Date: 2017-07-06
From: Greenwall Shelter

To: Killington
Miles today: 28.8

I planned big miles for today to get to Killington village so I will be in position to train home on Sunday to be with the family. I sleep in the shelter to avoid having to break down my tent. The bugs are mercifully few. I hit the trail around 6:30. There are some steep climbs in the morning, including a 600 foot rock scramble. There are some nice views of Rutland's airport, and a suspension footbridge over roaring Clarendon Gorge. The trail is a little muddier here but still far better than after the storms. Some of the stream crossings have high water and wet rocks. A passing cloud lets loose a few drops and moves on. I make good time in the morning. My pace is finally improving. Still nothing to brag about, but my body surprises me today with how quickly and continuously it moves even uphill.At a break in a shelter I meet John, my first southbound thruhiker. He left Katahdin on June 1. He did the AT northbound before and prefers southbound to get the most difficult part done early. What are strenuous climbs to me in Vermont are now barely noticable to him after the White Mountains. He thinks there is one other SOBO ahead of him, someone I missed or mistook for a section hiker.I meet a man and his young son thruhiking the Long Trail. Mom and dad did the AT in '99. When I ask where he's headed the boy announces "Canada!" There are a number of LT hikers on the trail today. Bad News, an AT thruhiker who completed the LT tells me the northern part after it leaves the AT is much more challenging. I catch up with Bill T and Bad News at the peak of Mt Killington, today's longest and highest climb at 4200+ feet. Although the AT doesn't actually cross the summit. Instead there is a side trail that becomes a devilish 300 foot rock scramble. The summit is windy and cold, an Alpine environment, and the views are excellent. Just below on the other side is the ski lift and lodge. There's a restaurant inside. All mountains should have restaurants on top. Mountain bikers come off the ski lift to ride trails down the mountain. Ten more miles to the village by trail. The ski lift would take us within a mile or so, but sadly it has no white blaze. Bill T and I talk the whole way and make good time, but not good enough to make the convenience store before it closes. The owner is already in his car when we walk up. He pays us no attention. Fortunately the motel owner gives us a delivery menu. I get a chicken and spinach salad. Anyone who knows me will tell you I never ever order a salad. But my body craves better nutrients and I have no regrets. Only two days until I reach New Hampshire. It amazes me that two and a half weeks ago I was about to leave Pennsylvania. It has been a whirlwind of states, each with their unique challenges. Somehow I am still on pace with the plan I put together in my comfy armchair at home. The trail has been harder than I expected, but I put in the extra time, effort, and endurance to make it work, even as I threw in more town stops to keep my sanity this past week. Still, reading about other hikers' encounters with the Whites makes me think that may prove an entirely different kind of challenge.