HELLO VERMONT

AT Day 094: Monday July 10, 2023

Mile 1600.5 + 14.2 miles/ 22.8km

Total Distance Hiked: 1614.7 miles/2598 km

Williamstown – Congdon Shelter

A: 3684 ft / 1124 m  D:2228  ft /679 m

Our unplanned stop in Williamstown worked out so well. The motel was only a mile and a half off trail and very clean and comfortable. Hammer could catch up on some much needed sleep. He’s been sleeping on the ground since his sleeping mat failed and could not be repaired. A new one is waiting in Manchester City about 55 miles away.  It started to rain soon after we arrived and had rained steadily all through the night.  Catching up on the news it seems that the weather has been a bit worse then we estimated.

Checking the weather radar  this morning, the rain is expected to ease around 10am.  we thought the worst was rainfall was over. I was hesitating about checking out because the rain eased but it did not stop. The TV news reports suggested that the State of Emergency in Vermont was over. We were committed and left the motel at 11 with unpleasant thoughts that we will soon be wet. We only walked a couple hundred yards from the motel when a lady taking her daughter to piano lessons stopped and offered us a ride to the trailhead. There was no turning back. We were back on trail,  head down and onwards.

Leaving town the  trail was not overly steep until we reached the endearingly named  Rock Garden. A steep rocky traverse onto a ridge which today provided no views. I was regretting leaving the motel.  The rain was heavy and continued to fall without signs of letting up. Mild anxiety gripped me while traversing up the ‘Rock Garden’ . I was having flashbacks to breaking my knee on a routine trail run literally in my backyard with views of our nearest major hospital nearby. What the hell was I doing here, on this goat track, in these conditions on the other side of the world? I was hiking ahead of Hammer and had to work really hard to calm my breathing and focus on the task at hand.  Onwards to a shelter that’s all we had to do today.   Hammer is always more pragmatic, we are here to finish what we started.  

What can I say about today, it  was a horrible day. The rain eased once or twice  so that even the birds started to sing. But it did not last. It rained so heavily that the trail was mostly a creek. We trudged and I tried to stay upbeat. It was warmish, there was no thunder and lightning, just rain and trail covered in water, like walking through a  creek,  and mud  lots of mud. We had so looked forward to arriving in Vermont which we crossed into today. It was not as happy an occasion as we had anticipated due to today’s conditions. 

We had a couple of scary creek crossings one of which was a beaver dam outlet. I can imagine on a normal day these crossings  would pose no trouble. Hammer was calm as usual while I had my heart in my throat.  The roar of rushing water was far greater then the energy we encountered while crossing. We managed to cross without any incident. 

Right towards the end of the day we were approaching another  huge roaring creek. It was making a thundering sound from a long way off. It was such a relief that the trail did not cross but followed alongside. It felt amazing to get to the shelter around 7pm. We forgot that the Long Trail in Vermont shares the same path as the AT for the next 100 miles.  At the shelter we met 5 other hikers. Three Canadians on Day 1 of their Long Trail hike which finishes in Canada  and two other AT section hikers. Slim Pickins’ arrived just after us having also taken a detour in town yesterday. 

It was our second time sleeping in a shelter and it was most welcomed. I can understand how miserable conditions create a quick bonding environment. We were just so relieved that we were not the only nutters out here in these horrible conditions.