Date: 2018-08-03
From: VT 103

To: US 4
Miles today: 17.7

This morning Cole told me that he had been sick last night after I had gone to bed. He had thrown up his pizza but was feeling fine now.Yesterday I had been talking to a hiker named The Lady about slackpacking. There is a trail angel who could drive us back to the trailhead at VT103. Once we reached US4, 18 miles down the trail, there was a bus we could take right back to The Yellow Deli. It sounded like a good plan and an opportunity to spare my foot for one more day.The free hiker breakfast at the yellow deli was at 7:30 but we went down a little early to help. We had toast, watermelon, an egg and meat dish and a rice dish. Both dishes had vegetables in them. Cole really liked the food and had seconds. We also had a tea called mat© and those who helped with breakfast were given a smoothie. Both the rice dish and the smoothie tasted like they were flavoured with mat©.At breakfast there were ¢announcements¢. People were thanked for their work and anyone who wanted to was invited to come to the farm to help out for the day. Gene was interested in going to the farm so that is what the family is doing today. This means that once we are done slackpacking today, we will have caught up to them. Lady also decided to go to the farm so we would be slackpacking on our own.Cole emptied his backpack and we put in it only the things we needed for the day, water and water filter, sandwiches, tp, etc. We found out that they had smaller bags at the hostel for us to use for slackpacking so we moved everything over into a smaller bag.At 8:30 a trail angel picked us up and drove us back to where we had gotten off the trail at VT 103 The trail angel had day packs in his trunk that were a little bigger and had more comfortable straps than the one Cole was using, so we moved all of our things over again. He gave instructions on how to get the bus back to the hostel once we reached route 4, but also said that he would come and get us if we missed the last bus at 6:20.I was positive we would miss it. In fact, I have been hiking so slowly with my sore foot that I was a little concerned about being finished before dark. We had headlamps just in case.Then we were off. With the Advil, my foot was doing really well and so I was able to move at a pretty good clip. It was a drizzly wet day. The forest always seems to be the happiest and the most beautiful on days like this and she smiled at me a lot. When I lifted my head long enough to catch a glimps of her grin, I snapped a quick photo. In the afternoon thunder rumbled and the rain came down a little heavier. We paused briefly for lunch at a shelter and Cole reached into his bag to pull out our sandwiches. They weren¢t there. In the process of switching bags, they had been left behind. However he had brought an entire pack of lemon flavoured Oreo cookies, so that was our morning snack, our lunch and our afternoon snack as well. It is a good thing that I like lemon Oreos.As we climbed mount killington we found a forest carpeted in moss. As long as it isn¢t under my feet making me slip, I love the site of trees, rocks and roots laying beneath a moss blanket.  With nothing on my back, the climb was not very difficult. We were making really good time. We took a short break in the shelter at the top of Killington. A southbounder was there. His birthday had passed recently and in celebration he had been giving out birthday cake Oreos, so Cole ate even more. Then we began our descent, still moving swiftly. We were not going to make the 6:20 bus.....we were going to make the 5:20 bus! I had to run on the flat straight aways, but we made it to the road with about five minutes to spare. ¢Cole, don¢t expect me to move that fast ever again.¢ I told him as every inch of me began to complain the moment we sat down.When we arrived at the hostel everyone was either heading out the door or getting ready to. On Friday evenings The Twelve Tribes celebrate the sabbath with singing, folk dancing and a meal. All of the hikers were invited to come. ¢Free Meal¢ That was the bait that hooked us all. Actually I was very interested in seeing their celebration as well. Today while we hiked, Cole and I had talked a lot about The Twelve Tribes and how their beliefs differ from ours. They seem to combine Christianity, Judaism, and ¢something else¢. It is the things that fall under the category of ¢something else¢ that seem very strange to us. Initially, Cole didn¢t think that we should attend the celebration. I thought it would be a good experience. Once we had talked about it for a while he felt better about going, and when he saw that all of the other hikers were going too, he was eager to go. Because, well......food!!!We rushed to get showered and then put on hostel clothes. This time I found an outfit that fit me better. We were then driven not far away to a house that was used as a church. It was one big open space. The members of The Twelve Tribes were singing and folk dancing while hikers sat in an outer circle drinking mot©, watching the dancing or shaking tambourines. Eventually tables were rolled, everyone was seated and we were served homemade bread, fish, rice and eggplant. There was desert too. I think it was pudding but I wasn¢t sure. When the meal was done, everyone helped to clear away the dishes and move the tables. Then one of the community members led the hikers in a folk dancing lesson. Cole was not at all interested in the dancing lesson. I tried for a couple of rounds but then had to get off my foot. Some of the hikers looked like they were having a really good time. I was anxious to get to bed. Eventually the celebrations came to an end and we loaded up onto a small bus with the other hikers to return to the hostel.