The Unpolished Princess

Start: Cooper Lodge (AT mi 1697.8). Stop: Inn at Long Trail (AT mi 1706). Today’s miles: 8.2 miles. Total AT mileage: 681.3 miles

I woke up so many times throughout the night.. I kept thinking mice were darting across me. When I woke up to some sunlight, I saw that Spice had turned around during the night, and let myself fall back to sleep knowing it was her moving I felt-not mice.

I got up at 7:30 and started packing.. Spice told me there were definitely mice running amuck last night. So. Disgusting. And I am beyond happy I hung my food instead of leaving it on the table. Not to mention, I literally slept with my mouth open because my nose was stuffy. Ugh. I am so creeped out!

I started walking sometime after 8:15 and took my sweet, sweet time. I was sloshing down the mountain at a pace slower than my normal, simply because I knew I was headed to the inn and they don’t “open” until 11 and the attached Irish pub doesn’t start serving lunch until 11:30. So, I took it slow. My feet did not stay dry, but the rest of me would have been if I didn’t have to put back on wet clothes.. haha. It only rained when the wind blew, aka, all the water was on the leaves..

I got to the inn just after 11:15. I got a room, but it wasn’t clean yet, so the nice gentleman let me start my laundry while I waited. I went into the little room and changed into my rain pants (that I’ve only worn at camp once to keep warm lol) and my warm jacket-and nothing else-because everything else was in the washer: 2 undies, 2 sportsbras, 2 pair of socks, 1 pair of shorts, 1 hiking short sleeve top, 1 camp long sleeve top, 1 pair of marino wool leggings, 1 rain jacket (it stunk). And that’s literally all the clothes I have with me. So weird some times, but it makes picking out an outfit real easy! Ha

Once the wash was done, I put everything (except the rain jacket) into the dryer, got it going, and then went to find the attached pub/restaurant so I could eat lunch. I sat at the bar and got a beer and a blue cheese burger. Those have legit been my favorite lately..

While I was eating, Spotts and Snapshot appeared! They got their room and as he handed them their key, he came and gave me mine, too! I so wasn’t expecting for it to be ready for a lot longer! I finished my food, paid, and then got my laundry and headed upstairs to my new home for the night. The Inn at Long Trail is a bed and breakfast and so super cute. My room is small, and the bathroom is even more so, but it feels huge in the grand scheme of things.

I showered, which is a very long endeavor these days. I usually wash my hair twice, scrub my body twice, stand under the scalding water a little longer than the person paying the water bill probably prefers. But on these cold wet days, a hot shower literally revives you!

I hung up my tent to dry, along with all my other stuff.. we call it “yard sale-ing” when you dump out all your stuff everywhere. I have 100% yard saled all over this poor room. And they have a fan-so that was set on the bed to blow into the bathroom to help the tent drying process some.

As I was messing around my room, I noticed a spot on my back was now double the size that it had been the first time I noticed it-which was on my zero in Manchester early last week. I got nervous, talked to a couple people about it (Lauren and Stacey), and decided when I went to town to resupply, I’d stop at an urgent care first to see what they thought. It’s big, red, and oval shaped.. I was certain it was Lyme’s Disease because of Towelie’s diagnosis.. but its hard to say because I don’t have any true symptoms like he had-severe fatigue and fever.

I got out to the bus stop in front of the inn at 2:15. Spotts and Snapshot showed up, too. I showed them my back and they agreed it’s better to get it checked out before I start having the bad symptoms. The bus came 5 minutes later and then headed towards Rutland, Vermont. DoubleDecker and Smiles got picked up along the way! We all got off at the transport center, they headed to Walmart, I walked the mile to urgent care.

They got me back relatively quick. I had come in just before six other people showed up, so I was grateful they didn’t bump me to treat them, although in all honesty, they looked like they needed attention more than I did. The NP that saw me didn’t seem convinced that it was Lyme. She didn’t want to test for it, since I wasn’t showing more worrisome symptoms. She checked it out and then made a comment that it could be ringworm, but it doesn’t make sense because of its location.. I mention I put everything I have in a backpack and it goes: on my back. She said she’d be back, she was going to go research it better. When she comes back, she’s determined it’s pityriasis and that it’ll go away on its own. I had showed her my heat rash, too (2 birds 1 stone and all that), and she was convinced that the heralds patch on my back was related to the heat rash. I tell her the timing doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t waiver. She makes the comment that I can “keep using over the counter hydrocortisone cream since its working.”

Y’all, I tried to be kind, but I was irritated. I pulled up my shorts and ask her if it looks like the hydrocortisone cream is actually helping. I talked her into prescribing a stronger steroid cream for that, which she did, but she said she thinks the spot on my back will go away on its own. After talking more with FarOut, telling her the conversation we had, we’re leaning more towards ringworm and I’ll pick up an antifungal as soon as I can.

I rushed to the grocery store and got my resupply for food, and then hurried over to Walmart to get the steroid cream. I was overwhelmed with everything I needed and had to do that I forgot the antifungal. I surprisingly made it back to the bus station at 5:10, and the last hourly bus picked me up at 5:15 to take me back to the inn. If I had missed it, I wouldn’t have had a ride until 8:15!

Back at the inn, I unloaded my stuff and went down to dinner. I got the Shepard’s pie and drank water.. it was delicious, but this Irish pub has nothing on Tracy Knowles’ Shepard’s pie. That’s for certain. Half way through my dinner, Spotts and Snapshot showed up. They had taken an earlier bus back from Walmart. We chatted and ate together at the bar. They’re both from Georgia, too, and I really enjoy them. They’re funny and laid back.. it’s difficult to meet someone out here that I don’t like, really. Well, besides those kids-but that’s more of an irritation of their lack of respect for others while in their group as a whole than a personal dislike.

Anyway, I finally went upstairs to my room and took another shower, lathered on my new cream, and got to work organizing my food. It’s so damn heavy on resupply day. I was going to pack my pack so I’d be ready to go in the morning, but all my stuff is still slightly damp, so I’m letting it all air out over night and I’ll pack it in the morning. When you pack every single day, you kinda get into a rhythm with it. Everything has its place and you immediately recognize when something is missing. Better to keep that routine alive. LOL

Well, it’s 10pm and my eyes are heavy.. this bed is so comfortable! I’m sure there won’t be mice running past me tonight 🙂 Goodnight, y’all.

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.

Start: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1670.3). Stop: Minerva Henchy Shelter (AT mi 1683.7). Today’s miles: 13.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 659 miles

Oh what a night. My tent started leaking because of the condensation at some point. Sadly, it was dripping on my face and coming up through the floor.. and I had to get out to pee-so that only made it worse. Suddenly, when a drop splashed my face for the billionth time, I remembered my umbrella! I pulled it out, opened it, and propped it up over my head. It worked beautifully to keep from my shoulder up dry the rest of the night.

Somehow, my sleeping quilt got damp but never soaked. I was so surprised and even more thankful. When my watch went off at 6:30, it was still pouring-so I turned it off and rolled the other way. I did this several times: wake up, decide not now, and fall back to sleep. From a laying position I could see the bottom FarOut and Sauce’s tent.. and looking the other way, I could see another couple’s tent that showed up sometime after I got inside mine last night.. just down the hill a little ways. None of these folks were up yet, so my reasoning was-why should I be?

Finally, at sometime after 7:30 I think, I had to pee-so it was time to get to packing before everything I owned was drenched. My air pad and sleeping bag liner were wet, so they didn’t get packed into the compactor bag I keep my “dry important stuff” like they normally do. I put my quilt, clothes, electronics and toiletry ditty bags in the compactor bag, compressed them down, then the pad and liner went in, then the wet food bag went on top. When my tent is wet, it and the ground cloth get stuffed in an outside pocket or get strapped to the outside somewhere. When they’re dry, they go under the food bag. Today-they were utterly soaked.

After packing, eating, and using the bathroom, I headed out. Sauce and FarOut had just gotten up, so I made sure I knew how far they planned to go before I left. For the next day or so we’ll be hiking to the same places, which I love.. nothing beats getting to camp and seeing friends, speaking of-I really miss the rest of the tramily, too. After the weekend, I’ll have to keep hiking with no zeros planned until I get to Lincoln, New Hampshire, which is where Andrea will start the whites with me. I have to manage an average of just under 14 miles a day to get there in time, which I’m pretty sure I have it worked out.. as long as nothing unforeseen happens.

Anyway, it poured almost all day. I took very few pictures because my phone was put away. I ate a snack at a shelter by a big gorgeous pond. I did end up getting one picture there before hiding my phone away. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was sad that it was cool and rainy and I couldn’t swim.

I slipped and slid all up and down the trail today. It was mud puddle after mud puddle pretty much all day long. I fell to my butt twice, although I didn’t hurt anything, and I slid and came close to falling more times than I could count. I ate lunch at a shelter off trail a bit farther than anticipated with Sauce, FarOut, and a guy doing a section hike. I don’t know that I ever learned his name. He’s a school teacher and out for a breather since school just finished.

We went the last 5 miles to camp, and I set up my wet tent, praying it would dry out enough to not literally soak my body when I got in. Shockingly, since arriving at camp, the rain has stopped and the wind has picked up. I left the vestibules open and went to get water. We all ate dinner at the shelter, SectionHiker started us a fire to enjoy.. it’s pretty chilly tonight. None of us have service, so we don’t know how chilly LOL. The couple that camped near me last night are here, Spotts and SnapShot. We ate dinner with them, and while standing around the fire, DoubleDecker and Smiles appeared! I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it was nice to catch up.

There are other people camping here tonight too, a guy we met at the RPH shelter in NY is here, a couple I passed earlier today and a lady that came into the shelter we ate lunch at all made it here, too. It’s a big crowd, but we’re all spread out nicely, so it’s wonderful.

After hanging out at the fire until close to 8pm, I slowly walked back to my tent to see what I was working with. To my complete dismay, the tent was *mostly* dry!! Not perfect, by far, but my body should be able to remain dry in it tonight. As a precaution, I went ahead and set up the umbrella, just in case the sky falls out again and it starts dripping in. I’m so so so hoping it doesn’t happen.

As I’m sitting here typing this, the wind is wiping through here and making things creek. Like branches of trees and things. It’s pretty creepy really, to think about a wet tree falling. I’m thinking it’s time to put my ear plugs in and sleep away my scary thoughts until morning, when I can see outside my tent again. Normally I like not being right on top of people, but now that I’m in a space all to myself, it’s got me creeped out for sure.

Sleep well, y’all. Hopefully I’ll have service tomorrow and I can upload yesterday and today’s posts. There are ever only 3 reasons a post of mine didn’t come out the following day-low battery, no service, or bad weather. Yesterday and today have been the last 2 combined! Haha, only so much I can do with that. I hope y’all understand 🙂 Sweet Dreams!