Soggy.

Coming immediately off that last low-mileage day, I cross the state line into Vermont. This state is known for having wet and muddy trails, and within the first 50 feet, I was greeted by a large mud puddle. This would be just a small taste of what Vermont had to offer.

I rolled through Vermont with a pretty solid crew, and we all basically stuck together through the whole state. I was still with Talley Joe and Fresh. Gandalf joined us the day before we reached Vermont. I originally met him my first week and hadn’t seen him since then. Woodchuck joined us a day later; I originally ran into him in Pennsylvania. And then I had a big reunion with Ketchup, who finally caught up with me. I hadn’t seen him or heard his banjo for about 1000 miles at this point. It was great seeing him again, and we had a great crew going through Vermont.

Vermont’s terrain continued to build off of Massachusetts’. The mountains were getting a bit taller, a bit steeper, and a bit rockier. Oh yeah, and it was pretty wet. There really wasn’t a clear day during my time in Vermont, and it rained to some degree every day. This made for slick rocks, slippery roots, and wet feet.

I ended up making my first hostel visit since Virginia at the Green Mountain Hostel in Manchester Center. It was the perfect stop; they picked us up from the trailhead, dropped us off in town to eat and resupply, then picked us back up to take us to the hostel. I was able to get a shower and do laundry and then simply hang out the rest of the afternoon.

The next day, I climbed Mount Bromley. It cleared up just enough for me to get some nice views from the top of the observation deck. The next two days, I was not as lucky, as it basically rained the whole time.

I was able to score a slackpack the day I hiked Mt. Killington. Talley Joe’s family lives nearby, and they wanted to do some trail magic for whoever was around. They loaded our gear in their cars at a local farm stand in the morning so we could hike with very light packs. It made the day fly by, which was great since the ascent and summit were washouts, but it did clear up on the way down. Talley Joe’s family was waiting for us 17 miles ahead, where they rented out a campsite and cooked us a feast: steaks, burgers, salad, fruit, soda—they hooked us up big time!

The next day was another one of those unmotivated days. We were all feeling it too, perhaps a bit of a food hangover from the day before. We stumbled upon a small lodge with great views of a lake. We all just looked at each other and went straight for the Adirondack chairs that were begging to be sat in. We all hung out for most of the day by the lake, ultimately making it 7 miles that day.

The next day was a different story. Gandalf got ahead of us on the slow day, and he managed to score some great luck from a trail angel in Hanover who offered to host us all in a couple of nights. Hanover was about 40 miles away, which meant we had to get moving. Fresh, Talley Joe, and I made it 26 miles that day. Woodchuck was ahead with Gandalf, and unfortunately, Ketchup got off the trail for a bit with a friend to heal an ankle injury.

I followed up the next day by hiking the remaining 14 miles before 10 AM to walk into Hanover and enjoy my time there. I’ll update how that went in my next post.