Days 106-110: Home Sweet Home NH!

Day 106, 8/12/23

VT Route 11/30 to Lost Pond Shelter

14.8 miles, mile 1,673.9

Waking up in my own bed is such a bittersweet feeling knowing I need to go back to my foam pad on the ground in the woods. We woke up around 6:00 a.m. and assembled breakfast sandwiches and made coffee for the road and grabbed the delicious blueberry cake Ethan’s Mom made. At around 7:00 a.m. we left for VT and were hiking around 9:30 a.m. Thankfully for Ethan, the hiking today wasn’t too steep. There was still over 3,000 feet of gain, but it was relatively gradual. At the peaks, we were rewarded with some nice views. The first peak of the day was Bromley Mountain, which is a ski mountain. The last 0.3 miles up to the summit were actually on the ski trail. There were beautiful views on the summit, and we could see Stratton Mountain where we were the other day.

The mud was awful per usual, and the rock hopping makes things interesting. We are all thankful for our long legs and athleticism because some of the rocks are pretty far apart and require a leap of faith.

We got to the shelter around 5:15 p.m. and it was pretty crowded with some weekend backpackers, so it was a little tough to find a spot for my tent and Ethan’s hammock, but we made it work. There are two cute pups here too! Some rain is supposed to come through tonight and possibly into the morning.

Day 107, 8/13/23

Lost Pond Shelter to Clarendon Shelter

18.6 miles, mile 1,692.5

It absolutely poured last night around midnight for about an hour or two. Then around 4:00 a.m. I hoped to see some meteors when I got up to go to the bathroom, but it was too cloudy to see the stars. I woke up again around 7:00 a.m. and decided to wake Kevin and Ethan up around 7:30 a.m. After we ate breakfast and started packing up, it started sprinkling, but didn’t stay for long. We had no service at the shelter and needed to get in contact with Ethan’s Mom so she would know what time to pick him up. Thankfully, three miles in at a forest service road, we had a couple bars and could send her a text. This was a popular parking area because it was only a couple miles of relatively easy hiking to a beautiful pond with tent sites and a loop trail around it. Being a Sunday morning, there were lots of people hiking back to their cars with big packs and little kids.

The pond was beautiful, and after a little boy told me the water felt nice after he dipped his hands in, I was convinced to go for a quick swim. Kevin joined me and we drove right in the chilly water. It wasn’t very warm outside, so I was a bit cold getting out. When we were sitting on the rocks to dry off a bit, a loon popped up right where we were swimming about 15 feet away from us! I love loons and it was so cool to see. Then, a couple minutes later a garden snake was swimming towards us! We got out of the water at a good time to avoid all the critters.

After the swim, we continued around the pond and ran into two adorable pups, a Bernese mountain dog and a black lab. Turns out the owner just summited Katahdin a couple weeks ago to complete her thru-hike. She started early March, so it was neat to talk to her for a couple minutes.

The trail was slippery and rocky and muddy. Around 2:00 p.m. we made it down to where Ethan’s Mom would meet us. She found the location okay and brought her pups along for the ride! It was so nice to see them. We had packed up our next 3 1/2 days of food to get us to Hanover and given it to her the other day. I packed up my food and ate an apple that she brought for me, and Kevin did the same and ate a banana. I gave Ethan a big hug and thanked him for coming along and being a thru-hiker for the weekend.

After Ethan left, Kevin and I decided to hike another 7.5 miles to a shelter. During these 7.5 miles I managed to have not one, but two, full on wipeouts. The rocks are very slippery, but thankfully I was okay after both falls. The last 700-foot climb was super steep and rocky, and then we went down about 200 feet to get to the shelter. There is no cell service here either and I’m happy for the Zoleo to be able to send Mom a message. My tent is set up near a brook, which is wonderful white noise. Maybe tonight I’ll be able to see a meteor!

Day 108, 8/14/23

Clarendon Shelter to Stealth Campsite

21.4 miles, mile 1,713.9

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to my alarm on my watch and started moving because I knew we had to do at least 20 miles today because I really want to get to NH the 16th. This means at least 20-23 miles the next two days, but then a zero at home on the 17th.

I love when we tent next to streams because of the noise. I’m missing it now at this stealth site where it is super quiet. We haven’t had to hang our food in a while because of bear boxes, but there was a perfect branch nearby and it went up quickly.

The hiking today was tough. There was about 5,000 feet of climbing and I was on the struggle bus climbing up Mt. Killington, the first 4,000-foot mountain in a while. I was really moving slow and felt kind of weird. Thankfully, after many sit down breaks, we made it to the top and were rewarded with great views. After a long break up by the ski lifts, I felt better, and we kept on hiking. There were no other views today other than on top of Killington, but the woods in the morning today was pretty. There was a stretch with some rivers that had nice pine needles on the trail with moss on both sides. Then it just went back to being muddy and rooty. I had another wipeout today and landed butt first in a lovely muddy and wet puddle.

Near the end of the day, we walked through a campground, and I was extremely jealous of all the car campers. They had campfires going and food cooking and comfy air mattresses being blown up. There are two things I’ve learned about myself on this journey. I much prefer car camping and day hiking over thru-hiking. It’s safe to say I won’t be doing this again. But I am less than 500 miles from Katahdin, so I will continue to hike on. After hiking by a pretty pond where Kevin went for a swim, we found a good campsite a mile or so up the trail and got settled in for the night. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow morning and I’m hoping it will hold off until we can get packed up.

Day 109, 8/15/23

Stealth Campsite to Stealth Campsite

22.4 miles, mile 1,736.3

Around 11:00 p.m. last night, we had some coyotes howling extremely close to our campsite. It was cool to listen to them loudly howling and yipping. I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, when it is so quiet, I find myself listening for things in the woods and have a much harder time falling asleep than when we are next to a stream. When I finally did fall asleep, I was woken up again around 3:00 a.m. to the coyotes howling again. They were a bit further away this time, but close enough to wake me up. Then around 4:00 a.m. I woke up to the rain starting, which continued until around 11:00 a.m. It’s safe to say I didn’t sleep the best, I had to have another instant coffee with lunch so I would make it the 22 miles.

The day started easy for the first 0.5 miles to get to a waterfall called Thundering Falls. It is the tallest waterfall on the AT in VT, and the only handicap accessible part of the trail in VT. There is a nice boardwalk to the falls. Right after that, though, we had a steep climb to start the morning. There was about 6,200 feet of elevation gain today, it might be our biggest elevation day yet. It was certainly tiring, and the climbs felt never ending. We actually went about a mile further than I anticipated because there was someone set up at the stealth site people commented about near a stream. It was too small a space for two more tents, so we kept going.

About 12 miles into the day, we got to “The Overlook,” which is a privately owned cabin that allows thru-hikers to stay as a shelter. We decided to take the side trail to go check it out because there is supposed to be an amazing view and on a clear day you can see Hanover in the distance. It was not a clear day because of the rain, and we were greeted with a white wall of clouds up there. It was still a cool cabin to go see. We continued on and down at the next road crossing we went to a farm stand where I got some local cheese, an ice cream, and chocolate milk. This powered me the last four miles and 1,000 feet of climbing.

I am so excited to step foot back into NH tomorrow followed by a down day!

Day 110, 8/16/23

Stealth Campsite to Hanover, NH

19.7 miles, mile 1,756

I woke up around 3:00 a.m. to rain, which I wasn’t anticipating and left my tent vestibule open. I’m happy I’m a light sleeper because I was able to get all zipped up pretty quick to keep my pack dry. I was able to fall back asleep until my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. We packed up a wet tent for the second morning in a row and hit the trail. It was very dark, misty, and spooky in the woods today.

We were moving pretty quick because I wanted to be to Hanover by 4:00 p.m. so we could go home and shower and eat and get to bed and catch up on some sleep. I’ve gotten very good at estimating pace because we got to where Mom was at 3:58 p.m.

The mud has lightened up since Killington, and while there are still some muddy spots, it is nothing compared to southern Vermont. There were lots of steep inclines again today and that will definitely be the trend the remainder of the trail. When we got into West Hartford, VT, we got yelled to by a nice trail angel asking if we wanted a soda from across the street. I took her up on that order and we enjoyed the soda and ate lunch on her porch. She asked if we were okay with dogs and of course I told her yes. The most adorable black lab mix named Max came tearing out of the house and was so excited to see us. Kevin and I gave him lots of love.

After lunch, we busted out the last ten miles and 2,000 feet of gain to get into Hanover. I hope everyone there knows the AT goes right through the main street, but I’m not too sure they do because we certainly received some looks. I was very sad because the sidewalk on the bridge over the Connecticut River was closed on the side that the VT/NH sign is. I really wanted to get my picture taken in front of it, but instead I just had to zoom in from across the street. I am beyond excited to be back in my home state and to slack pack for a couple days and go home to my bed every night.