Date: 2010-06-18
From: Bennington, VT

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Bennington, VT. Mile 1601.3.Good news, after a lonely, wet, and eventually pretty miserable couple of days I caught up with the crew. Just in time, as well, as it was the night before Sock Burn turned 21 and was leaving the trail to visit NYC before flying back to Germany. It took me a very rough 24 and a half miles through two heavy downpours and some difficult terrain to catch them, but I managed. In truth, however, that day was the lowest point mentally I have yet had on the trail. The terrain and weather left me crawling forward at a snails pace, I fell about 12 times during the hike, I re-opened cut on my hand from a fall two days prior, and me and all of my gear was completely saturated. I was tired of being alone, and not having fun anymore. Hoping to find the gang at the conclusion of the day, I pressed on, and it did eventually pay off. But, until I found them all I really was feeling like I had had enough with the Appalachian Trail.The next morning, we all slept in and waited for the rain to subside. Twelve miles later all four of us guys hid in the woods while Doozy worked her magic and pulled over a fleet of vehicles willing to take us woodsmen and her into the town of Lee. We grabbed a motel room, took showers, got dinner, and celebrated Sock Burns birthday/departure from the trail. The next morning, we wished him well, and got back on for a whopping seven mile day to the Upper Goose Pong cabin. A cabin on a pond (clearly) which offered four walls, bunks with mattresses, canoeing, and a pancake breakfast for the following morning. Followed that up with a 20 mile day into Dalton, MA where we found Tom Levardi, the absolute most amazing trail angel I have encountered yet. Tom figures he takes in roughly 800 hikers yearly. We walked by his house, saw hiker stuff, hesitated, and Tom walked out and greeted us. He invited us to stay with him, have a shower, do laundry, get a meal, and ice cream sundays that night. It does get better, however. He also offered to give us day packs and drive us 24 miles north to the next town where we could hike south back to Dalton over the roughest terrain we have seen for at least 700 miles. To sweeten the deal, this also meant that we had a warm shower and a soft bed waiting for us again at the end of the day. Of course we took him up for it. When we arrived home, we promptly took showers, and Tom had a hot meal prepared and waiting for us in the kitchen. The next morning, after our second morning visit to Duff and Del's eatery we were dropped back northward where we resumed out hike in the conventional fashion. the kicker, Tom does this all out of kindness and charged us nothing, and very much attempted to deny out attempts to give him something for his efforts. That sort of kindness really inspires me to not only continue to hike, but to continue to have faith in other people.It had been pretty wet and cold lately, but today that has finally cleared up as well. So far, however, Vermont has lived up to its nickname, "Vermud", by turning to a complete mud pit immediately upon entertain the state. Hopefully that will subside. Also, I will finally be getting my second pair of boots in Rutland, VT. Turns out, while I had been forwarding them from PO to PO, they never left Vernon, NJ. Well, after a couple of phone calls I found this, and now they are most definitely headed to Rutland. Thankfully, because after 1600 miles plus this pair has had enough.Oh, and, I did end up going to see a doctor, or two, or three, or four, before one would take both me and my insurance and I got my ears fixed up. I can hear just fine again, thankfully.And! I am back in the mountains. Having finally passed the 2,000 foot elevation mark, the 3,000 mark, and very soon I'll hit 4,000 I am no longer cruising through miles like I had been. In fact, I am probably not going to be doing 20 mile days very often at all any longer. But, the hiking will quickly become much more interesting, and so it is all worth it. Plus, I've only got 1/4 of the trip left. So quickly it seems to be coming to a close.