#27 Manchester Center to Rutland

8/17: Someone snored like a freight train overnight. I had ear plugs, so I did better than most, but I still didn’t get good sleep in the crowded shelter. Otter, Sunshine, and I left early to try and make it to town for a bit. I was so tired though, that I moved at a snail’s pace. It was only 10 miles, but I still had to take a few breaks. I stopped at a shelter about 3 miles away from the road and ate a snack. I knew I was about to have access to delicious town food, but I was hungry and hiking while hungry is never a good idea for me. After a steep downhill, I finally, finally made it to the road. Right away I got a ride in from a gentlemen dropping hikers off, so that was good. I headed to the outfitter where I good the new pair of shoes I mailed myself. It was weird to think that those would be the shoes I would summit Katadhin with. After that, I resupplied and walked aimlessly around a grocery store trying my darn best to find ramen and clif bars, which I succeeded at slowly. Then I went to a nearby Subway and ate a lot of food as I charged my phone and gps. Clouds were rolling in, and I couldn’t get a hitch back to the trail so I started thinking of a plan b. But then someone picked me up! So I got to the trail and it thundered for a bit. I tried to get to the shelter faster than the rain, but the rain beat me and I got a little wet before I reached the shelter. The shelter was nice and I was happy to be under a roof while the rain poured above me. Otter and Sunshine were there too! Luckily this time I didn’t have to deal with any snoring and I went to bed early.

8/18: It’s my half birthday! I got out of camp at around 8 and climbed up the rest of Bromley Mountain. I actually climbed up a ski hill, and when I got to the top, I saw it was only a green, or easiest hill, and that was a blow to my ego. At the top, there were some fantastic views of the mountains peeking over the clouds and a chair lift that I sat on just for fun.

It was cool to see a ski hill in the summer! I think it would be more fun to ski down than walk up though. There was a steep climb down with wet rocks, which is my least favorite activity, and then the trail went up again. I stopped at a sunny rock with Sunshine and Hatrick and ate lunch with a view of the mountains. Hatrick and I hiked together for a bit and chatted to help pass the time. Our feet hurt, was the main consensus from the conversation. Even though we were only doing an average day of 14ish miles, we had both gotten new shoes the day before, and so our feet were hurting. We hobbled down the last mile and camped right before the shelter by a quick flowing river. We ate dinner with Super by the river because there weren’t any bugs, and I had a ramen bomb with tuna in olive oil. After that calorie dense meal, I set up my stuff and hung out in my tent before the rain came.

8/19: There was lightening and thunder a ways a way overnight, but nothing got too close. The river was roaring nearby my tent, so I had some excellent white noise to sleep to. But I still woke up tired. I hiked tired too for a while until about 1 when I took a quick nap on a flat patch on the top of a mountain. From then on, I felt so much more energized! There were steep ups and downs for the rest of the day, but that nap powered me through. I passed a rock garden where gnomes (or hikers) stacked rocks on top of each other.

I also saw a little waterfall! Hatrick and I ended up hiking together for the last few miles and we got to camp kinda late. It was a super crowded shelter area and there were a ton of tents there already. That was ok though, because I stayed up and sat by the fire listening to other hikers talk and looking at a beautiful array of stars in the large tree clearing.

8/20: I slept in a little bit and got a later start on trail. I had about 10 miles of climbs between Mt. Killington and the climbs leading up to it. So of course, I was in no rush to start that. Once I started though, I was fine. I passed the sign that said I had 500 miles left to Katadhin! That was very exciting. I was actually moving pretty quick up the mountain but then I hit a wall and had to sit down for an extended snack break. If I hadn’t taken as much time, I maybe could’ve made it to the top in time for the snack bar to be open, but sometimes, I just have to sit down. So I hung out by a small stream and read my book before slowly getting up and trudging up Mt Killington again. Because of the higher elevation, it was all pine forests and that was really pretty. I finally made it to the top, and hiked .2 of a mile straight up to the summit on a spur trail. And man, it was straight up! When I got up there, there was a group of Hasidic Jews singing and hanging out on the summit, so I sat and enjoyed the gorgeous views with a guitar and Hebrew songs in the background. It could’ve been worse. I decided while I was up there to stay for the night and tent just below the summit. It wouldn’t affect my timing for getting into town the next day too much and it was such a beautiful spot that I didn’t want to leave. After eating couscous with tuna in olive oil (which is more calorie dense than other tuna packets), I went up to the summit with No Hitch to watch the sunrise. Oh man it was gorgeous. That must’ve been one of the top 5 views I’ve had on the trail. The sun lit up the sky and there were mountains as far as the eye could see.

I was so glad that I stayed and spent the extra energy to climb up there again. What a treat to end the day!

8/22: I took a Nero in Rutland the day before and stayed at a literal cult called the Yellow Deli. Hikers had been saying it was a cult and laughing about it, and it was only after I looked up who they were on google when I was hanging out there and browsed through some alarming propaganda pamphlets left on tables in the hiker common room that I realized, oh yes, this is actually a cult. I decided not to give them any more of my money, since it doesn’t go to the workers anyway, and Otter, Sunshine, and I came up with a plan to slackpack the next day without staying there again. Basically, we just left our stuff there that we didn’t need and would pick it up after we were done hiking and head to a different hotel. We planned to do an 18 mile slackpack, but because of the mountains, it took us an hour to get to the drop off point by car. By the time I got on trail, if I wanted to get back to town before the last bus came, I would have to hike straight through- minimal breaks. Oh boy. So the hiking itself wasn’t very exciting because I was focused on getting to the road as fast as I could. I did see a waterfall though!

But mostly, I just hiked for about 9 hours straight. I made it to the road right before a 6:20 bus, which took me into town. I gathered up my stuff and walked to a Comfort Inn, where I joined Otter and Sunshine and we ate pizza and it was great! A great lesson that the trail has taught me is that pizza solves everything :)

So that’s where I am now! I’ll be going into New Hampshire soon, and hiking some of the hardest sections of the trail in the White Mountains. I’ve heard the views are incredible, and if my knees can stop being so achy for just a minute, I’ll be excited for the challenge ahead!

Happy trails! :)