6/22-29 97.7 miles

The Inn at Long Trail was fun, and so cool to zero and not have to go anywhere— laundry, meals, beer, and good company, both locals and hikers.

The hike out had too many hills and too many expectations. I warned Crossword and T that I might camp out before “The Lookout” which only had indoor space, not tent sites, anyway. I prefer my tent. I camped, stealth camped, all by myself, in the quiet, by water.

That left me with more miles the next day, 17.6, to get to a shelter/campsite, so that I could make it to my first town in New Hampshire on day 3 from The Inn at Long Trail with the food I packed. I look at the trail profile each night to rally my energy for the climbs the following day. There were 10 separate climbs, which I counted down as the day wore on. Good thing it was pretty mostly, lush, green, quiet, although that means no views. Because it was tiring. I have to say it’s pretty nice to roll into a shelter/campsite and get to visit with other hikers while cooking dinner and setting up my tent.

Seven of us wound up at the hostel the next night. Crossword and I walked into Hanover, NH, where Dartmouth College is, did some grocery shopping and ate a meal. I’ve been absolutely raging over the Supreme Court overturning a woman’s right to choose, and was happy to see the protesters in the park. Really happy.

The shuttle picked us up for a quiet night with T, Straps and Chatterbox (from Ontario, Canada), Boston, Float and Crossword.

An uneventful day followed by a tough day in heat climbing up Smart Mountain. I fell and bruised the heel of my left hand catching myself. Then I passed Crossword flaked out on his pad in the sun, with heat illness. He’s sensitive to heat he’d said before, so when he turned up at camp on the top of the mountain I paid attention. I did not know heat exhaustion could manifest as bitchiness though, ha ha!

The next day he was low energy although he started hiking way early as usual. It started to sprinkle then poured. I got my rain gear on and went off trail to the Hexacube Shelter to wait it out a couple of hours. Crossword was there, then Uber, Patience and Skeeter arrived. Skeeter is service dog Mary’s trail name! She’s a Cairn Terrier and Bichon mix and is the smartest and cutest dog I’ve ever met on trail. She came into the shelter drenched and scooted along the log walls first rubbing the rain off her left side, then her right. Then she rolled on the floor trying off her tummy.

Then 2 SOBOs (southbound hikers) came in, older guys, 1 with a swollen, split elbow, that the other patched up with a butterfly bandage, before they continued on to the cabin at Smart Mountain, near where I’d pitched my tent last night

The rain stopped and we all continued on, leaving less than 10 miles to the Hikers Welcome Hostel at Glencliff, NH where I have a box waiting with a replacement shirt, socks and some dinners.

Hikers Welcome Hostel is a great place with 2 caretakers/shuttle drivers currently—Acadicus and (can’t remember his name!). Stayed 2 nights with a slackpack shuttle to the far side of Mt Mousilauke on the day between. They gave us hikers great advice and information about “The Whites” or I should say the dreaded, challenging, beautiful, White Mountain Range in New Hampshire. These AT hostels are a huge mood lifter for me since they are gathering spots—the fast NOBOs will blast by on the trail, never to be seen again, the SOBOs the same. But at the hostels people will sit and stay for a few hours and I can learn more from and about them. 

We hiked Mt Mousilauke on a perfect day. The slackpack crew from the day before had been in a cloud or cloudburst at the top and missed this first big treat of a view in NH. We hit it just right and going south back to the hostel it was only 4 miles straight up and a long 6 mile run out down. Lovely day with food and a bunk at the end of the day. Every day is hard out here but some have bigger rewards than others. Plus I wore my new shirt!

6/13-6/21 113.7 miles

A couple days into this stretch, I kind of wandered off trail—no ubiquitous white blazes to be seen showing me the AT—following footprints in the mud. I looked at my maps and sure enough this abandoned forest road connected to others and reconnected back to the trail in about the same mileage. So I didn’t sweat it. The roads were massively potholed, filled with water, mud, 4WD and ATV gouges and decorated with fenders and other car parts. Actually, it was a rather fun adventure. I saw nobody else, even when I went by a couple of cabins. After awhile I got back to the official AT and made it to the shelter camp for the night. I knew a couple hikers were shuttling into and back from a brewery but I was never going to make the pickup time so I hung out at the shelter. All kinds of hikers rolled in and Crossword brought me a beer and Bug Net brought Sofia a beer. Score!

A few days later, Paul Kelly, another USASA colleague picked me up and hosted me at his house a mile from the AT. His family has been in the Manchester Center, Vermont for a long time and he knows everybody. I got a tour and learned some history. Walking through endless trees and stone wall remnants, I had no inkling that Vermont was clear cut and the stone walls were sheep fences. And there’s marble mining, every single headstone at Arlington National Cemetery is from a still operating marble quarry near here, Danby Quarry, currently excavated 3 miles into a mountain. I met wife, Lisa, 2 (of 3) kids—Katie and Connor, and Baxter the silly, sweet doodle dog who licked the salt off me before settling in for a cuddle. Paul and I talked about our snowboarding world, catching up a bit since USASA Nationals in April at Copper Mountain. Colorado.

Walking up Bromley wasn’t horrible when he dropped me off at the trailhead st 6:30 am, except for the cold, relentless wind that nearly froze me to death. For the second time only, I set up my sleeping bag inside a regular, 3-sided shelter. I needed to get warm and avoid soaking my tent with the all night rain event.

I think because I’d used up so much energy being cold the day before, I had my first truly crabby day afterwords. I barely remember what I saw. It was still windy but not quite as cold. I’ll say it again—I hate wind! But Crossword had walked from a road crossing to a deli and brought me back a turkey dinner sandwich, chips and Vitaminwater. That made the last 1.6 miles to the shelter/campsite not too bad.

And then the last day of this stretch was, of course, perfect! A lot of up to a lot of down. There’s a new piece of AT supposedly, but the old AT is just fine, there was some kind of property lease issue, not the trail itself, that caused the reroute. So I took the old route right down to the Inn at Long Trail at Route 4, which also incorporates McGrath’s Irish Pub, which has some historic snowboards. Sounds like a zero to me, with more rain in the forecast for today.

This almost instant blog post is thanks to a text I got from my hiking pal Papa Raven. “The last blog you posted ended 16 days ago, so I’m not sure where you are.” My bad. Here ya go, Ravens! Thanks to the spreadsheet from your 2019 thru hike (and Triple Crown finish for Mama, Papa, Bling and Whisper) notes and conversation about the AT, it’s not that bad.

6/5-12 68.8 miles

Sometimes zero days are just boring, probably when you don’t need them but have to wait for your box with replacement shoes. I walked around town, went to an outdoor store that sold fashion wear and lucked out getting a pair of lightweight plastic Birkenstock Arizonas for camp shoes. Deluxe. Walked the other way and got groceries. Walked back downtown for dinner.

I got my box when the post office opened Monday, went back to the motel, packed up and got a ride by Joe so was hiking by 10:30. I pitched my tent at the furthest spot from the Tom Leonard shelter with a beautiful view. Unfortunately a loud NOBO hiker “Tramily” of 9 trickled in, the Peacocks they call themselves. I only met 3 who were nice but man they sat up late yell talking at each other like they had to be heard over music and noise at a bar.

Just for the quiet I stealth camped (a no-no) after seeing a turkey and a porcupine. No cell service and my camp site was quiet in a gentle rain. Ahh.

Crossword turned up after being off trail and behind for a few weeks. Because it was going to rain again, all night, we stayed at the Berkshire Lake Lodge motel and got pizza delivered. While hanging around outside watching my tent dry on the picnic table, I met a hiker whose blog I followed in 2014 in anticipation of doing the PCT the next year. SloBro!! One of the other bloggers I followed that year, I met on the PNT—Not A Chance. So cool these encounters.

I lucked into a family reunion of sorts. Crossword’s 2 sisters, Patty and Jean, are spending a few nights with him. I got transported up to Greylock Lodge, along with Slingshot who is a bit further along the trail. We had a wonderful dinner and I managed to get a room in this beautiful historic building.

The next day I walked the wrong way, south, to cover the miles I’d missed. USASA friend Noah Cermak picked me up from Dalton, MA and I got to spend 2 nights with his family—Lindsay, Ella (7), Otis (3), and cuddly dog Tucker. It made me so happy to spend time with his family and get treated like royalty.

Then back to the trail at the top of Mt. Greylock and good weather.

5/26-6/4 101.5 miles

Think I’ll try a new format for these updates. I actually keep a paper journal, Moleskine notebook, a habit dating back forever in my travels. I have a stack of them in a box somewhere, with all kinds of perplexing problems and dilemmas, observations, diatribes, and unscientific, unscrupulous and unspoken observations about characters I’ve met. Stuff written for myself and not for publication.

Anyway, I write at the end of every day in the notebook, then decide later what to put out here. I know other hikers who draft their blogs directly on their phones, then upload an uncensored account of their hike. So readers get a nitty gritty account of what this life is really like. I’ve read lots of those and appreciate the information and details but the repetitiveness, while an authentic account of what hiking is like, tends to bore the snot out of me.

So a couple of highlights I omitted from my last update. The first night out of DWG, I asked if Slingshot and Crossword, 2 calm and friendly OGs, minded if I camped next to them. Nobody ever says no, but I usually ask anyway. Of course they said sure, then I joined them as we cooked our dinners and chatted about the usual hiker topics—weather, the last food opportunity on trail, the next food opportunity up trail, mileage plan for the next day. Anubis came by, hesitated and decided to hike on. We all smiled and chatted but nobody invited him to stay.

The next day we 3 stopped at Mountain House tavern, mid day, for food and a beverage, just off trail at Culver’s Gap. Fun! Later I saw deer, a turkey and a dead coyote(?). We all camped at a shelter. Other hikers were there and more came in, all normal.

Anubis turned up later. He’d got a meal and beer out of some hikers new to me by claiming it was his birthday. Hmm. I’m sick of this guy’s lies. (I announced the next day my new trail name for him, Birthday Boy.) I kind of went off on him about some ignorant crap he was talking about a bear situation. The next morning, a hiker friend mentioned within Anubis’s hearing that he planned on going to a hostel in about 12 miles. When Anubis said that sounded like a good idea, my friend changed his mind. Later he canceled his reservation and mentioned to the hostel owner that Anubis made other hikers uncomfortable. She in turn contacted the pastor nearby who also hosted hikers at his church. When Anubis turned up, we heard through the hiker grapevine that this amazing man, the pastor, convinced Anubis to go home to Georgia. I haven’t seen or heard about him since. Good job!

5/26 I got an Uber back to trail, hiked out and stealth camped totally alone for the first time on the AT. Of course, Fort Montgomery being next to West Point, I listened to practice gunfire in the distance till just before 5pm.

5/27 Made it to RBH shelter, supposed to rain like crazy. I pitched my tent while all 6 bunks and all the floor space filled up with hikers including Slingshot, Butt Shot, Dash, Wayne, Halfmile and Keystone. I felt low energy all day. Kinda rainy but not cold, just humid and energy draining.

5/28 I slept great in my Nemo as the rain pounded down all night and hiked with good energy. Camping is restricted to official places so I’m at a shelter again with plans to get into Pawling tomorrow to dry out and resupply. It’s supposed to be sunny. Slingshot has other plans but I’ll probably catch up day after tomorrow.

5/29 Easy day, beautiful, lots of day trippers enjoying a walk on a boardwalk through a beautiful marsh. I couldn’t check in to my room till 3 pm after walking the 2.5 off trail to Pawling, so I dumped my pack on the porch and got fish and chips at a local bar. It’s Memorial Day weekend so businesses are mostly closed. I checked in, hauled my stuff to the laundromat, and hung all my wet gear—sleeping bag, tent, rain gear, in the room to dry.

5/30 Got an Uber back to trail. It was hot and humid but good trail and I felt great. Slingshot and I are the only ones at an official campsite with a bear box. And I passed from NY to Connecticut!

5/31 The AT is so different than the PCT and CDT. There are so many towns with real beds and food! I told Slingshot my plan to get a room at the Hitching Post motel in Cornwall Bridge, with a pickup included and he decided to do the same. It was a hard day for few miles. I climbed Caleb Peak for a lovely territorial view and a steep rockfall/stream bed butt scooting down to a flat, easy walk along a river. Then we spent a frustrating hour waiting for the motel to come get us, they had never picked up from our spot where the trail crossed a paved road? But I eventually got to wash off 2 days of heat rash and Gypsy moth yellow goo. I walked to the beer store (a free beer for a hiker!) and Sam Waterston just happened in to buy beer. He was a totally normal nice guy, no celebrity edge at all. After he left, the beer store guy told me dozens of celebrities had second homes nearby, just a couple hours from NYC.

6/1 A slow day again, lots of ups. I found a shelter with a couple other hikers as a thunderstorm broke and pelted rain for awhile. When it let up, a couple of us hiked another 3.5 easy miles to a designated campsite with a bear box. Slingshot was already camped there, yay! Rained gently most of the night. I looked ahead and saw some, to me, horrendous climbs before my next goal and resupply box (new shoes!) at Great Barrington. Think it will take 1 more night than I planned on.

6/2 I called Vanessa in Salisbury who rents bunks and has dogs! and a cat! She had room so I did a short 12 mile day plus the mile into town. What a great person she is, enjoyed our conversation and interaction! I got an early dinner at nearby Neo (Mahi Mahi!) then drank a little white wine with Vanessa and hikers new to me—Boogie On, All Good, Pop Tart. Great dogs and a sweet kitty, Squeaky who purred up a storm for my head scritches. It’s supposed to rain through 9 am.

6/3 The morning was not raining but I didn’t know what to do. Talking my uncertainty out loud, Vanessa said she could slackpack me up the trail a bit and I could stay another night. Done! Boogie On was thinking about doing the same but decided to hike out. On my hike back in to Salisbury I saw her and she was doing good. It was still raining caterpillars all day although there was no other rain. New hikers at Vanessa’s!

6/4 I made it to Great Barrington Saturday afternoon. I misread the post office hours and Ubered in to get my box Saturday afternoon before 4:30 only to discover they closed at 12:30. Bummer, I’ll have to zero in a comfy motel with restaurants nearby, till Monday.