Tuesday June 4, 10.6mi/17.1km

Governor Clement shelter (1692.4) to Highway 4/Rutland (1703.0) (VT)

It was so cold last night! When I finally got out of my sleeping bag at 7am, it had been daylight for two hours, but still only warmed up to 39F/4C. The trail started out on a nice old dirt road.

And then it climbed 2000ft/600m over four miles, up to the top of Killington Peak. Most of the morning was in one of those nice pine forests.

The moose (meese?) also seem to live this forest, their droppings were everywhere!

It was sunny, and had warmed up quite a bit, but still cold up at 4000ft elevation.

I took a break at an old shelter, which was at the junction with the side trail to the true summit. I dropped my pack inside, since it was less than a quarter mile on the steep side trail.

The shelter had many interesting stickers from ski mountains all over the country.

Including a funny play on “Keep Tahoe Blue”

Bob caught up, and we tagged the summit together. Killington is 4,230ft/1,289m high, the second highest peak in Vermont.

Just over the other side of the summit, there was the top of the ski resort. It had a restaurant (closed) and some lifts.

Hikers are directed to go left, down a double black diamond ski run!

We descended the way we came up, and got back on the AT. It was rocky and steep.

Once we got back into the forest, it was an easy cruise downhill to the road, and to town.

There is an hourly bus that picks up at 15 minutes after the hour, and we caught the 1:15pm bus into Rutland. It is a nice little new england town. With an odd statue of a dog…

We did some errands, and then went to the Yellow Deli for lunch and to spend the night at the hostel. It was an amazing meal, and an interesting hostel experience.

There is no alcohol allowed in the hostel, so we went next door to the Hop-N-Moose pub for dinner. Pizza, wings, and beer just go together! Vermont might be my favorite AT state so far…

Monday June 3, 19.7mi/31.7km

Little Rock Pond shelter (1672.7) to Governor Clement shelter (1692.4) (VT)

I had a cold start to the day, it was only 39F/4C when I woke up! But, it was sunny, and with the uphill climb I quickly warmed up.

After an hour I passed a random spot in the woods, and it was hilarious to see. Cairn-ville!

Someone (probably many someones) built a rock garden.

The trail was really nice today, with almost no mud, and lots of bridges over little streams. Dry feet are happy feet!

The Green Mountain Club (trail maintainers for this section) even have special signs at road crossings, haha.

I cruised all morning, seeing almost no one else, and enjoying the verdant forest.

And the occasional wildlife. Some kind of toad?

After lunch, we got to walk a ridgeline, so there were occasionally viewpoints into the valley below. I believe this is Rutland airport.

Then we descended into the Clarendon gorge, and everything was very green and moist.

The swingbridge over the river was my favorite so far, the boards were new and smelled like cedar.

The climb up out of the gorge was steep, and surrounded by rock walls to navigate around.

At the top of the climb, we had pretty much the same view again… of the airport.

There was also an interesting sign, it was really old. It gave the trail distances, but also the estimated travel times. I’ve seen this on the Te Araroa, but nowhere else.

And at the end of the day, we saw another fun sign. 500 miles to Katahdin!

We arrived to an empty shelter at 5pm, and quickly layered up and made a warm meal. It was getting colder, and expected to be a frigid 38F/3C tonight. A couple other section hikers showed up at 6pm, and we all went to bed early, hiding in our warm sleeping bags!

Sunday June 2, 19.8mi/31.9km

Manchester (1652.9) to Little Rock Pond shelter (1672.7) (VT)

I slept great in a real bed, and after a big breakfast of bacon, eggs & toast, I felt super energized. We got a nice group photo, and then Molly dropped us off at the trail.

There wasn’t much to see in the green tunnel until we got to the summit of Bromley mountain. It’s a ski resort, so the top is a mowed field with lift equipment.

The trail descended steeply from the summit, and back into the trees. Another nice pine forest!

At a road crossing a couple of miles later, there was trail magic! It was dozens of jugs of water, so I filled up a liter.

The rest of the day was in various wilderness areas. These places always feel more special.

And since Vermont is a spongy state, there were frequent boardwalks to keep our feet dry!

I stopped for lunch at a shelter, and while I was there it started to sprinkle a bit. So I umbrella’d up, and headed down the trail, crossing into the Big Branch wilderness.

The minor rainstorm had passed within an hour, and I had a unique view of the clearing clouds from the summit of Baker Peak.

My favorite part of the afternoon was crossing the wilderness’ namesake creek on a massive swingbridge.

They are so much fun to bounce on!

Bob caught up, and we hiked 3mi/5km more to the next shelter. It is next to Little Rock Pond, so we have a pretty nice view tonight!

As I was making dinner at the shelter, another hiker staying there noticed that we have the same backpacks.

I’ve seen very few of these Gossamer Gear packs on the AT; most people have had packs from Osprey, HMG, ULA, or Granite gear. My pack has a manufacturing defect that that they won’t fix/replace, so I’m always looking at other hikers’ packs for a better brand. This backpack just has to make it 500 more miles!

Saturday June 1, 16.1mi/25.9km

Forest service road #7 (1636.8) to Manchester (1652.9) (VT)

We got started early, hiking out by 7:15am, it’s a town day! The 1500ft/500m climb up Stratton mountain seemed to fly, and the trail wasn’t too muddy.

Near the top, the environment changed, and I was walking in a dense pine forest.

The summit had a fire tower, which supposedly had a great view, enough to inspire the creation of the Long Trail. I just saw clouds.

The hike down was quick and easy, and we took a break at Stratton pond shelter, which was huge.

The next couple of hours of hiking were flat terrain, and in a wilderness area. My mind wandered back to New Zealand, given the lush terrain, and slightly muddy trail.

When the ground got too wet and muddy, there were boardwalks. So many boardwalks!

We took lunch at a popular place called Prospect Rock. You could see the whole valley and the town of Manchester.

We hiked out the last few miles to the road, and saw lots of little streams along the way, with fish swiming in the pools.

Bob and I got to the road at 2:30pm, and we were picked up from the trailhead by my friend (and fellow RIT alum) Molly. We stopped by the house for a much needed shower, and then went to explore the town.

Molly, Steve, and two adorable toddlers showed us around town. It’s the home of the flagship store for Orvis!

And the Fly fishing museum…

Inside the store were so many interesting things. And the kids had fun feeding the fish they keep in the store!

And a cool stuffed bear.

After touring around, Bob and I stopped by the grocery store, and then went back to their house. Just in time for an amazing dinner of pork chips, beans, and the biggest asparagus I’ve ever seen! The kids kept us entertained until the hockey game started on TV. I stayed awake for a bit longer, but it was a long day!

Friday May 31, 22.4mi/36.0km

Melville Nauheim shelter (1614.4) to Forest Service Road #7 (1636.8) (VT)

Vermont is sometimes called Vermud, and today I could definitely see why!

Most of the day was like this, dodging the deeper puddles, and walking straight thru the shallower ones. It was tiring mentally. A few hours into the morning we got a view! It’s because of powerlines, but I’ll take it.

Every time we cross a set of powerlines, we make some kind of bad joke: “it’s a shocking view”, “these views get me really amped up”, or today’s joke , “watt a view!”

I noticed today that we are back in a national forest, and a wilderness area! This hasn’t happened since Virginia.

Just before lunch, there was a climb up to Glastonbury mountain, which had a fire tower on top. The climb was up many steep log stairs.

The views from the top weren’t that good today, it was very hazy.

Looking down from the tower was a neat view.

After a quick break, we headed downhill to a shelter for lunch, as it was kind of cold on the summit. I found evidence of moose!

And it was in a field of all these flowers…

We took another afternoon break, and met two guys hiking the Long trail, and they were from RIT. Small world! The rest of the afternoon was wet muddy trail, and swampy beaver Bogs. Sometimes there were nice stepping stones to traverse a muddy section.

We crossed a dirt road, and found some trail magic! It appears to be from a group of hikers just a couple of days ahead of us. Cookies, chips, nuts, and a few energy drinks!

We hiked to an old dirt road at the base of Stratton mountain, and setup camp. The shelters were oddly spaced today, so no shelter tonight.

Tomorrow, we are going into town, and visiting a college friend!

Thursday May 30, 18.3mi/29.5km

Sherman Brook campsite MA (1596.1) to Melville Nauheim shelter VT (1614.4)

I woke up to a wet tent, so it must have rained last night. But it was a perfect hiking day today, partly sunny and dry! The trail started off very nice…And it had an odd alternative route. No thanks, I’ll stick with the trail that has good weather!About 2mi/3km into the day, we came to the Vermont border. This is also where the 273-mile Long Trail starts. It is an older trail, and was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail. The Long Trail (LT) and the Appalachian Trail (AT) share the same path for 105 miles.And of course, there is heaps of mud at the border. Hikers sometimes call this state “Vermud”.There was one distant view all morning, at a power line corridor.And one view at a nice beaver pond. This was a perfect spot for moose, though I looked and didn’t see any.This photo shows the construction of the dam itself. Clever beavers.As usual, there were nice boardwalks to keep our feet mostly dry.At lunch, I celebrated being in Vermont the only proper way, with cheese! Cabot cheese.After lunch, there weren’t many views, but I started noticing the close-up scenery. Some flora:And fauna: (a newt)There was one view, at a high point called Harmon Hill. Looking west, down to Bennington:Then, after a ridiculously steep descent on slippery rock stairs, we crossed highway 9 and the Walloomsac Brook.And there were so many more newts! These spotted orange critters are everywhere, I try not to step on them.The final 2 mile climb up to our shelter for the night was slow. It wasn’t steep, and actually had some nice switchbacks, I was just hot and tired. There was also a neat piece of geology that the trail passed thru, called split rock.I arrived to the shelter at 5pm, to find this cool sign in red letters.There was a group of 5 people at the shelter when I arrived, but most of them departed, hiking south to the road and into town. One hiker remained, and he put on some episodes of a Netflix cartoon, and Bob and I watched too.

A nice relaxing finish to a fairly easy day!

Wednesday May 29, 16.2mi/26.1km

Cheshire MA (1579.9) to Sherman Brook campsite (1596.1) (MA)

It was a lazy morning in the motel, and I had a pint of ice cream and watched old episodes of the Office. We packed up and got a Lyft back to the trail, which went right by a Dunkin donuts.

After eating way too many donuts, we began the long climb up to Mt Greylock.

As we got higher up, these flowers started appearing everywhere.

And up on the ridge, we were at 3000ft/900m elevation, and the pine forests are back! They smell so good.

In what has become a regular occurrence, there were some bogs, and plank bridges to cross them.

The summit of Mt Greylock has an auto road to the top, so there was signage and infrastructure everywhere.

Just below the summit was a cool alpine pond, and the frogs were making so much noise.

Since there is a road to the top, there is also a monument, interpretive signs, and a cafe. Mt Greylock is 3,491ft, the highest point in Massachusetts.

The view from the top was less than optimal.

We walked over to a stone shelter and had lunch. The sun came out!

Then we did the 6 mile hike downhill to town, where I had a package waiting at the post office. And since there was a mexican restaurant nearby, we had to stop and get burritos and margaritas.

The walk out of North Adams was interesting, crossing a bridge with handprints all over.

The river under the bridge looked kind of murky.

And just before reentering the forest, the final quirk was walking up someone’s driveway!

The last mile was gradually uphill in a forest, and we stopped at 6:30pm to camp at a designated site with some tent platforms. The sound of the nearby creek is nice sleeping noise.

Tuesday May 28, 20.6mi/33.2km

October Mountain shelter (1559.3) to Cheshire MA (1579.9) (MA)

It was a cold morning, only 50F/10C, so I started hiking as soon as I could, at 6:45am. It was also a town day, and the prospect of hot food and ice cream got me motivated! The morning miles were almost completely in the trees, so I didn’t get many photos.

The one view, facing west toward New York and the Catskill mountains.

It was still cold, and the temperature never got warmer! So we kept moving, without any long breaks.

We got to the town of Dalton just before lunchtime. It is an old mill town on the Housatonic River.

We are some hot subs at a local shop, and by the time we were finished, a rainstorm had arrived. So, the 8 miles in the afternoon were “umbrella miles”.

My hands were too cold & wet to use the touchscreen very well, so I only took one photo…

We arrived to another town at 4pm, in Cheshire MA. Our planned spot to sleep was at a local church, but it was locked. So, we called a nearby motel for a room, and waited for the arrival of my friend “Aquamira Snotrocket”, who had hiked the AT in 2018. She brought some drinks, some good stories, and the best pistachio cake I’ve ever had! I forgot to get a group photo…oops.

Hoping tomorrow is warmer and/or drier!

Monday May 27, 23.0mi/37.0km

North Wilcox shelter (1536.3) to October Mountain shelter (1559.3) (MA)

Today was a day of familiar ground, as I had hiked much of this part of the trail over the years during dayhikes. It was fun to re-visit Tyringham cobble, Goose Pond, Becket Mountain, and October Mountain. Bob and I left at 7:30am and cruised all morning in perfect hiking weather.

There were some views from farm fields.

On the short climb up to Tyringham cobble, there were heaps of toads and newts.

The view from the top of the cobble is always nice.

After the descent from the cobble, there is a road crossing, and locals have setup a snack stand!

Inside, there was soda pop, candy, gatorade, water, and eggs!

We took a nice long break at a picnic table they had built nearby. Afterwards, there was a few hours of walking in a green tunnel, and I didn’t stop until we got to Goose Pond.

There was also an old chimney next to the pond, I guess there used to be a house here?

There is a cabin nearby that hikers often stay at, which has a resident caretaker who will often make pancakes in the morning! But it was only 1:30pm, so we continued on to the next shelter. After another hour, we crossed the interstate 90 freeway.

Apparently I had just missed some friends, who were driving back to Boston from the long holiday weekend. D’oh!

There was a short but steep climb up Becket Mountain, which had no views.

The last hour of the day was nice walking up on a densely forested ridge, with occasional ponds and beaver Bogs nearby.

We stopped for the day at October mountain shelter at 6pm, and there was one other thru-hiker there.Tomorrow I’m getting an early start, to meet a friend (and 2018 thru) at a town 20miles away. Wheeee!

Sunday May 26, 13.5mi/21.7km

Great Barrington (1522.8) to North Wilcox shelter (1536.3) (MA)

It was another relaxing morning, and Bill made us a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and asparagus. Then, a group photo!

We packed up and Maureen was kind enough to drop us off at the trail, which was so much easier than hitching. We started hiking at 10:30am, so it was already very warm and humid.

After a sweaty climb, the ridge had a nice breeze. And also this deep, cold ravine to recover a bit of energy.

Bob and I stopped for lunch at a shelter, and because it was a holiday weekend, there were already other campers there. This group of 3 guys had brought an impressive assortment of food, including vegetables, sandwich meat, hummus, and beer! So we swapped stories and snacks for awhile.

The rest of the afternoon we hiked by many small lakes and ponds.

The trail was mostly in a nice pine forest, which always reminds me of the PCT. The mosquitoes were around, but I used some Deet and they stayed away.

We got to the shelter very early, at 4:15pm. But the next shelter isn’t for another 14miles, so we set up and camped.

There are some mosquitoes, so I put on… pants. Which felt weird, but I was bite-free!