Appalachian Trail: Days 98-111

Day 98 - June 6th

Daily miles: 17.6

Official distance covered on trail: 1541.5

Ok, I concede defeat: I already like my trail runners better than my boots. I am already switching my allegiance for long distance hikes to trail runners. Y'all happy???

The camping rules in Massachusetts are pretty strict, and there are no stealth sites throughout the state (or at least any that are technically allowed; I'm sure some people have made makeshift sites, but you're not supposed to), so our options for a few days are either shorter than we want or longer than we want by like 5 miles in each direction. Today, we opted for shorter. That also allowed us to get a late start out of town, so we all slept in past 7:00 and got to eat a good breakfast! Plus I caught a few episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, so it was a great morning.

Today was very hot, but at least it was a dry heat. It's easier to breathe without having to sift through all the moisture in the air for usable oxygen. At one point, we passed a group of cyclists while in a field parallel to a road, and I heard a woman say to her friends, "I would not want to be backpacking today." But really it was pretty manageable, especially since there were a lot of good water sources along the way! We also took long breaks every few miles because we could (and to prevent ourselves from overheating.)

Hiking in heat is tough. Hiking with pre-period cramps is way tougher. Being a menstruating thruhiker is a challenge.

The worst part of the heat is the bugs. I don't even want to know how many mosquito bites I have. We all took to our tents earlier than usual so we could get in a lot of scratching before bed. Doesn't that sound pleasant?

Day 99 - June 7th

Daily miles: 18.9

Official distance covered on trail: 1560.4

I picked 5 ticks and 1 slug off of my body today. That's all the summary you need.

Just kidding, today wasn't all bad.

The weather is just as hot as yesterday, and definitely more humid, which made the long uphills that started our day way harder. I felt like I could never keep up enough water intake for how much I was losing. Definitely had to take a bunch of breaks to make sure I didn't overheat.

Fortunately, around the halfway point for us, there was a cabin and campsite with access to Upper Goose Pond. The cabin is still closed, but the campsite is still usable, and there was still pond access! We all took a dip in the pond to cool off and let ourselves dry in the sun. The biggest downside is that it added an extra mile to our day, so really we did closer to 20, but it hit the spot in the peak heat of the day! We saw a bunch of people out on kayaks and boats and kept wishing people would offer us drinks (because what boating experience doesn't include alcohol, you know?), but alas. Definitely would love to return to kayak in the future.

The rest of the day was just getting through. It wasn't even hard, but the break just made me want to keep breaking and not have to keep hiking. But we got to camp with plenty of daylight to spare and got in some post-dinner euchre, which is always a good time. The shelter we're in is really nice, except I can still hear mosquitoes buzzing around, even though it's 9pm and mostly dark. I'm waiting for it to get cool tonight because I'm already wearing my leggings and fleece to try to keep them off my skin.

Day 100 - June 8th

Daily miles: 20.5

Official distance covered on trail: 1580.9

Hit the big 100 today! Feels like we've been on the trail forever and ever - good times and great times and bad times and worse times, fun hikes and rocky hikes and entire days of just getting through hikes. At our campsite, we found an unopened bottle of champagne, which felt like it was just for us, just for this occasion.

Got some trail magic pretty early on, which felt like a good sign for the day! The watermelon was especially excellent.

We crossed through two towns today: Dalton and Cheshire. The trail went through both so we didn't have to hitch in. We stopped for lunch in Dalton and are spending the night at a campsite in Cheshire.

This campsite is so nice. There's a bear box for our food; there's a spigot with potable water; the port-a-potty is exceptionally clean; there are bikes to borrow for getting around town; there's a sheltered space with a multitude of outlets for charging our stuff, which was also a nice space to hang out when it was raining; and tons of volunteers come through to make sure we're taken care of.

One guy, who called himself the Polish Hermit, brought us some drinks and snacks and is bringing everyone coffee in the morning. He said he does this because during the Depression, his grandparents' house was marked as a good place for people to get food if they hitched on a passing train. One time, a stranger knocked and asked for food, and when his grandmother went to fulfill the request, she got sidetracked and forgot about him. When she checked for him later, he was gone. He said his grandmother was haunted by this for the remainder of her life - her accidental neglect of this stranger in need. So he brings food to thruhikers at this campsite in honor of her memory.

The rain held off for a few hours in the evening before resuming around 8:00, and it hasn't let up since. It's been a pretty steady drizzle, so hopefully nothing gets too soaked through.

Also, today's our last full day in Massachusetts!

Day 101 - June 9th

Daily miles: 21.5

Official distance covered on trail: 1602.4

101 days and I'm finally experiencing the dreaded butthole chafing. Everyone's complained about it and I'd just assumed I was invincible, but alas: even the mightiest fall. Also have a rash on my back from sweating so much under my sports bra and an open sore on the top of my left foot from ??? Isn't hiking so glamorous?!

We climbed a mountain today for the first time in forever. We got above 3000 ft for the first time since Shenandoah. Mt. Graylock even has a lodge at the top so we were able to stop in for lunch. Took a loooong break there, because we could.

Ending the day in Vermont with 590 miles left in our journey. The first 105 miles of Vermont overlap with the Long Trail, which is supposed to be just beautiful, and at camp, we met a bunch of people who are hiking the LT and just started today. Their enthusiasm and energy made us all reminiscent about the beginning of our hike all those many days ago. We started saying things like "I'm going to miss..." as if we don't still have 5 weeks to go. But really, 5 weeks is not that long in hiker time.

Day 102 - June 10th

Daily miles: 25.9

Official distance covered on trail: 1628.3

Today can be divided into two distinct parts for me.

I woke up feeling incredible. I slept so well last night. It was perfectly cool outside so my sleeping bag was comfortable instead of stifling like it has been of late. It may be the first time on trail I've slept through the night. The only time I woke up awake enough to check the time was at 4:45, which is close enough to when we've been waking up recently (around 5:30). I would have been ready to go, but Mitch wasn't ready to wake up until about 6, and sharing a tent, you can't really start doing things until the other person is ready.

The first 13 miles were great. The scenery in Vermont has been very serene: lots of pine, lots of ponds. Even the bad hills didn't feel that bad. Even when I (and Mitch and Wilson, separately) got badly lost at a wrong turn and added about a mile to our day, it was more of a laughing matter than a frustration. I felt full of energy and ready to take on the challenges of the day, and I beat Mitch and Wilson up the biggest climb of our day (I mean, I got a head start, but they always pass me when I start before them), so I felt pretty dang good! Our breaks were fun, too - at one, we all did some apartment hunting (very quarter life crisis of us), and at another, we played the card game Egyptian Rat Screw with some hikers who just finished a section of the Long Trail.

I must have used up all my good energy in the first half of the day, because the second half was a tough one. Thought I got lost again because the blazes were faded and few and far between, so I backtracked to the last intersection, but it turns out I was right the first time, so that was annoying. Rolled my ankles and tripped and fell many times each.

When I finally got to the shelter 4 miles before the one we're staying at tonight to get water, everything just came bubbling up and I couldn't help but just sob. The bugs were so unbearable, at one point, I looked at my arm and saw no fewer than 6 bugs crawling around on that one arm, and I couldn't move it because it was holding my water bottle and my other hand was holding the water filter; and the Ziplock mechanism of my water bladder has been finicky, and it took a lot of time to finagle closed, and during that time, the bugs kept swarming my face; and someone's dog was barking too much; and my hip belt has been digging into my hip bones in a really uncomfortable way recently because they protrude more than usual and now I have a bruised and rashy left hip; and I started my period today, and the menstrual cup situation is still inconvenient; and I was so ready to be done for the day but knew I still had over an hour of hiking. So I just cried. It wasn't until I had to use all my breath to get myself through the uphill that I was forced to stop, even though I mentally wanted to keep crying.

Got to camp, made dinner, and went to sleep almost immediately.

Day 103 - June 11th

Daily miles: 25.7

Official distance covered on trail: 1654.0

Whew that cry must have been really cathartic because I felt way better today than I did yesterday!

I've been thinking a lot about what makes me happy during this hiking experience. I'm certainly not happy all the time. A lot of people think that we're out here without a care in the world, living this perfectly whimsical life, and the truth is, we're not. Maybe some people are. But there are whole days or stretches of multiple days where I'm not happy. That's not to say I don't experience happiness within them, because I do experience joy every day.

I think I've spent a lot of time assuming that happiness would return after achieving certain milestones. I spent a lot of time thinking, "When we're done with Virginia... When we're done with Pennsylvania... When we're in Vermont..." And none of those things brought the happiness I'd hoped they would. And I've learned that I can't just wait for happiness to appear. It isn't hiding from me, it isn't out of reach, it isn't elusive and coy and beckoning. It isn't waiting for me after the next turn. But it isn't something I can simply choose, either. It isn't as easy as just wanting it.

All I know is: today, I was happy. And I don't have to know why, or look for patterns. I'm just going to let it be what it is. And I'm glad I got to be happy today.

Anyway, we got this gorgeous view from the fire tower at the top of Stratton Mountain. Allegedly, this view - or at least a similar one, as I'm sure the fire tower is newer - inspired Benton MacKaye to propose the creation of the Appalachian Trail. It was a great spot to take a long lunch break!

Also hit the 3/4 mark on trail. This quarter took us 25 days, as opposed to 33 for the previous quarter and 47 for the first. We're allotting ourselves 34 days for the last because New Hampshire and Maine are supposedly really tough. People say "You've done 75% of the trail but still have 75% of the work."

Staying tonight at Green Mountain House Hiker Hostel in Manchester Center, VT. Also taking a much-needed and well-deserved zero tomorrow, so we'll be here all day.

Also, I weighed myself for the first time since leaving and I'm mildly concerned. I used both scales and the number came out the same so it's not a fluke. I'm down 10 lbs from the lowest weight in my usual fluctuation. So I ate a pint of ice cream, a bunch of mozzarella sticks, and half an extra large pizza for dinner. Not a bad diet to be on, and I don't think I look unhealthy, but I was hoping to lose like... 5 lbs, not 10.

Day 104 - June 12th

Daily miles - 0.0

Official distance covered on trail: 1654.0

Oh man. We haven't zeroed since we stayed in DC. That was, what, 600 miles ago? We've earned this for freaking sure. Slept in until 8:00. Didn't even know I could still do that. It's also been ages since we've been in hostel territory, and this is a damn good one to get back into it. In fact, Green Mountain House Hiker Hostel may rival Station 19 as my favorite hostel on trail. The showers are good, the laundry is good (plus there are loaner clothes so we could actually wash everything instead of having to pick one outfit to stay dirty), we have access to the kitchen and breakfast foods are provided for free, and the owner shuttles us to and from town once each way free of charge.

This morning was my grandpa's memorial service. My cousins Julia and Nicole were able to FaceTime me in, but it was hard to see so much of my family in one place and not be there with them to honor Grandpa's life. The service was lovely. My uncle Phil gave a really nice eulogy, and he mentioned the time Grandpa led him and his brother Edmonde and some other Boy Scouts in a backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail; I'm not sure if it was intended this way, but it felt like a personal nod to me, as if saying Grandpa would have understood why I wasn't there today.

Even so, I felt guilty about not being there. I took the day off of hiking anyway, and today was a really fun one on our end because it's also Scott's birthday, so we celebrated that as well. So it felt weird to not come home because I'm on the trail, but I'm not even on the trail right now, and I'm having an enjoyable day. I know that I would have had no way of getting home - the nearest airport is an hour and a half away - and I couldn't have predicted where I would be on this day, but it still felt like I could have been home, even though that wasn't at all feasible. My sister helped a lot, saying that today was about celebrating life, and I'm just doing it differently than the rest of the family today. That is the point of this hike, you know? To celebrate life and what all I can do with it.

And we celebrated Scott's birthday and relaxed as much as we could! I hope he felt so loved and appreciated today. I don't have any photos of the cake we got him or the drinks we had or anything but we tried to give him a good zero day birthday.

Day 105 - June 13th

Daily miles: 19.8

Official distance covered on trail: 1673.8

Today was a perfect day of hiking. Just perfect. I think we've all agreed that 20 miles is our sweet spot. Plus the weather was perfect - consistently sunny but just past warm and not very muggy. And the bugs weren't that bad, so all in all, great hiking conditions.

We got back to the trail from the hostel around 8:30, which was later than we usually get started, but we all felt well-rested and ready to start the day. It was definitely hard to leave the hostel because it was so damn cozy. Love the trail, but I think we all can use a little more comfort in our lives.

We were able to take two separate hour+ breaks in the day before getting to camp. It's amazing being able to take breaks out of desire and not just out of necessity. Always being on the go is so draining, and it was nice to have a relaxing day, even while pulling a good amount of miles.

We're staying at the nicest shelter tonight! There's usually a $5/person fee, but for some reason they weren't charging tonight, but it would have been well worth the cost. Plus it's next to this gorgeous lake, so I sat out by that for a bit before stepping in to rinse the mud off my feet and legs, and it was pleasantly warm.

We need to average 16.7 miles per day to make it to Katahdin by July 15th, so we figure if we keep doing 20s every day, we can do a shorter day every fourth or fifth day and still make our goal. I can live with that schedule!

Day 106 - June 14th

Daily miles: 19.7

Official distance covered on trail: 1693.5

Woke up around 4am to the most torrential thunderstorm. It would have absolutely sucked if we were in our tents, but we got to enjoy it from the comfort of the shelter. Hearing the rain pound the tin roof was motivation enough for all of us to sleep in. We didn't get out of our sleeping bags until almost 7:00, by which point the rain had died down to a light drizzle.

Even though we started our hike in the rain, it was consistently pleasant. Maybe a little cold, especially because I didn't put my rain jacket on since there were some decent uphills in the beginning, but the mist and fog made the Vermont pine forests a different kind of beautiful. I almost fell on slick rocks many times because I couldn't help but look around and admire my surroundings. That's what I love so much about the AT - the seemingly mundane moments that are unsuspectingly beautiful.

I basically hiked today in two long sections: half before lunch, half after, with no breaks except for lunch. Nothing of particular note, but it was quietly pretty all day. Very easy to crank out ~10 miles at a time.

Along with bears, I'm now hoping to see a moose. Scott saw one the other day, but none of the rest of us have. Mitch is the only person so far who's seen a bear, and it was just the one. I'll be suuuuper bummed if I don't see any of either this whole time! Today felt like prime moose territory, and I keep seeing their poop, so I know they're nearby!

We are officially (if only just) under 500 miles from Katahdin. Like... 499.6. But still! Less than 500 miles. Wilson already started looking back at old photos, as if we're not still on this journey. It's too early for nostalgia, but we're all kinda feeling it anyway.

Day 107 - June 15th

Daily miles: 20.6

Official distance covered on trail: 1714.1

Vermont is proving every day to be the best state we've done so far. We all keep joking that our mood improves slightly the farther away we get from Pennsylvania, but really, Vermont is just so great.

The first 4 miles were a pretty big climb to Killington Peak, but I didn't even mind the climb because it was so damn beautiful. After a bunch of rain yesterday, all the greenery was glistening with water droplets, which shone impressively in the morning sun. Sometimes individual beams of sun could be distinguished, while other times whole sheets of almost fog-like light covered entire spans of pine forest. It was impossible to capture, and I relished those miles.

We'd hoped that the ski lodge at the peak would be open so we could have lunch and beers, and, even better than even alcohol, the potential of a gondola ride to town. Sadly, the lodge doesn't open for a few weeks, so our dreams were dashed, but a few more miles into town got us to an inn with the aforementioned lunch and beers. The Inn at Long Trail had this super cool Irish pub that I will for sure be revisiting in the future.

During the hike into town, we passed the 1700 mile marker. We're now no longer merged with the Long Trail, but at the time of the marker, we were. People hiking NOBO on the LT would have reached that marker at about 100 miles into their journey. The first 100 miles of the AT feels like an eternity ago...

From town, it was only 7 or so miles to camp. Easy day, gorgeous scenery, full tummies, can't lose.

Day 108 - June 16th

Daily miles: 22.2

Official distance covered on trail: 1736.3

Last full day in Vermont, and let me tell ya: its beauty will be hard to beat. Definitely the best state so far.

Today was a tough hike, but nothing crazy. Just a lot of steep hills sprinkled throughout the day. But nothing we couldn't handle! It helped for sure that the weather was perfect for hiking: sunny and 60°. Never broke much of a sweat, and even when I was out of water, it wasn't hard to wait for the next source.

Took a long break at a lookout tower and got this excellent view:

I sound like a broken record, but it's nuts knowing how little we have left. On our list of big things coming up, we have: the Whites, southern Maine, the 100 mile wilderness, and Katahdin. Being able to count on one hand the big challenges we have left to do feels wrong. Like are we sure that's all? (I say "all," knowing full well it's all the most challenging stuff of the entire trail.)

Day 109 - June 17th

Daily miles: 1752.0

Official distance covered on trail: 15.7

Decided to have an easy last day in Vermont in favor of spending most of the day in Hanover, New Hampshire, just over the state border.

The hike into town was gorgeous. I'm such a sucker for fields with mountain views in the distance. There was one particular field of tall grasses and wildflowers that I had to stop to soak up the feeling of complete joy that I experienced in that moment. I tried to capture the beauty of it, but sometimes, you just have to be there.

Town days are tough, though, because you just want to be there. At the beginning, we'd get to town after like 5 miles, and doing 15 and having so many hours of hiking before getting to town is a big mental shift. But we got through it. I was the last one to reach town, and was still there before 1:30.

The trail goes right through Dartmouth's campus, and we enjoyed many of their dining and drinking establishments. Also spent a good amount of time lying out on the quad. Stayed out until 10:30 watching hockey and playing cards at a bar where we can only assume we were the oldest customers, but we had a fantastic time anyway!

Day 110 - June 18th

Daily miles: 22.3

Official distance covered on trail: 1774.3

We got a late start for our recent standards. Normally we've been waking up around 6:30, but we all slept in until past 7:15.

Today had several hard climbs, but we've vowed that this will be our longest mileage day until Maine - likely the 100 mile wilderness. And who knows, maybe we won't exceed 20 miles then either! It's nice to know the days of long miles are behind us. Mitch told us, "I don't care how hard the miles are, but there are only so many times in a day I can put one foot in front of the other." Hard agree.

Luckily, the hard climbs today came with some great views! Had lunch at one of them and meant to break at a second one but we were way too dehydrated and needed to get to water as soon as possible. Got some good ones in the last few miles of the day as well, although I didn't stick around too long to enjoy it because I wanted to get to the shelter at a reasonable time.

The last 3/4 mile of the day was an 800-foot elevation gain climb that kicked our asses at the end of a tough hike, but the view from the fire tower at the top was incredible! From a few miles out, we could see the fire tower and the mountain summit, and realizing "Oh, we're about to climb that like right now" was less than fun. But knowing we can push a hard section at the end of a hard day is really rewarding!

We're staying in a shelter that's fully enclosed, which is great because it just started raining (it's about 8:30). We re all in our sleeping bags already, fully ready for sleep. We basically got here, ate dinner, and got ready for bed. We're all exhausted.

Today, I pulled 2 partially-embedded ticks off of me. I know neither of them was there for longer than a few hours, so I'm not worried about them in particular, but it's making me very paranoid about ticks in general. I also have an irrational fear of getting a tick lodged up my vagina because once when I was in high school I saw an episode of House and the girl's problem ended up being that her boyfriend hopped a fence and sliced his pants and a tick got on his penis and then they had sex and the tick got lodged up there and I think about that l i t e r a l l y every time I pee in the woods. And this is why I should have listened to my mom when she told me not to watch that damn show!

Day 111 - June 19th

Daily miles: 20.1

Official distance covered on trail: 1794.4

Today was kinda a day to just get through. When we had 10 miles to go, I was ready to just be done. The last 4 miles of trail, Mitch and I skipped in favor of road walking to avoid the hill. We were hoping to get a hitch but people here apparently don't believe in that.

We're staying at a hostel tonight because we needed a relaxing evening (and a shower and laundry) before starting the Whites tomorrow.