Difficult Decisions

It has been 12 days since we left Monson, ME to continue our hike South starting in Hanover, NH.  We only hiked one mile in NH though before crossing another state line into Vermont.  We were pretty excited to get back on the trail after 5 days off in Maine. Within an hour of making our decision to head to Vermont to continue our Southbound hike, we were getting warnings of what lay ahead. "Vermud" people were calling it. "The trail is all mud," "it is known as the muddiest state...." "Oh no," we thought, "What have we gotten ourselves in to?"  But despite all of the warnings and horror stories we never really saw it (thank goodness!).  And in fact, we had beautiful weather (after the first two days) in Vermont.

VT/NH State Line - A road walk crossing
from Hanover, NH into Norwich, VT

But first, just getting TO Hanover was a bit of an adventure.  We met a wonderful lady, Doris, at the Contra dance in Monson who volunteered to drive us to Bangor, complete with a grand tour of the local area on the way.  I am even more convinced that although we didn't enjoy hiking through Maine, it is still beautiful country! We spent the night in Bangor (at the Holiday Inn of course) before catching a 5:30 a.m. Greyhound to Boston.  Yup, Boston.... if you look at a map it was a little out of the way, but sometimes you just gotta roll with it. We had a 3 hour layover at Boston's South Station before boarding our bus to Hanover, so we decided to do a little exploring....with our full packs. We didn't go far, but we saw some of the Financial District and some of China Town.  The whole trip was relatively smooth sailing, and we got to Hanover, NH without a hitch. 

Enjoying the sights and noises of Boston, Mass.

Our first few days in Vermont were wet & rainy, but the trail was in far better shape, so we did our best to enjoy the hike and the scenery.  We hiked through a few pastures and fields, even met a few cows along the way.  With a little less tree cover, there would have been some great views, unfortunately the clouds blocked most of the landscape.  

Evan hiking through one of the many fields in Vermont

Even the bench along the trail reminded us to keep our
ultimate goal in mind.

We also hit 400 miles in the Rain!

To those that know me well, this may not come as a huge surprise - but one of my favorite parts of the this section was that the berries were in season! We enjoyed some strawberries and a few raspberries. Evan tried to be patient, but was also antsy to continue on... (I never made him turn around for the berries, no wait... I take that back....)

Raspberry Picking

 After those first few days, the weather started to clear up and we were able to start pushing more miles again.  We had been hearing about a place along the trail called "The Lookout Cabin."  It is a privately owned cabin (4 walls, door, windows...fancy!) that the owners keep open for hikers to use.  We decided to head there for the night.  We got there around 4 p.m., set up, made dinner, ate dinner, "iced" the aches and pains, and relaxed.  On the roof of the cabin they built a small deck, and from there you have a 360º view of the surrounding landscape. We were exhausted but took in the sunset from our perch on the roof - it was so beautiful! We had also planned to get up and watch the sunrise from the same perch, but at 4 a.m., my sleeping bag INSIDE the cabin was so warm and cozy :)

Sunset from the rooftop deck at The Lookout Cabin

A week into Vermont, we hit a good mountain climb... Killington Peak. The peak itself was .2 miles off the trail. Usually .2 miles doesn't make us even blink an eye for a rest stop or a good view - but this .2 miles was virtually straight up, climbing over rocks and boulders to make it to the top. It made for a wonderful lunch spot with a great view! Evan did some wondering around the peak and discovered that opposite to the side we climbed up was actually a ski resort.  We stayed on the non-resort side and soaked in the beauty & sunshine for lunch.  I didn't do much exploring, instead I stayed exactly where I set down my pack and rested my ankle & foot which had started bothering me the day before.

View from Killington Peak

After climbing up Killington Peak we had another 4.7 miles to hike in order to make it to our planned camping spot for the night.  By the time we got there, I was in so much pain I could hardly walk. I iced my ankles and my feet in the river, pitched the tent, ate dinner, stretched my legs/ankles/feet, and went to bed hoping the extra rest would help heal up my feet by morning. The next morning they were still in some pain, but I took some mild painkillers, stretched again and started out the day.  It was just under 7 miles to the next road crossing and Qu's Whistlestop Restaurant.  The Whistlestop was known for being hiker friendly, having great service and unbeatable homemade maple ice cream - a must stop on the trail. By the time we made it there I was back to hobbling and wincing with every step. As much as we hated it, my body needed some serious rest. We decided to cut the day short, and head into town for another break.  I spent the evening icing, elevating, heating, and stretching hoping we could 'hit the trail happy again the next morning. Unfortunately, the next morning saw little to no improvement, so we stayed another day... whatever it takes to get back on the trail we thought, but another day changed almost nothing, and a third day again made very little difference.... 

Evan hiking next to one of the many stone fences in VT

Neither one of us were ready to get off the trail, we loved hiking, we loved seeing, we loved being there; but, hobbling and wincing was not how we were going to continue to enjoy.  It was a very difficult decision for us - but we decided it was time to head home.  We spent much of the day figuring out the logistics, but ended up renting a car and driving back to Michigan. We are now back in Lower Michigan, I have a doctor's appointment scheduled to check out my foot - we are hoping it is just an overuse sprain, but there is some concern that it may be more. We are both getting used to the idea of not being on the trail, we miss it but do plan on going back to hike different sections of the AT in the future and maybe one day completing the whole thing. 

Even had to climb some ladders on the trail

At this point it is difficult to not fixate on the fact that we weren't able to hike all 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail; but in the end we did do exactly what we wanted to do. 

• We spent 53 days hiking with minimal connection to the outside world
• We hiked 455 miles of the Appalachian Trail, not including walking in/to towns, to other views, or in search of water/privies/etc.
• We met some seriously amazing people!
• We learned more about ourselves, our families, and what is important to us in life
• We have some very fun stories to tell
• Our health has improved - Evan could even start to smell in the last few weeks & I began to take an interest in food again as my appetite increased
• Most importantly, we had fun!

Critter Count!

We found this water snake on the trail, when we moved the surrounding vegetation with a hiking pole he curled up and started striking at it. Turns out water snakes are considered non-poisonous, but are quite aggressive. They are related to the southern water moccasin and their bite can make you quite ill.

A very friendly deer we saw on the last day of our hike. We watched him for a good while and he didn't seem one bit afraid of a couple of hikers.

There were two of these woodpeckers flying around, they kept arguing over a couple of trees.  We watched them for a few minutes before they flew off seemingly attacking each other.

 And in case you were wondering....