Long Trail: Day 7-9
Day 7: Distance hiked: 13 miles
I woke up several times during the night, resting in my
hammock, but got better sleep than I would have in most shelters. I then packed
up my stuff, ate breakfast, and started off along the trail fairly early. I arrived
at Governor Clement Shelter at 9 AM, and people that had stayed at that shelter
were still taking down camp. I spoke to a father and son team (Mike and “Mike”)
and then started the ascent up Mt Killington. Once again, I knew my pack was
too heavy but I could not get myself to throw away food knowing that I might be
out hiking for another 5 days before my next town. Every pore in my body
sweated. I was drenched so thoroughly that I had to move my phone from my
pocket to my pack because it wouldn’t work because it was so wet. I hit the virtual
“wall” three times during that hike and sat down several times to try to slow
my heart rate and eat something. It was a very tough climb with roots and rocks
all over the trail. Once on Killington spur, there were beautiful forests and I
arrived soon thereafter at Cooper Lodge. From there, it was a nice walk through
beautiful forests again to Pico Camp, and then a long descent to Churchill
Scott Shelter (I did not stop there) before hiking down to RT 4. I had not had
reception all day so I thought my wife may get uneasy if I didn’t talk to her
soon. For that reason, I walked down RT 4 toward Killington until I got some
reception. After walking out of the way of the trail down the road for a
quarter mile, I started considering staying in town for the night. I got out my
phone and researched some places to stay in Killington. I then settled on a
place called the Inn at the Long Trail. It was an amazing decision! The Inn had
laundry, a nice hotel room, an Irish Pub, restaurant, and great recreation
rooms. That night I ate at the Irish pub after showering and then did some
chores (caught up on email and stuff, charged my devices, did laundry, and
tried to plan transportation for the following day), and went to sleep.
Watch the vlog of
this portion of the hike here (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SthLHX5uMW8
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Inn at Long Trail |
Day 8: Distance hiked: 19.9 miles
I got up at 5 AM and then fiddled around in the room and on my
phone until the restaurant opened for breakfast at 7:30 AM. Breakfast was included
in the room price. During breakfast I received a text from Flipakey (a trail
angel) saying she could provide transportation for me on Saturday. I told her
that I would have to check to see if another man would still be able to provide
transportation to me today, being that I would not need her to drive me on Saturday
if I did not get the transportation I needed for today. She then said that she
could give me both rides. I was elated at the chance to slackpack another long
distance day! I immediately went up and emptied most of my pack for a 20 mile
slackpack! (the heavy pack had been killing me over the past couple days). I
then walked down RT 4 from the Inn at Long Trail to the trailhead (about half a
mile). Quickly after leaving the trailhead I hiked to Maine Junction (the place
where the AT and Long Trail split) and veered left onto the Long Trail. This
next section was a lot of flat trail followed by rises, followed by flat trail again.
Part of the trail followed snowmobile routes. As the trail ascended to higher
elevation, it started getting rocky with roots and a lot of ups and downs. That
day I drank three whole water bladders while trying to maintain a 3 mph pace. I
was soaked in sweat. My pants were so wet that they were dripping sweat as I
hiked. Once I reached the top portion of the ridge it was great hiking though. At
the last shelter of the day I ran into Mike and Mike again and told them I was
probably stopping at Skyline Ridge the next day. They then told me about a
burger place located .2 miles to the right on Smuggler’s Notch. So we traded
some insider hiking information and then I continued on. I then got picked up
by Flipakey (I arrived an hour early) and she brought me back to the Inn at
Long Trail. I ate another Shephard’s Pie at Murphy’s Bar at the Inn and had a
Guinness. It all tasted incredible. I washed clothes in the sink as best as I
could because laundry had been shut down for the night and then went to sleep.
Watch the vlog of
this portion of the hike here (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SthLHX5uMW8
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Inn at Long Trail |
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Green Mountain Club |
Day 9: Distance hiked: 16.8 miles
Flipakey picked me up again at 7 AM and brought me back to
RT 73, where I had stopped the day before. I saw Mike and Mike once again in
the parking lot, reorganizing their packs. I then started up Mt Horrid. Once
near the top of Mt Horrid I finally found a hiking groove. I climbed Cape
Lookout Mountain and then Gillespie Peak. The trail then led me all the way
down and I took a quick break at Sucker Brook Shelter. I then climbed Worth
Mountain and sat on the ski lift and ate a snack. After Worth Mountain, I hiked
down into Middlebury Gap and then back up Burnt Hill. I stopped at Boyce Shelter
for a snack and walked over to the nearby stream for water. The next portion
was up to Skyline Lodge with tough and rocky ups and downs. Skyline Lodge was
amazing. I sat on the porch overlooking the pond, cleaned out my shoes and
socks, and had another snack. I wanted to stay there but I knew that I needed
more mileage to meet up with my friend Adam on time. So I continued hiking and as
I got near Emily Proctor Shelter I stopped to get water at a stream. When I
started hiking again I noticed that the entire bottom of my pack was soaked with
water and that there was also water dripping from my pack. I stopped and
realized that my water bladder was leaking. This was devastating. It is hard to
hike without water, and to add insult to injury, some of my stuff was wet as
well (I keep most of my stuff in garbage bags on purpose for just such an
instance which limited the impact thankfully). With these setbacks on my mind, I
decided to stop for the night, let everything air out, and reassess my options.
I set up my hammock on trees near the shelter and ate dinner. I then made a
fire in the fire pit and hung up some of my wet clothes on the tree near my
hammock. I then studied my water bladder and realized that the leak was not due
to a puncture, but due to the screwing mechanism on top. I had screwed it on
slightly off kilter! I was incredibly relieved. I lost out on some extra
mileage that day due to the mishap and would have to make up that mileage the
next day.
Watch the vlog of
this portion of the hike here (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SthLHX5uMW8
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