Date: 2012-08-07
From: Williamstown, MA

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

After breakfast, Rob dropped John Wayne and me off to continue our trek north. After saying our goodbyes, we headed out of town and started up the mountain. After that, John Wayne took off and I never saw him again. The trail up the mountain followed this stream. The water in this stream was absolutely clear, not the slightest tint of color to it. I hadn¢t seen water like this in STATES. Water without the slightest hint of tannins was almost breathtaking to see. If Coca-Cola could capture what the sight of that water instilled (¢¢¦Refreshing¢), they would have an incredibly successful commercial. On the way up the mountain there was a flatter area along the stream with some large rocks that made a nice place to stop and rest. There were two hikers there who were making use of this lovely spot. At this spot, the trail also intersected another trail which ends at the stream. The large rocks and the way the hikers were situated obscured the fact that the AT continued straight up the mountain along the stream. In fact, one of the hiker¢s heads was blocking my view of the white blaze painted behind them. I politely asked if the trail was off to my left, seeing as it didn¢t look like there was any trail to my right, on the other side of the stream. The man who was blocking my sight of the white blaze behind him moved and pointed at the blaze. Genuinely trying to be helpful, he said, ¢Just follow the white blazes.¢ Really? Really? Ok, thanks guys.To be fair, the hikers knew nothing about the AT or thru-hikers, even though they were on it. At the top of the mountain was the Vermont state line. At that boundary, the AT also becomes another trail, the Long Trail. This trail follows the AT until Rutland. There, the AT turns right to head into New Hampshire, but the Long Trail continues north and ends at the Canadian border. So in their mind, they approach trail to the Long Trail started at the bottom of the mountain, when really, it started back in Georgia.In addition to the clean water, there were two other abrupt changes that happened, seemingly as if by magic, at the Vermont state line. The trail became exceedingly muddy. I mean MUDDY. Giant mud puddles on steep downhills and uphills that you either slide down, or swim up. Vermont is nick-named Vermud for a reason. Supposedly, Mud is a fifth season in Vermont that follows winter and tapers off through the summer. Thank goodness I wasn¢t hiking in April. The other change was the vegetation. As the state and the Green Mountains range are aptly not nick-named, the vegetation was vibrantly green.Apart from the encounter with the Not So Helpful hikers by the stream, and the shock of climbing mountains that were so muddy, the day passed rather uneventfully. Oh, and only 3 states left! Towards evening, when I arrived at the road leading into Bennington, VT, I spotted Mango and Rampage¢s car across the street! I was excited to get to spend the evening with that group. I started to set up camp, when I realized that I had failed to properly resupply back in Dalton, MA. Thankfully, they were willing to let me borrow their car to drive into town so that I could hit the Wal*Mart up (and eat more town food!) Wheezie decided to tag along so that he could buy more beer. I met Wheezie briefly back on Mt. Greylock. Boy was this guy a character. Everyone at camp was tickled at the fact that I would be chauffeuring Wheezie around. Apollo described him as the male version of my exact opposite. Wheezie is someone without any filter whatsoever, nor with any ability to plan or show wise decision making. He describes his own life as ¢a sh*t show¢. In fact his major motivation for hiking the AT was to escape a lot of the poor influences and habits he had back in his home town.Mango and Rampage¢s group had all already been to town to resupply, including Wheezie. Before getting in the car to drive, Rampage showed me a map of how to get to Wal*Mart. As I¢m driving, at EVERY single intersection, Wheezie said, ¢I think it¢s this way to Wal*Mart.¢ Every time my response was, ¢No, I¢m pretty sure it¢s this way.¢ Anyways, we make it to Wal*Mart and I grab everything I need. As I¢m walking towards checkout, I hear, then see, Wheezie causing a large scene. The clerk is insisting that Wheezie show ID to buy his Twisted Teas (his most favorite alcoholic beverage). Wheezie of course didn¢t have any ID and started arguing quite loudly that it is ridiculous and that he¢s been of drinking age for longer than the clerk has been alive. To get Wheezie out of the store, I quickly buy the Teas and we leave. In the parking lot, a truck slowly drives by playing some country song. Wheezie then drunkenly yells ¢YEAH! Crank it up!¢ at the truck, and then sings along with the song, belting it out as loudly as possible.The next stop was McDonalds. Town food! Wheezie comes inside with me and brings a beer in to drink as well. As we¢re eating, he calls one of his old friends and has a rather loud conversation about drinking and drug usage. Management came by after about 15 minutes and said to him, ¢Sir, you can¢t drink that in here. This is a family restaurant.¢ Awesome, he just got kicked out of a McDonalds. Thankfully, Wheezie finished his beer and conversation outside without giving management any grief. I made sure to stay inside and eat slowly, just to get a break from his personality.Once back at camp, we stayed up late around the campfire, mostly sharing stories about Pops. (I met Pops once, back at the Jennings Creek trail magic, back in Virginia). Wheezie and Rampage could both pull a really good Pops impression. As Pops had given Apollo his trail name, Pops also wrote an epic poem about that day he met and named him. It was great fun to hear the poem read with Pops voice. I¢ll also share one other story hear. The following is Pops¢s words of wisdom to each of his children on their first day of Kindergarten. ¢Now listen son. I didn¢t have you to make the human race dumber. You¢re going to be smarter than me. You¢re going to be better than me. And if you¢re not, I¢ll kill you. I¢ll kill you and have another one. I¢ll give him your name and forget all about you.¢ If you could only hear Pops say it (or a good impression), as this story was hilarious.