Nan's 2014 Appalachian Trail Journal

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August 31, 2014

8/13 Taking a zero day in Dalton, MA, because heavy rain is predicted for all day and into the night. It did let up enough this afternoon to walk to the ice cream shop and get a big hot fudge sundae.

8/14 602.9 miles to Katahdin. Left Dalton today about 7:00 after eating some breakfast food out of our food bags trying to make them a little lighter. It was cloudy and cool but not raining. It stayed cool all day and the sun barely peeked out. Most of today was a pretty good trail with little change in elevation. After hiking 9+ miles we came into Cheshire where we had lunch. We then went looking for a store to see about buying something warm to wear. It is supposed to be in the 40’s tonight. This is August!!! I don’t have clothes with me for 40^(0) weather. No luck on a store so we headed out of town and started the big climb from 980’ to 3,491 up Mt. Greylock, the highest peak in MA. Since it was going to be so cold, we decided to spend the $37 for a bunk in the lodge. Several other thru hikers are here, Senator and Ravioli. Another young man we have been seeing over the last few weeks was here but decided to hike to the next shelter. 17.2 miles for the day.

8/15 Mile 1,596 done and 589.7 to go. We are in VT now camping at the Seth Warner shelter. Just 13.2 miles today but it felt like a really hard day. The descent from Mt. Greylock was horrible. The trail is very steep and rocky and has a lot of erosion. It took us three hours to descend. Of course, there were several other peaks to go up and over, not all downhill. All I want is a normal trail that you can just walk on.

8/16 Saturday, mile point 1,607.1 with 578.2 miles to go. 11.5 miles today into Bennington, VT. There is a long steep descent to VT9 with some stone steps. It is very nerve wracking and took us a long time. The trail crossed VT9 five miles east of Bennington. We had planned to hitch a ride from a passing car but we were lucky because there was a couple just coming into the parking lot after a hike and they gave us a ride. We had a mail drop at the Autumn Inn Motel and after a shower, we walked into town for dinner. We had a good meal at the Madison Brew Co. and then returned to our room for the night. We were awakened at 11:15 P.M. by our door opening and slamming against the security chain. The door had a standard door lock, not a card key. Obviously, there was another key that fit our room lock. After the person went away, Freckles got up to check the door and make sure that it was locked. While she was at the door, I got up and went into the bathroom. When I came out, she was already back in bed not knowing that I was in the bathroom. There were no lights on so, when the bathroom door opened, you can just imagine her reaction not knowing who was in the room. After things finally settled down, we both got a good night’s sleep.

8/17 563.8 miles to Katahdin. We hiked 14.4 miles today to Kid Gore Shelter and camping area. Got an early morning shuttle from the motel at $5 each and were on the trail by 8:15 for the steep climb out of Rt. 9. We are still seeing five or six south bounders and are still hiking around a group going north. Poncho has been fun to talk to along with her hiking partner whose name I can’t remember. There is also a young woman, who we met when we stayed at the lodge on Mt. Greylock, named Ruthie. She is hiking the Long Trail which goes the whole north/south length of Vermont (270+ miles) and is concurrent with the AT for the first 105 miles. Anyway, I don’t think that Ruthie is very excited about the trip. This is her first backpack trip and it seems that her mother is more interested in her hiking than Ruthie is. I have given her the trail name “Little Bird” because she seems to have been pushed out of the nest and forced to fly. When I told her about the name, she said that she liked it and was going to keep it.

8/18 Monday, 548.8 miles to Katahdin. We camped just short of Stratton Pond Shelter after a 15.0 mile day. This really a nice shelter operated by the Green Mt. Club. It has a caretaker and charges $5 a night. We are not staying at the shelter though because our tents are wet from the rain last night and we wanted to set them up to dry but there is no tenting allowed. It continues to be unseasonably cold and today is the first day that we have seen the sun for a while. The weather report that we got in Bennington had said that it was going to be in the 80s. Boy, were they wrong! I had sent my warmer clothes to Glencliff, about 150 miles north of here expecting normal August weather. So far, I am getting by but I would like to have a fleece for the evenings and for when we stop for lunch breaks. I’m hoping that it warms up a little.

Today we had a big climb over Stratton Mtn. Now that we are in VT, the monster mountains begin again and we will have many before the big one, Katahdin. We are continuing to see and hike with Little Bird. She told Freckles that she was glad that we were hiking with her. She said that she only cried once today. It’s starting to get cold and I need to crawl into my nice warm sleeping bag.

8/19 Tuesday, mile point 1,652 with 533.3 left to go. Hiked 15.5 miles today. We are camping just short of Mad Tom Notch. We found a nice level spot and set up our tents for the night, tired and hungry.

8/20 Wednesday, 520.5 miles to the Big K. 12.8 mile hike today into Danby where we had a mail drop of food and other supplies. We are camped at a funky little campground named Otter Creek. It’s not very well run and the car that they came to pick us up in was a mess. They did have farm fresh eggs for sale so we bought a dozen and had egg sandwiches for dinner. Yum Yum and we still have two left for breakfast. It got nice and warm today and the sun shone all day but it looks like, maybe, more rain tonight. Last night, a group of some kind of birds, baby turkeys, I think, came running past our tents. They were running into the guide lines—very strange.

We ran into Sockless and Blazer today. They were flipping around and were hiking southbound when we saw them south of Damascus. In Pennsylvania they were hiking northbound while we were hiking southbound. Today we met and everybody is hiking northbound. Sockless and Blazer told us that Grizzly was off of the trail with Lyme disease.

8/21 Hiked 1,679.0 miles so far. 506.3 to go and we did 14.2 today. We left Otter Creek campground about 7:45 in a pretty good rain. That was after eating the rest of the eggs. Had two pretty good hills and a muddy trail. It stopped raining about noon but the sun never came out. It started to rain later in the afternoon so we found a campsite and pitched the tents. Guess we will be carrying heavy water logged tents again tomorrow.

8/22 Now 498.9 to Katahdin. Hip, Hip, Hooray!! Under 500 miles to go. I remember how exciting it was hitting the 500 miles mark of hiked trail in Virginia but it is much more exciting when it is getting that close to the finish. We only went 7.4 miles today. It rained all day and we were getting cold and wanted to get into dry clothes. Stopped at Governor Clement Shelter which seems to be the home base of the Ridge Runner. The shelter is stone and it has a big stone fireplace. The Ridge Runner worked hard to get a fire going to warm the place and get some of the dampness out. Never was a good roaring fire but it was pleasant. Five other thru hikers stopped by but all decided to push on in the rain. I was happy just laying around in my sleeping bag and staying nice and warm.

8/23 Katahdin is 484.0 trail miles away. We hiked 15.4 of them today. Another day with no sun shine but it is getting warmer and is not raining. Today we had the big climb over Killington. The climb was fairly gradual but very rocky and rooty, and there is the mud. Ran into Stud Muffin at Cooper Lodge on Killington Summit. He said that we had made the right decision by staying at Governor Clement Shelter last night because the hike up Killington was terrible. With all of the rain it was like hiking up a creek and the roof leaked in the shelter. He and Glorious Laughter were going into Rutland and he said that he was going to eat everything in sight. This was my second climb over Killington with no view. We had planned to camp at Kent Pond for showers and laundry and dinner at the lodge but found out that they don’t take hikers on weekends. Guess that they have enough other business and don’t want any scruffy thru hikers hanging around. We found a level spot in the trees to pitch our tents and ate our trail food.

8/24 Hiked 15.6 miles today to Wintturi Shelter. Well, the sun finally came out and the temperature got into the 80s. It really felt good. We stopped for a long morning break to try and get our shoes and socks and some of our other gear dried out. I forgot to mention that we had two creek fordings in pretty deep water the day that it rained when we hiked into Governor Clement Shelter. We have not been able to get our boots dry. One big climb up Quimby Mtn. and lots of other ups and downs. The trail was not too bad, no big rock scrambles but a pretty hard day. I didn’t get into Wintturi Shelter until 7:00. Freckles had hiked ahead when I hiked 0.1 mile up to an overlook. It had been cloudy for so many days that I just wanted to enjoy a good view of Vermont. There was a couple at the shelter doing a 3-4 day section hike. Last year they climbed Kilimanjaro and both said that the AT is harder.

8/25 Hiked 13.5 miles today leaving 454.9 yet to go. Nice sunny warm day. We were able to get all of our gear dry. Finally. But boy does everything smell funny after being wet for so long. We met a group of Rhodes Scholars (used to be Elder Hostel) at an overlook and they gave us an apple, a banana, and an orange. Tasted good. It was a very hard day with lots of climbs and ups and downs but the trail was nice. Not much drinking water on this section but someone had left trail magic at a road crossing. Jugs of water, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas. So it was a pretty good day food wise. We are once again stealth camping. Tomorrow we will be going into Norwich, VT, to resupply and hopefully shower and get some laundry done. Then we cross the Connecticut River in Hanover, NH.

On to Katahdin.
Drag’n Fly

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