Date: 2015-06-17
From: Williamstown

To: Melville Neuheim Shelter
Miles today: 20.0

The continental breakfast was actually impressive, though I am 100% certain that Americans do not understand what continental means. Still, I had a range of bagels, muffins, breads, cereal, and fruit to choose from. I had that before 8am and quickly packed up my things before getting a ride from the hotel manager back to the trail. I really enjoyed my stay there- it was very comfortable and clean, and very reasonably priced. The sun was out today, so I was much more inclined to return to the trail and do some serious mileage. It wasn't hot on the trail though, and the humidity was much better than yesterday. I really appreciated this, as the first leg of my hike was to climb up 1,500 ft. On the way, I saw a sign for a 'Bad Weather Trail', so I knew things were about to get tricky. The trail just climbed straight up on rocks for a while. It was quite tiring, but confirmed my decision to stay in town last night. It would have been absolutely impossible for me to climb that in the heavy rain yesterday. Indeed, all of this section of the trail would have been a nightmare in yesterday's weather. Today was book ended by climbs, the one near the start and the one right at the end. In between there were some ups and downs but it wasn't too bad. What was bad was the mud. Almost as soon as I had (finally) crossed the border into Vermont, the trail somehow got muddier than before. Only a day into Vermont, and I have already experienced a variety of different muds. There is mud that is slippery, and I slide along it. There is mud that is black, deep and sticky. It tries to steal my shoes. There is mud that is mostly water, and suddenly becomes deep and rushes over the top of my shoes. There is so much mud here and you can hardly try to avoid it. There are also sizeable sections that are completely flooded, so it looks like the trail is actually a little brook rather than an actual trail. A few times I had to check for white blazes to make sure I was actually still on the trail. I noticed between the mud and the water that my left shoe has basically torn off at the front and there is a big hole there instead. I noticed this because a twig managed to get jammed in there and stab my toes. I'm probably going to have to get new shoes in Manchester. I hope the weather stays dry, there is no way that I would want to experience this terrain in the rain. There's not much to say about today. It felt like it dragged on a lot, and when I got to the end I could hardly remember what I had done at the beginning. At the road crossing, I met a hikers wife who gave me a couple of Reeces peanut butter cups. I was almost tempted to head into this town, as the map showed a place called "Lil Britain" that sold fish and chips. Instead I hiked the mile and a half up to the shelter. There are some people here who are hiking the Long Trail. It goes from Vermont to Canada, and follows the AT for about 100 miles. Brother Luie, Big Ben and another thru hiker are also at the shelter. Brother Luie just announced that there is a 30-40% chance of rain tomorrow. I really hope not. I am absolutely a fair weather hiker only, these days. After all the mud today, I took my socks and shoes off to check my feet. There was actually a layer of silt on the top and bottom of both feet. There is mud all up the back of my legs, and of course my shoes and socks are covered too. They are not likely to dry by tomorrow.