Date: 2015-10-12
From: Norwich Inn, Norwich VT 

To: Cloudland Road
Miles today: 15.5

The quality time with my husband was way too short. I think he was surprised by my continuing weight loss. I have now lost close to 50 pounds. I have not been in this type of physical shape since college. We joked that I should charge people who want to lose weight to come out and hike with me. I would charge $50.00 for the day. Those who desire more rapid weight loss can carry the Blue Beast fully loaded (about 40 pounds) rather than their daypack for an addition $25.00.To save time I ate cold oatmeal for breakfast. Then I walked out of the Norwich Inn, down the street, and got on the AT. I had a road walk down a lovely street with large beautiful homes. There was a cooler at the base of one of the mailboxes with trail magic. What a nice surprise, especially this late in the season.The weather was perfect, and it was wonderful to just have a daypack rather than the Blue Beast strapped to my back. Compared to Maine and New Hampshire, the trail was great - gentle ups and downs with few rocks and roots, and lots of switchbacks.   (Maine did not have many switchbacks. However, according to an article I recently read, the trail maintainers are rethinking this strategy because of the extensive trail erosion experienced over the years.)I stopped for a brief break at the Happy Hill shelter, where I met "Sideways," a southbound thru hiker. It looked as if his pack exploded all over the shelter. He was just trying to reorganize his pack. I wished him luck going through the Smokies so late in the year.Rod met me at Podunk Road and hiked with me to the I-89 underpass, where he left Maggie, my Subaru Forester. Afterwards I had quite a long road walk before the AT finally went back into the woods. I stopped for a brief break at Thistle Hill shelter.During the day I only saw 1 thru and 3 section hikers. I saw several chipmunks and red squirrels, but they were not feisty and entertaining like the ones in Maine. I also saw extensive tubing systems attached to trees for collecting maple syrup. And I saw several rock walls. I do not know why, but I really love rock walls.I was so looking forward to fall and the colorful foliage. Vermont's fall foliage was truly spectacular.   But there was a small problem I did not anticipate. With a thick layer of leaves covering the entire forest floor, and very little foot traffic on the trail, it was extremely difficult to see the trail. The white blazes sometimes were too far and few between. In addition, in some places the trail was just incorrectly marked - single blazes where the trail actually turned, or double blazes where the trail actually went straight. At times it was very frustrating trying to figure out where the trail went.While I was hiking and trying to find the AT in the woods, Rod was my road crew, using maps, guidebooks, and GPS to locate road access points to the AT. He bought a detailed road atlas for Vermont at Dan & Whits General Store, which is located next to the Norwich Inn.   It is quite the place, carrying just about everything from soup to nuts. Their motto is "If we don't have it, you don't need it." Rod must have needed the road atlas because they had it.I finished by late afternoon. It was nice seeing Rod waiting for me at the road crossing. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed back to the Norwich Inn for another night of sleeping like Ozzy & Harriet in twin beds.The AT is calling. I am slackpacking as fast as I can given the limited road access and the difficulty following the trail through the thick blanket of freshly fallen leaves.