"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Start: North Adams, MA
Finish: Bennington, VT
Today: 18.4 mi
Total: 421.3 mi
I woke up with a full bladder and completely drained of energy. I got up to drain my bladder but each step was a sharp pain on every square inch of my feet. I definitely felt like taking the day off, especially when considering the 18.4 miles on rough terrain we had waiting for us. Heather looks like a zombie after taking Benadryl last night to ease her poison ivy so she would definitely jump at the chance of a zero. No Whistle and EMT shared the hotel room with us and they looked really tired too. The idea of zeroing is infectious - if one person in the group gets it the entire group can fall victim to it so I put on my game face and began getting my things together for hiking.
It took us a long time to hitchhike out of North Adams. After 10 minutes of waiting an older lady on a moped was driving towards us. We all thought it was funny to stick out our thumbs, asking her for a ride. From a distance I saw she had a small kid standing in front of her holding the handlebars. As she neared we realized the small kid was actually a fully clothed porcelain doll and the old lady was wearing a huge bucket helmet with a cigarette sticking sideways out of her mouth. All our thumbs slowly dropped down in unison as it became more scary than funny. After another 5 minutes we got a ride from a vegan chef to our trailhead.
We climbed for the first 2.5 miles until we hit a plateau which better resembled a mini roller coaster. Because we started the day late, I was hesitant to take long breaks so we stopped briefly at the top of the steep climb. Heather called me a "break Nazi."
A few miles later we crossed into Vermont and have now walked along the AT in 8 states. After 150 miles of Vermont we will have another 160 miles of New Hampshire before reaching our goal of Maine.
After about 7 miles we took a break for lunch at Seth Warner shelter and spoke to a couple who were doing a one week section hike in Vermont. After the shelter the trail shot upwards. In the heat of the midday sun the sweat was pouring off me.
As I neared the next shelter, the smell of a camp fire filled the air. This told me there must be weekend hikers at the shelter because long distance hikers got tired of fires long ago. After 14.2 miles we arrived at Congdon Shelter at 6:30 pm for a quick 20 minute break before pushing on another 4.2 miles.
The skies dimmed and after sunset very little light filtered down to the forest floor. Ahead of me Heather walked through the darkness with only the few feet around her illuminated by her headlamp. Heather and I both agreed that our senses seemed heightened in the darkness. A couple times I turned off my headlamp and stood there in the black of night. All around me the sounds of the forest grew: the chorus of crickets, deep songs of the frogs, and hoots of owls filled my ears while fireflies twinkled all around us.
At about 8:45 the trail turned downwards in a steep descent to the road. Ahead of me Heather walked slowly down a stone staircase plunging into a dark abyss. Hiking into night echoed the feelings I've been having about our trip nearing its end. I want many more weeks of hiking but darkness is approaching...
~DADDY LONG LEGS
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