Date: 2008-08-07
From: Dalton, MA

To: Manchester Center, Vermont
Miles today: 82.0
Weather: light rain

I'm in Manchester Center, Vermont at a new, awesome hostel, but I will get to that later. I left Dalton after 3 nights at a hotel with my Dad. I never took a zero there, I was slackpacking south of Dalton until I actually 'got' there in the trail sense. My Dad went home, which was sad because I really enjoyed hanging out with him for a week. But, the adventure must continue and it did feel good (sorta) to put on my full pack and start hiking north again. Putting on a fully loaded backpack after a week of slacking was something else- something painful. UGH! To make matters worse, it started pouring rain and Longshot, HotTang and I were totally soaked. We walked the 10 miles north of Dalton into Cheshire, Mass and sat down at a deli to eat sandwiches. My hiking motivation was next to zero that day and I decided to stay at the free church hostel in town rather than go on. The three of us went to the church, dripping wet. After drying off I decided to go to the 4 o'clock mass because I had nothing better to do and I was curious having never been to mass before. It involved lots of standing and sitting. I walked out of mass and Hot Tang grabbed me and said that we were going back to Dalton via van and that all my stuff was already loaded in the van. We hopped in and off I went to the Birdcage hostel in Dalton. The Birdcage was great. Lots of people never left Dalton because of the weather, so we spent the night hanging out and watching movies with them. The next morning we were dropped off in Cheshire and started our walk north again, this time not returning to Dalton. The trail managed to become a path of mud, water, and mosquitoes. I'm not sure how I can convey the extent of the mud. Suffice it to say that I gave up on keeping my feet dry at all and just plowed through it mud past my ankles, water flowing into my boots. I crossed into Vermont and the mud just became worse. The weather also took a turn for the worse. It has been raining everyday so the mud just gets deeper and deeper. The trail is under water much of the time. It actually reminds me of the hiking trip I did with my brother in Minnesota last October. The trail was underwater then, too. Besides the rain and mud, Vermont is beautiful! I love it SO much. The forest is like northern Minnesota and I actually started to see moose droppings, no moose yet though! Lakes, rivers, streams- I am happy to be hiking. Not that I wasn't happy before, but the trail is so amazing that I am grateful to be here even if I get the wrath of the gods thrown down at me. Yesterday was one of those days when I felt the wrath of the gods (or whatever). I woke up to rain. I packed up all my stuff in the rain, my tent was covered in rain and mud. During the day tt was raining heavily, lightning, thunder, the trail was underwater, mud was splashing all over, and then it started to hail. All this during a 21 mile charge over Stratton Mountain (a big one!) and into town. I made it though and arrived at the Green Mountain House hostel soaked but extremely happy to be here. This place is amazing. Another example of trail angels gone wild. There is a house here for hikers. A REAL house with a kitchen, carpet, living room, and beds (sheets, pillows, the works!). I took a shower and changed into the dry clothes that were available to use so that we could wash everything we had. My tent and shoes are drying outside and I'm taking a lazy day, hiking out later this afternoon maybe a couple miles. Last night I watched an AT movie with the other hikers and I got so excited about the trail ahead. It looks amazing. I can't wait... or maybe I can. Only 537 miles remain. Sad.