Saturday, 11 August, Day 32, 14.4 miles, cool camp site on river near VT 10, by Crocadilly - We had a surprisingly good sleep considering we had pitched our tents by the side of the road. Yesterday Papa Wolf had been complaining of shin splints…by this morning they were infected spiral compound fractures that had possibly severed an artery hahaha!! He decided that he would have a rest day today. It is always wise to avoid making any injury worse when you have the opportunity not to. Having had shin splints the last couple of weeks I thought this was a good idea and so I was faced with the entirely new challenge of hiking by myself for the first time. I was thrilled by the prospect of a solo adventure although knowing my less than brilliant sense of direction a little concerned that I would possibly be the first person to get lost on the trail (the whole thing is marked by white blazes although at times it is confusing and you can find yourself on side trails if you aren’t paying close attention.) That I find quite easy to do as I easily slip inside my head and get carried away thinking. I was sad he would not be with me but I love being challenged and this would be good for both my mental and physical development. The morning was relatively easy as far as the terrain was concerned but the rain from the day before had made the path incredibly slippy - it was very rocky and covered in roots and various things that would do their best to trip me up. A fine film of dew had covered everything and I found myself slipping and sliding all over the place. Crossing wooden planks was particularly treacherous and at one point I did do a comedy slide. But the walk was beautiful and went quickly in the morning. I passed a beautiful pond, groves of christmas trees and two areas on tops of hills where hikers had built hundreds of cairns. These were particularly spectacular and gave the area a magical feel. You find cairns built everywhere but this was the first time I had seen so many in one place. I spent quite a bit of time here soaking in the atmosphere and taking lots of pictures. I loved walking by myself and being able to stop and take pictures. Just as an interesting side note I bumped into a group of archaeologists just before the pond. They were completing their last day of a four year dig just above the pond. It was an Native Indian site - they believed it was a site for cooking and a tool workshop. It was fascinating talking to them and I was invited up to see the site but knew if I went I would never leave so I sadly had to decline the kind offer! I met Scott for lunch half way through my walk and was pleased to discover that pretty much everyone else had struggled a bit this morning due to the slippy conditions - it had made it really difficult to get into a good rhythm! Scott meanwhile had had an enjoyable saturday morning at Walmart - his favourite past time of shopping!!! The afternoon walk was fabulous and went really fast although I had to laugh at the last mile which seemed to take forever! Quite often the last stretch of a walk will take you to a road - you can hear the road and often see the road especially if you are going down hill but the trail will appear to keep taking you further and further away and around and around - it always makes me laugh because it lulls you into a false sense of security that you are so close to finishing!! The last mile was wonderful though despite being quite a steep down a hill but it took me me down towards a gorge where there were families playing in the water and camping on the lovely shady sandy banks of the river. A suspension bridge took me over the gorge and river and to the car park where tailbone and papa wolf were waiting. We decided to camp down by the gorge for the evening and some of the other hikers agreed to do the same which made quite a good group of us. They hadn't crossed the foot suspension bridge either which I told them we must see! So we got ourselves packed up and ready and took off to camp. Mojo did not enjoy the bridge at all and crawled on his belly under my legs the whole length of it - it hadn't helped that there was an impish child at the other side hanging off it and making it bounce more! Poor furry guy but we got him across in the end and he looked very pleased with himself when he got to the other side. We set up camp in a clearing on the river bank. I was tired happy starving and soaking wet from where I had got so hot!
Sunday, 12 August, Day 33, 4 miles, Inn at Long Trail :) by Crocadilly - an unintended nero…just four miles hiked. Hiker notes 101. Never ever camp at a local beauty spot that is easily accessible by road, towards the end of summer vacation on a Saturday night. We should have known we were not in for the quietest of evenings and it was all likely to go hideously wrong when Scott (Papa wolf) whilst waiting with Tailbone for me to surface from my walk yesterday watched a load of teens pour out of three cars complete with vast quantities of alcohol and with a couple of younger kids in tow! The sticker on one car "Royal Bitch on Board" should have told us everything we needed to know! Our soon to be camping neighbours were likely to be less than salubrious!! There were two groups of rivals (who appeared to become friends at the beginning of the evening before too much alcohol had been consumed). After that it was like epic scenes from West Side story were unfolding!! It is true that one of the guys we are currently hiking with got embroiled in the evening's festivities at quite an early stage and quite possibly started everything that ensued. But what was a pleasant, peaceful evening eating and chatting with Otto, Apollo, Perch and Weezy in an idyllic spot beneath pine trees with a carpet of soft sand and pine needles quickly unraveled into chaos as more and more cheap beers and alcopops were consumed by those in the camping spot next to us! Their laughter and chatting eventuallyturned into an incredibly long and what sounded like a very angry brawl with the girls shrieking more violently than the guys! The teens were observed as dusk rolled in rolling around on the floor fighting each other and this continued on into the early hours. We actually pretty much climbed over the fight when we got up at 3am to watch the forecasted meteorite shower. We had decided to get up and decamp back up the hill to the car park and enjoy the early morning show with a coffee before making a dawn start towards the towering peak of Killington. The most dangerous hiking I have done so far was by torch light in the early morning, trying not to trip over flailing legs and arms and items discarded by the band of not so merry travellers! By the time our little troop climbed back up to the car park which was a good five minute trek (one that I ended up doing twice after having to go back over the bridge and down to the campsite where I had stupidly left the camping stove on which we were to make the coffee and I had been accidentally spat on by a horrible little chav), the clouds had rolled in extinguishing the stars and the moon and any of the meteorite shower that may have been going on above us. We all decided to give up and go back to bed. Unfortunately Scott and I had already deflated our mattresses so although we were on a bed of soft sand it was not exactly comfortable and we were definitely not being lulled into a peaceful sleep by the sounds of the angry baying mob next door! That was until the state troopers arrived! The cocophony of noise was shattered by the sudden arrival of a deeper voice, the dance of a flash light and then silence! It transpired that one of the girls from one of the rival gangs had dialed 911 and was threatening to call them when she accidentally did. The operator I would imagine on hearing what was going on tried to ring her back, she accidentally again picked up, more of the fight was overheard and so the operator dispatched four police cars complete with armed troopers! On hearing them arrive I smiled to myself rolled over and drifted off into a light slumber!! Apparently the teens were carted off to the cells and / or hospital for stitches as required. The lack of sleep as you can imagine did not make for a great start to the day and by the time we got up and going it was baking hot and neither of us were exactly feeling like hiking. Every step felt like a monumental effort and Papa wolf in particular was struggling and so after four miles we decided to call it a day and had Tailbone come and pick us up and take us to the Inn at Long Trail near Killington Vermont….via Friendlys of course for lunch! We went via the local town of Rutland and picked up Thirty Pack who had been resting at a hostel there for a few days after a spate of ill health (another tale to tell!). It was great to see him again and he cheered us up no end over lunch. We decided the miles would wait until tomorrow. In a side note a chap materialized from the Yellow deli hostel where thirty pack was staying and approached papa wolf. He was a guy by the name of Spiceman, and it transpired he knew a guy Scott worked with - he already had known this and was looking out for us. He had worked in Ramstein. It wasn’t long before Scott worked out that he had actually slept on Spiceman's couch in his office following the superbowl a number of years ago and had actually been to dinner at his and his wife's house with Spanky their mutual friend! Small world!!!
Sunday 12th August 2012 Part Two. The Inn at Long Trail. I have been waiting for this moment for pretty much the whole trip. We stayed at the Inn whilst on a road trip with my sister and brother in law two years ago when we first moved back to the states and I couldn’t wait to visit it again. I had imagined approaching the inn victorious after a hard days hiking and looking all worn out and ready for a hearty meal and a cold beer chatting about our adventures with other hikers as we had watched the hikers somewhat in awe the August two years before. It was not to be. Instead we entered the inn somewhat mentally and physically beaten for various reasons and me in tears and just wanting to jump in the shower and drown my sorrows in a beer. Papa wolf was not feeling the walking and it felt like our adventure was beginning to unravel a little bit. But walking into the Inn was as Toni Morrison described in her novel Beloved if you have ever read that, like walking back into a memory. I revisited myself walking down the hallways and retraced my steps and imagined myself as I had felt two years ago. Somewhere along the way over the past two years I have lost myself and I am on a journey of self -rediscovery. For the first time in a long time I finally felt like I have recaptured some semblance of my old self at this wonderful inn and felt that I was home and happy. The inn was going to be a good positive experience and help me get back on track. Both of us in fact. It felt somewhat like fate when we looked at the guest book and saw our names signed in two years ago to the very day! I must admit to getting quite choked up to think that my memories were from exactly two years ago. Rampage, Mango, Apollo, 30 Pack, Otto, Perch, Weezy and an assortment of our other comrades had decided to take advantage of the free area for camping opposite the inn. We enjoyed some beers with the vice president of the Green Mountain Club, a guy who is a former through hiker and very knowledgeable and Otto who we have thoroughly enjoyed hiking with. Soon we were relaxed and with some good food in our bellies and a few pints of Long Trail Ale and having a good time with our friends the world was looking a much brighter and happier place. I was beginning to feel like my old self. The Inn at Long Trail was proving to be a cathartic place for us both, and whilst we entered its welcoming doors in a different frame of mind to that anticipated we sank into our comfy bed with a much more positive attitude. Thankfully.
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