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Greylock

Today we started our climb of Mt. Greylock, the last big climb we’ll have for a long while. We got a late start leaving town so we stopped at a shelter about 2.5 miles and 1500 feet into the climb. So far it’s been pleasant, mostly soft dirt trail and switchbacks, a stark contrast to the vertical rock slabs of early on in Maine and New Hampshire. The only unpleasant part of today’s hike has been the excess food weight I’m carrying. 600 miles in and I still haven’t figured out the food resupplies!

Tomorrow we’ll climb another 1500 feet over 3 miles or so, then it’ll be smooth sailing to Great Barrington where we’ll be spending a little time hanging out with Chris’s childhood friend. We’ll be passing through Connecticut next, then New York soon! I wish we had time and budgetary flexibility to spend a day or two in NYC, since Chris has never been, but it’s looking like that will have to be a trip for another day.

Looks like we’ll have the shelter to ourselves tonight. It will be nice not having to be quiet while packing up in the morning. We have a 20+ mile day tomorrow so gotta get up early!

-Kylie “Sprinkles”

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Out With the Old…

I got new shoes!

And a new tarp!

I have a hard time believing how much I enjoy just sleeping on a groundsheet and sleep pad with no bug net. It helps that it’s already getting cold at night, so the bugs are minimal. I tried to set the tarp up in storm mode last night because we were expecting bad weather, but it only sprinkled a little. I’m partly grateful for that but I do need to test my set up sometime! Anyways, it is past my bedtime!

-Kylie “Sprinkles”

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Lunch, then Evening Tarping on a Platform

Last shelter is the day, but too early to stop.
The head side has a vestibule
Tons of space
Umbrella blocking the wind and rain

This wasn’t bad for my first tarp pitch on a tent platform. I’m pretty pleased this morning as everything was dry and nothing blew away. Tarping requires a little more improvisation but is often frustratingly fun.

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Vermud?

Caught the most beautiful sunrise this morning from the Kid Gore shelter. Despite the muddy terrain, Vermont has been very good to us! We’ve been getting trail magic around every corner. I have a variety of instant coffee packets to try and a new Mountain House meal thanks to the kindness of section hikers. I love this state! Well, time to hike!-Kylie

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Friends

Our awesome friend Holly sent us a care package. So many beans! ? We’ve been so spoiled recently! One of our favorite trail meals is these SantaFe dehydrated refried beans mixed with instant rice and taco seasoning. Just add hot water, then crumble up cheez-its or fritos or whatever chips you have and roll the bean mix and crunchy bits up in tortillas! Or just eat with a spoon. Delicious!

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Killington

We got to ride the Gondola down and back up Killington mountain! To be fair, I don’t think we were supposed to ride back up for free, but the guy at the bottom let it slide for a couple of silly thru-hikers. Yay for more kindness of strangers!

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Foot Updates and Other News

We are back on trail and after 22 miles my ankle is doing pretty well.  We passed by Linda and Randy’s porch and we’re invited for coffee during the morning showers. The rain stayed with us for all of our 15 miles, so at 6:30 we arrived at Dan’s barn on RT. 12 and decided to stop for the night. It sounds like we know these people well, but you get to know the trail angel around the corner or the coffee-for-donations hangouts miles in advance. News of the upcoming trail is written in guides or quickly carried by passing hikers. Some folks are legendary in the trail community.

After we spoke with Dan and got the rules of the house, I headed back to the trailhead with trowel and tp to dig a cathole. Girls get to use the house, guys get to use the woods. I barely made it through the meadow into some trees and passed some animal’s scat along the way. I wondered about it, but there was no time to investigate–I was on a mission. So, I dig, I squat, I get settled, and I hear something large behind me lumbering in my direction…

The frightening beast of the woods

…It’s a heard of cows, all poking their heads into my little patch of trees. One in particular, now named Momma Cow, got right in my face to sniff me. So, I hung out for 20 more minutes, made friends with most of the herd, and went to retrieve Kylie and introduce her to my new friends. We get to hike by them tomorrow morning on the way out. I hope Momma Cow remembers me.

Momma Cow.
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It Could Be Worse and in a Worse Place

Before proceeding I must preface this post with …

Everything is OK. I’m doing fine. This isn’t a show stopper.

The morning after Smarts Mountain and the firetower, while trucking along a quartzite ridge, I rolled my ankle and went down. It hurt like hell. But, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t make it another 25 miles and two more days to the next town. And here I still am, in Hanover, NH and at the Dartmouth dining hall. I’ll take one more zero and reevaluate. It feels alright, really. But I’m glad I am where I am. What is an adventure without the unexpected?

This town is incredibly hospitable to hikers. David, a trail angel and Dartmouth professor, gave us a ride to Lebanon for errands, students at Dartmouth perform trail magic and supply hikers with their extra dining passes (all you can eat, too!), several angels offer rooms to hikers for free, and the trail itself passes through Main Street. It couldn’t be a better situation to take a couple of days to heal.

A HUGE thank you to David for the rides and town history, Jennie Anderson of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church for the bunks, and all the students at Dartmouth who have made us feel so welcomed. And thanks for Jennie’s dog for knowing how to hang out with coffee-drinking hikers.