Gotta Love Vermont

This was taken yesterday, but just noticed it never sent.
The terrain in Vermont has changed rather dramatically. Many rolling green hills, open fields, and dairy farms. Also many places with Vermont ice cream for sale.

Today will be my first higher mileage day since the foot injury. Per the doctor's request, I have taken some time off, and hiked low miles on the days I did hike. I also bought new boots and some Superfeet insoles. So far so good. Not 100% but I think I can do 22 miles today and get to Rutland tonight... maybe.

Beard Update

No shaving for two months. It's rather hideous, I know, and eating an ice cream cone isn't quite as clean and carefree as it once was. Be that as it may, I want to see where my face is going with this. I have to trust it knows what it's doing. I suppose it's no worse than the bandanna and headlamp.

The girls wanted to get off the trail for a couple of days so they hitched to Rutland, about 21 trail miles away. I went with them as far as Woodstock to have dinner. The restaurant didn't want to sit smelly hikers with the rest of their guests, so they sat us in the chairs where people normally sit to wait for a table. We ate hamburgers from plates sitting in our laps.

After we ate, I walked with them until they got a ride to Rutland, then hitched back to the trailhead. I wondered if hitching would be harder without the girls, but I got a ride pretty quickly. As my ride pulled away, a man on his front porch yelled out, "You wanna sleep in my barn tonight? You're welcome to it, and you can get your stuff dried off." It had been raining for most of the day, so I took the offer.

So, tonight it's just me in an old leaky barn, during a thunderstorm, reading a book... I feel like the boy in "The Neverending Story". Atreyu!!!!!!!

Anyway, I hope to meet back up with the girls tomorrow night.

Cloudland Farm

We heard this farm had a store that sold soda, and even though we knew they had been closed for two hours, we thought we'd try our luck. Our good luck hasn't changed. We ended up with soda, ice cream, and a free night's stay in this barn. We slept on the floor in a room that used to be their old farm store.

The hospitality and generosity of people on this trip has been so great that it is inspiring. Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail is like a socially acceptable homelessness. I think the only real difference between us thru-hikers and the actual homeless is that we have a goal. I wonder if my luck would run out if I wasn't carrying this backpack and if I didn't tell people I was thru-hiking the AT. Maybe I'll test that out someday.

Bridge Jumping

We heard the water was deep enough to jump off this bridge 30 feet above the river. Thumper didn't hesitate to give it a try, so of course we all followed. It's an interesting feeling leaping off the edge and having little control of what happens next.

Bambi said she was never more scared in her life, but she jumped a second time anyway.

Unfortunately my camera phone takes so long to take a photo that I missed the jump. I have more photos and a video on my other camera that I'll post later.





Getting Water

Some people have asked where I get my water. Mostly it's places like this, usually followed by chemical treatment, but not always. If the source is a spring coming out of the ground I drink it straight. And then there are rare moments where I come across a magical source that flows directly under a McDonalds soda fountain.

Not Broken

Not broken! Just a muscle injury and some bruising or something. He knew I wouldn't just stay off of it, so he gave me a stylish hard-soled boot and some recommendations for taking care of it on the trail. I guess I'll just be limping for a while longer. I was really hoping for a magic pill... he appologized for having none.

We got a hitch to town and stopped in a pub for burgers. We will hopefully find a place to sleep tonight. I don't know though, I don't see any abandoned banks OR dugouts. We'll figure something out... we always do.

Waiting Room

In Hanover, NH at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital waiting to have my foot looked at. I have been limping for days and only moving 7 or 8 miles a day. Can't keep doing that, so here I am. I'm worried about a stress fracture, but doubt it's anything that bad. I will wait for the verdict.

As you see the girls are waiting with me. I feel bad since these are the most boring hours we've had in 6 weeks. I would understand if they wanted to keep hiking, but am really glad they are sticking around.

Last night I started thinking about all of the things I could miss if I didn't let the foot heal properly, so decided to hitch to the hospital to get an expert's opinion. We have had such a blast on the first 400 miles, I'm sure it will be just as amazing on the next 1700. I don't want my stubborness to see a doctor ruin all that.

Will update soon.

Mt. Moosilauke

Our last great mountain peak for 700 miles... or so they say. Northbounders have been telling us how hard Moosilauke would be, but we realized we've already been through the hard part, so this is no longer hard for us. We are experienced seasoned hikers. You might say I'm sounding arrogant, but please, just let me have this. I haven't had a good reason to be arrogant in years.

Also, wanted to say hi to Andy and Darcy. I can see why Andy and his grandfather spent so much time here. It is a beautiful mountain.

Sore Foot

Injury.. Actually more like wear and tear. A bone in my left foot has been hurting for seven days. I hoped that when I stopped to wait for the girls to catch up it would have felt better. We even took an extra day off and only hiked 16 miles in 2 days. You probably won't see a ton of progress on the map for a little while.
The upside is that we have our last big climb just ahead of us and we hear the trail gets easier for the next 700 miles. Hopefully it heals quickly. Yesterday it hurt so bad I worried for the first time that I might not make it to Springer. We stopped for a break and to cheer me up the girls gave me candy bars, did a dance routine, and were extra cheerful and hilarious.. So that's how awesome they are. They also said if I had to stop to heal they would be waiting with me. I feel very lucky to be hiking with them.