Red leaves and the Season of the sticks – following Noah Kahan’s songs on a solo mission in New England

When my tramily made it to Hanover, NH, I had a tough decision to make
You see, my mom visited a convention in Boston, and I haven’t seen her in almost 2 months – and I still had 1800 MILES to go before I get back home!
So, do I keep going with my friends and miss a chance to see her (after leaving the country over 6 months ago), or, get off trail and separate from the crew – maybe indefinitely.
When the day arrived, I decided to go off trail.
About a week later, I got off the night bus from Logan airport to Hanover, and for the first time in almost 2 months, I was alone again.
There’s a special feeling in traveling solo
especially as a 20 something year old, especially as an Israeli, ESPECIALLY today.
Charles Bokuwski once said “when no one wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want, what do you call it, Freedom or Loneliness?”
I say it’s both.
There’s a special melancholy in being a solo hiker – nothing binds you to a place, there’s no one holding you back – but there’s no one to fall on when things get rough, and they always do.
Crossing the NH/VT border was accompanied by a very specific song I downloaded before hand – Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”.
For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Kahan is an American Folk artist who grew up in VT, and in 2022 released an album titled “Stick Season” about his childhood growing up in NE.
I first heard of Kahan back in 2019 when his debut album “busyhead” was released, and have been an avid fan since, so when “Stick Season” came out, i could very easily see myself hiking through New England while his songs play in the background.
After leaving New Hampshire, Vermont was a blessing
Crossing the concrete bridge over the Connecticut River, I left the White Mountains behind me and headed towards the rolling hills of Vermont.
Apple orchards, red maple leaves and countless cabins followed my every step as my journey south continued, and while I was carefully watching my friends’ progress ahead of me, and calculated the daily miles average I had to cover in order to catch up to them, after few days I could feel the solitude of the trail growing on me.
While night-hiking one day I made it to the famous Luce’s lookout in northern Vermont, and though I was terrified of the noises coming out of the woods (yes, even after 7 weeks on trail), when I woke up the next morning and watched the sunrise from the rooftop deck, I was ready to tackle my biggest challenge yet – my first 20 miler.
I don’t know what made me choose Killington peak as my first 20 miler, but the night-hike up to Cooper lodge, and the day that led to it we’re full of mental and physical challenges.
multiple times I’ve found myself making vlogs to vent, talking to myself and calling my best friend back home to encourage me to keep going, and even though I felt like I was hallucinating the moon at the end of the night (what ended up being a fellow hiker’s headlamp), the sense of accomplishment and pride I felt the next morning was indescribable.
The rest of VT was a short blur-
I kept seeing section hikers on the long trail, stumbled upon some human trail-magic in the shape of an awesome lady who helped me pull a 45 minute HiRo (Kim, if you’re reading this – you rock!) and it wasn’t long until I found myself at the VT/MA border, and was closer then ever to rejoin my friends.
I knew Berg was getting off trail soon and was trying to see if I could catch up to the group before they split, and set Dalton as my goal.
Closing in fast, I pushed 20’s back to back through some cute NE towns, until I stumbled upon the legendary Tom Levardi, a known, long time trail angel.
he gave me a heads up that my friends were less than two days ahead of me, and told me he dropped Berg at the bus station the other day.
Even though I missed Berg, I was amped to know how close I was to regroup with LB and WM, and after spending the night at the famous hanger at the Cookie lady’s house, I met my friends as we headed for a much needed zero in Great Barrington, MA.
Helene hit while we were camping in Great Barrington
After 2 straight weeks, the community center was a blessing.
A hot tub, saunas and a hideaway from the rain were a blessing, but over the weekend, we noticed more and more FB groups talking about the storm hitting the southern part of the AT.
Little did we know how big of an impact the storm would have on our journey.
we left MA and headed into CT, our last state in NE.
CT is an interesting AT community
Something about it is different than the rest of the northern trail.
The roads are extremely well maintained, the signs are all colorful, and it seems that even tho the trail is only 51 miles long throughout the state, they take a lot of pride in it – which we love to see!
The state went by quickly, with a lot of brakes in small coffee shops and a new pit of trail runners (#3 on the trail) – a brand new pair of TOPO’s traverse, which got me hooked up instantly..
Leaving NE into the mid Atlantic was a change in pace, culture and views, but we headed south with a spring in our step, and bellies ready for the ‘Deli trail’!
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