Date: 2011-07-17
From: Wilber Clearing Shelter

To: The Vortex, Bennington VT
Miles today: 21.5

(In which I reach the state of Vermont and enter the Vortex)Lemur and I wake up shortly after 5am and leave before 6 to reach Williamstown for an early breakfast. We power through the three miles to the road in under an hour and then start walking down the road toward food. We make it a mile, walking on the opposite side of the road and not bothering to hitch, when a car stops and offers us a ride. The driver is planning to shuttle some section hikers back to the trail later in the day, continuing a trend of only other hikers stopping to give rides in the north. We ride the last few blocks to a diner and head inside.While we wait for our food we notice a group of other hikers we haven't seen before sitting at another table. When one of the guys from that table walks by on his way back from the bathroom he holds his hand to his mouth and whispers to me in a sotto voice, "Your beard is amazing." We head over to their table to chat after we eat, and meet Natty, the guy who admired my beard, along with two women, Fish and Bate, and a friend of theirs from town. They are all hiking together and describe themselves as "thru-adventurers", a term I instantly like. Having started at Springer, they recently skipped ahead from Harpers Ferry to Massachusetts so that they could spend their last month and a half hiking up north at a relaxed pace before Fish and Bate have to return to college. Their approach is one that I would consider myself if I were under a time constraint, preferring a slower, "incomplete" hike to a rushed one.Lemur and I start walking back to the trail, attempting to hitch this time, only to be picked up by none other than Natty, Fish and Bate, being driven by their friend. Not long after we return to the trail we cross the border into Vermont. This is exciting not only because it means that only New Hampshire and Maine remain as new states to enter, but also because the southern potion of the AT in Vermont overlaps the Long Trail, a hiking trail up the length of Vermont. With southbounders and Long Trailers, I expect the trail to gain quite a few new faces.Sure enough we pass a dozen or so hikers doing all or a portion of the Long Trail, easily identifiable by their larger packs and less toned physique. I'm glad to be hiking on a trail with a greater range of experience again (by this time all thru-hikers are experienced, however they started), and hope to get a chance to spend time with some of the Long Trailers in shelters over the next hundred miles. Roughly half of the Long Trailers hike southbound, making the nobo to sobo ratio more balanced than usual. One of the southbounders wrote a note in the shelter log about a free place to stay for hikers in Bennington, just a few miles past the shelter, so rather than stop at the shelter I decide to hitch into Bennington for the night. Lemur, who had planned on hiking further, decides to head into Bennington as well.Having read only that there is a place called "The Vortex" near the Friendly's, we hitch into town (a couple whose son hiked a large part of the AT eventually stops and gives us a ride), and then wander around near the Friendly's looking for some clue that might indicate an underground hostel. We find what we're looking for a few doors south of the Friendly's, where a small AT sign hangs from the porch. Walking up to the door we see a hand written sign hidden out of site from the road that congratulates us for finding The Vortex and welcomes all hikers to stay. Walking around back we see the familiar faces of (girl) Sherpa and Twoper. Like Thomas Levarti's or Rob Bird's homes, though lesser known, The Vortex is the home of a Bennington couple who have been putting up hikers since 2004. Like Levarti, this couple got started by accident, one act of trail magic, word of which spread until it became an institution benefiting hikers and bringing a sense of hospitality and connectedness that the hosts come to value more than they had expected.After getting a tour and chatting with Sherpa and Twoper, Lemur discovers that there is a movie theater in town and looks up the show times on his phone. I would prefer to watch a movie in the middle of a lazy nero or zero, but having wished for a movie theater so often in the south I can't pass up an opportunity and agree to join him. Movie selection is limited so we end up seeing Horrible Bosses, a mainstream comedy that tries to channel some of The Hangover's formula of buddy pic with whacky shenanigans, but even if the content leaves something to be desired the experience of sitting in a dark, air conditioned room and watching a giant screen still has its charms.We get back to the hotel after dark, and then I stay up even later chatting with fellow SLR-carrier Click! for the first time in months. Only after every one else is asleep do I finally start writing in my journal, glad that I don't have to get up early or hike big miles tomorrow, and looking forward to meeting up with my friend from Canada who is coming to hike with me for a few days.