went. I saw the tower on top of the mountain, and I walked right passed it because I was so thirsty, all I could think about was going that 0.2 downhill to water.

I went 0.2 down.. and saw a mosquito infested trickle. There was a trail to the side that went back UP. That was apparently where the good water was coming out. But the bugs were so thick, I frustratingly kept walking downhill. I checked my app: next stream is 1.4 miles away. Fine. Down, down, painfully down I go.. swatting at bugs and swearing that when I get to town I’ll do like Wendy said and find a bug-net for my head, claustrophobia be damned. I get to where the stream is supposed to be, I walk over the rocks that it’s supposed to be pouring over, under, and around. Not one single drop. Seriously?! The words that came out of my mouth would have made Samuel L Jackson blush. I was pissed. And really freaking thirsty.

I look at my app, next stream: 1.2 miles. Jesus. I kept hiking. My feet were throbbing, my knees were aching, and I was all around over this whole day. I don’t care how pretty the views were or how badass it was to complete what I have. I was done. As I was angrily stomping along, I was quickly humbled by a root I didn’t see, that I proceeded to trip over and come down hard on my left knee, scraping the crap out of my shin. You know, the one that’s recovering from shin splints.

Y’all. I rolled onto my butt and just sat there. Bugs swarming, tears swelling in my eyes but not dropping, chin starting to shake. I really think I would have had a full blown cry session if I wasn’t so damn dehydrated. I then got mad that my tears wouldn’t even fall. I looked at my phone. That stream was now only 0.4 miles away, and the shelter was only 0.8 from where I sat.

I took a deep breath, collected myself and got up. I slowly walked to the water like the most pitiful thing you’ve ever seen. Like I had been jumped and my dog was stolen. Each pole was hanging by my side, my pack wasn’t even fastened all the way. I just trudged along watching every step like a hawk. When I got to the bridge with the creek rambling under it, I squealed I was so thrilled to finally have water! I dropped my pack and poles, got my bag, and filtered a liter, then drank half of it immediately.

I put my pack back on and walked the 0.4 to the shelter. Sauce was cooking dinner, and I was so happy to see him that the tears came back.. lol.. they still didn’t fall, but I knew I was one “aww buddy” away from completely losing it. Emotions just take over sometimes. I collapsed on the shelter floor, and he told me they had a tough time today, too. Then FarOut walked up, she had just swam at the pond down the trail a bit, and said she felt much better.

She could see in my face that I had a hard day, she confided in me that she did, too. And then, she kindly helped me put up my tent in the last flat spot while we commiserated. Man, these two really are solid in the friend department. It’s so difficult to adequately explain this adventure we’re on, so that you fully understand it.

Sometimes I don’t even understand why I have this pull to do it, because it is so absolutely hard at times. I’m beyond grateful that I have found people on this journey. I can’t imagine being solo and then having a day like today.. and not having someone who understands and just went through the exact same shit as I did.. I don’t know that I’d have it in me to continue. I am stubborn, so maybe I don’t give my mental strength enough credit.. but you get my point. I’m so very grateful for my tramily.

Anyway. I went down to the pond with Kat, a nurse doing a section hike that got in roughly the same time I did. I got my water bag full, then got down to my undies and hopped in. She probably thought I was nuts, with my rashy thighs out for anyone to see.. but I definitely didn’t care one bit. I swam out until I couldn’t touch, I scrubbed what I could of my body with my sponge (my shin stung in the water like crazy), I let the water “wash” my hair. It was the best part of my whole day, and I’m so glad I got in!

I got out and put on my dry sleep clothes, not caring that I had to get naked to do so. And then we walked back up to the shelter. I filtered my water, ate some ramen, and quickly put my bag in the bear box, went to the bathroom, and headed to my tent. FarOut and Sauce had stopped by while I was eating to confirm our game plan for tomorrow. All three of us pretty much instantly agreed that we need a zero. So, tomorrow, we’ll hike 10.7 miles to a road, hitch to town, stay in the EconoLodge, and if it looks decent enough when we get there, we’ll book another night.

It’s kind of perfect, because that zero will give Lizard, Derby, and Curmudgeon time to catch up to us! Even if we don’t get to hike out of town together (they will probably want a zero after all this crap, too), at least we’ll get to see each other! I really hope so anyway. I miss our big group.
I’m laying in my tent now, completely sore and very tired. I wish I could teleport to that EconoLodge. Goodnight, y’all.

Start: Congdon Shelter (AT mi 1609.6). Stop: Glastenbury Mountain Firetower (AT mi 1624.3). Today’s miles: 14.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 599.6 miles

I slept in again today. I didn’t get up until after 7am and it felt so amazing. I love that I’m sleeping better, it truly is a game changer.

I packed and ate breakfast like every other morning, and left camp before FarOut and Sauce. The miles went slowly for the first half of the day. At 10 am I was starving and on top of a “hill” so I decided to sit down, enjoy a snack, and update the blog. Having service up there was perfect for getting the pictures to upload. It really does take forever sometimes.

Sauce and FarOut caught up to me while I was sitting there. They stopped for a little snack too, and then carried on. I didn’t see them again until I made it to camp. The climbs were tough, but I seemed to be handling them better. There was one steep downhill that jarred my knees pretty bad, but that’s nothing new. Once I got to the bottom, I crossed the street and a man, Steve, gave me a Gatorade. He is a shuttle driver for hikers, and offers trail magic when he has it. The couple he was dropping off was some folks I hadn’t met before, but she told me she just came from urgent care and they told her she had scabies. Welp. I’m quite thankful my stupid thigh sweat rash isn’t scabies. I’ll quit complaining now. Lol

I thanked Steve profusely for the drink, and talked to him a bit while I chugged it. He had a sticker on his car that said “Hawk Support Crew.” He’s one of the many followers of Hawk and happens to set up trail magic when he’s around.. how dang cool is that?!

When I left Steve and couple, the trail went over a pretty creek on a bridge, and then right up the next mountain. It was smoother than the downhill across the street though, and I didn’t stop nearly as much as I have been on climbs before now. Once at the top, the trail meandered down and around before doing the same thing again. It went like this for quite some time. Up, down, up, over and around, up.. but it was enjoyable. Even with the muggy overcast day.

I ate lunch at a shelter and quickly left afterwards. There was a dude hanging out with his dog, which looked very skinny, and the dude was sleeping in the shelter in his sleeping bag-it was high 70s today and so muggy that I could wring out my bandana from all the sweat it was absorbing. I’m sure the guy was fine, but I felt uncomfortable, so I didn’t stick around.
Once I left, it was back to the same ol thing. The trail reminded me of a jungle today, and the wind kept whipping through the trees.. making me think a storm was brewing. So far, still no rain. I’ll call it a success.

I got to the shelter we were aiming for and filtered water and collected another 2L to take with me up the mountain a bit further. FarOut had messaged me when they got there that the tent sites were crap and they were heading north to the firetower to camp. When I was filtering my water, Lilo and Sweeps said that’s what they and Wizard and Killer were doing, too.

I hauled myself up the rest of the mountain (a whole 0.3 miles, but with an added 8 pounds in water weight, it wasn’t a quick 0.3..) and spotted the firetower! I was expecting a bald, exposed mountaintop, but to my surprise it’s covered with pines.. I ended up setting my tent up right under the tower, as it was the flattest spot not directly on top of Sauce and FarOut lol.

After setting up and cussing the massive amount of bugs (gnats, flies, mosquitos), I climbed the 7 fights of stairs of the firetower. Holy cow was it gorgeous up there!? Mountain views were seen at every single turn, a full 360 of stunning. Plus the wind was still nuts so there were no bugs! An added bonus.

I came down and cooked my dinner and filtered my other 2L of water for tomorrow. The bugs were driving me so insane that I ended up carrying my bowl of pasta sides half way back up the firetower.. just to have some room to breathe and attempt to eat. We made our plan for the next couple of days, including a big mile day tomorrow to be able to get into town early-ish on Monday. I’m not sure why I’m so excited about the idea of a hotel, since I’ve been sleeping well.. I think it’s more of the guarantee of closed doors without bugs maybe?

Either way, I’m ready to get this hard day out of the way so I can take it easy on Monday. Oh, also: update on Towelie-he’s starting to feel some better and is going to zero again tomorrow and then attempt some miles. I appreciate y’all for the prayers, I know he does, too.

With that, I’m rolling over and planning to sleep to the sounds of the wind howling and pretend it’s killing off all the bugs for tomorrow 🙂 goodnight!