Tuesday, July 12th

Williamstown (1596.7 mi) to Melville Nauheim Shelter (1616.7 mi).

Hiking Miles: 20

Total Ascent: 5,384.2 ft

Total Descent: 3,595.8 ft

Total Grade: 449.9 ft/mi

Steps: 48,005

ROD STEWART – Do Ya Think I’m Sexy

Gator/Sunrise: After a breakfast (donuts, hot coffee, leftover Chinese food, assorted fruit, and a few snacks from the front lobby) that included a stop at Dunkies, Rocky drove us to a spot across the street from a small parking lot leading back to the trailhead. He mentioned that property owners got angry when hikers were dropped off in that parking area. Not sure what the big deal was, however we thanked him for the ride and promised to write a good review for his amazing hospitality and great accommodations during our stay.

A few miles on trail, we crossed into Vermont and shortly thereafter we reached the 1600 mile marker. The “hundred” markers felt like they took less & less time to achieve, likely because our trail legs were strong and we were on a mission to finish. Then 25 minutes after stopping to take a pic, we reached the start of the Vermont Long Trail. The Long Trail was 273 miles in length as it stretched from Vermont to Canada. We would be spending the next 105 miles on it where it conveniently coincided with the AT.

With having completed 1600 miles and entering the Long Trail, I felt pumped and excited. So much so that I was cruising along and not paying close attention to the downhill and tricky (rocky and rooty) terrain. In a split second I found myself face planting onto the ground and into a small stream. It was nothing serious, more so a complete surprise, however I did manage to draw blood and acquire a few cuts on my nose and arm. I was grateful that my glasses didn’t crack or break since I did land on them hard.

As the day passed and it was approaching dinner time, we were quite a ways from our planned stop at the Melville Nauheim Shelter. I was feeling tired at this point and was seriously hungry and thirsty (I was low on water). At the next roadside (a few miles ahead), I was thinking how awesome it would be to call for a ride to take us into Bennington for a hot meal and a shower. To help curb my cravings, I had my Spotify on and was locked in on Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat”. But when that song ended, my mind shifted back to thinking that when I caught up to Croc at the road crossing, that he would have reached out for that ride to Bennington.

Hearing cars in the distance, I knew the road crossing was close by and I also started hearing faint voices. The closer I got, I could hear Croc’s become more distinct, and I thought to myself “Yes – he’s got my back on this one”. Then at the base of a long downhill (which is common as you approach a road), I could see Croc in a parking area across the road. He was holding a drink (soda?) and was talking with a gentleman standing next to a truck that appeared to have trail magic. I was so excited. This was exactly what I needed with having 2 miles to go to the shelter, all uphill (which is also common when leaving a road). How something as simple as a drink and a snack can change one’s entire mind frame.

The trail angel’s name was”Sir Stops A Lot”, and he greeted me with a cold Dr. Pepper and a slice of cheese pizza – perfect! Sir Stops A Lot was a past AT thru-hiker who gave back by offering trail magic and trail advice at various spots. He was quite informative and offered us tips such as how to best approach the Hut situations within the White Mountains if we decided to pursue work-for-stay options. I just kept thinking how grateful I was at that moment that we crossed paths.

After a pleasant conversation, we said our good-byes (Sir Stops A Lot gave us each a second Dr. Pepper on the go) and proceeded to fill our water bottles at a healthy stream at the base of our last 1.6 mile climb to the shelter. It was there that we met a group of about seven young hikers. They were tending to a nice campfire until some rains came. They may have been part of a hiking club. It was interesting in that they were walking around the campfire (forming a complete circle), perhaps playing some sort of game.

As we were setting up in shelter (very spacious), I recall Croc telling me to be careful when opening my Dr. Pepper because his sprayed all over him from being shaken on the hike up the mountain. Despite slowly twisting the cap off the miniature bottle, it also let out some terrific air pressure and sprayed soda on me too!

We then ate dinner on the picnic table, and shortly after called it a night. It was a good 20-mile day for our first one in Vermont.

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Croc: Of course, we finished the last few miles of Massachusetts with Dunkin’s coffee and some donuts. It was one of those mornings where I craved a zero day since it was supposed to storm and there were so many amenities in Williamstown. However, given that we just had a nero in Great Barrington, we decided to continue on.

It wasn’t long until we reached 1,600 miles and crossed into Vermont, but more importantly, began the Vermont Long Trail. If I were to do any other trail, it would be the VT Long Trail. I feel that it not only has some amazing hiking trails but is also a very manageable 3-week hike. You don’t have to quit your job or prepare yourself as much for such a physically and mentally challenging adventure. Luckily, if I ever do attempt the VT Long Trail, I already have 105 of the 273 miles completed.

As we continued our hike, we noticed that it had been so dry this year that we completely avoided the mud dilemma. Vermont is well-known on the trail for being called “VerMud,” similar to “Rocks-Sylvania,” but it didn’t seem any different from any other states we had hiked, so we definitely avoided another trail nuisance.

It quickly became a tiring day since we had just come from a motel, and like I mentioned before, hotel/motel days are always the most difficult to get yourself moving. We were making decent time even though we felt the trail included more ups and downs, and the terrain became more rocky and rooty, which we’ve been warned about in New England.

In the last few miles of the hike, I was a little way ahead of Gator and caught a glimpse of a trail angel standing by his car in a parking lot across the street from the trail. Although I was excited to grab some soda and a slice of pizza, I was more excited for Gator because I knew how much he needed this right now. He had been hinting about driving to Bennington, but after staying in a motel last night, a hotel a few nights ago, and having the luxury to stay in a cabin and backyard, I thought another day in town would slow us down too much. I do love stopping in towns, and it definitely is necessary for resupplies and mental health, but going into town consumes many hours (calling for a ride, driving into town, getting a hotel, stopping by a restaurant, usually a late start the next day, etc.). I was ready to clock some miles in the next few days, so we could enjoy our stay at the Mountain Meadow Lodge. So selfishly, I was very glad there was a trail angel ready with sodas and pizza for Gator! However, I definitely would have gone into town if we really needed it.

Anyways, as Gator mentioned, the trail angel’s name was Sir Stops-Alot. I assume the name was given to him because he would stop a lot on the trail… definitely so because he proceeded to show me (unsolicited) at least 100 photos of himself hiking Mt. Washington, which meant he stopped A LOT to take them all. But I can’t be too hard on the guy after hooking us up with trail magic. Also, I wondered if he got the honorific title of “Sir” from sleeping in a privy for a night. It’s an old trail legend that if you spend a night in a privy, you get knighted as a Sir or Madam. He never mentioned it, and I was too afraid to ask. Especially since that might have made him show me another 100 random photos on his phone.

Sir Stops-Alot did provide some much-needed information about the White Mountains’ sleeping arrangements that had been a mystery to us so far on the trail. I’ll get more into it in a future blog, but the White Mountains is mostly a no-camping zone unless you go significantly off trail to a campsite or pay for an expensive stay at an AMC hut. Everyone that we had talked to so far would give us vague responses or go on such a big rant about how horrible it is to pay to camp that we never truly got an answer. But now we felt comfortable with our approach.

We eventually ended the day with an uphill climb to the shelter and were pre-warned that there was a large gathering staying there tonight. Although this group was probably not hiking the Long Trail, it did remind me that we were now hiking with two bubbles of hikers (AT and Long Trail) and would probably be fighting for campsites going forward. Fortunately, the group of kids was kind and respectful that other hikers were sleeping nearby for the night. It was actually kind of peaceful to sleep in a multi-bunk shelter for the night with a group of people, a smoldering fire, and rain falling outside.

P.S. I apologize to Gator for getting mad at his exploding Dr. Pepper at the shelter. We just hiked a few miles uphill with a road soda from Sir Stops-Alot and it was thoroughly shaken up. I opened mine up first and of course it exploded everywhere. I didn’t know what was worse… only having half a soda, or the sticky soda all over my clothes. Gator then also opened his soda and it did the same thing so I was like, “What are you doing?! You just saw mine explode!” But I was so caught up I didn’t even notice that he was just trying to relieve some pressure by slightly opening the soda and it still exploded everywhere. I apologize for the outburst!