Total Weekly Mileage: 158.3
“Damn Rain”
Waking up in the shelter, it was cold. The rain had stopped, but everything was wet. The steeps of the trail made for slow going—everything was either iced over or soaked. Frustrating, to say the least. My pace was so slow, working twice as hard to go half as fast.
By the time I reached the summit of Mt. Moosilauke, it was socked in. Twenty weekend warriors were up there, and the ground was covered in snow. I pushed hard to get down low and into Warner. As soon as I reached the road, the rain started up again. Jeez, I can’t catch a break with this weather!
I stopped into a pub, had some awesome chicken wings, and got picked up by trail angel Holly. She brought me back to the trail, met me again at the end of the day, and let me stay at her house. The next morning, I hiked on, but I was definitely feeling the toughness of the last week.
I made it to a dirt road, and there was Holly waiting for me—with two grilled cheese sandwiches. She asked what I wanted to do, and I made the decision to go back to her place and sleep. Not what I wanted, but definitely what I needed. Everything up to that point had just wiped me out. I still hadn’t really rested well, and I know at this stage in the game, I won’t. Just keep on trucking!
Holly dropped me off the next morning, and my first challenge was Mt. Cube. Not super hard, but a long climb to the top. The next morning, in the fog, I made it into Hanover, NH. I was down to one trekking pole again, but luckily, the customer service desk at the grocery store had one left behind a couple of months ago and let me have it. Kind of an old person’s trekking pole with a weird handle—but I’ll take it.
It didn’t take long into Vermont before I broke it, and it didn’t take long in Vermont before the weather turned. Cold, hard climbs as the A.T. shared the Long Trail. Slippery and steep rock trails led to some tough climbs up Killington and beyond. Rain turned into a full 24 hours of cold, soaking rain. Soaked to the bone, I made it into Manchester Center, Vermont, and took the rest of the day off.
Rough section—hopefully the weather gets better!
