Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 38 – I have walked 500 miles
2nd September 2023
Route 104 / Rutland (489.2) - Clarendon Shelter (505.9)
Daily miles: 16.7
Total miles: 512.8
I was itching to get going today. I felt all sweaty and gross from last nights dancing and I had a shower in the morning. Most unusual to have 2 showers in town! Plus now my hair has grown out a bit it was sticking up in all directions.
My feet were less sore today. Maybe the rest did them good. My knees however, still sore.
Ready to go
I put my hiker uniform on and I felt much more comfortable, much more like me, even if the pits already smelt bad before I had even hiked anywhere.
I packed up and went down to hiker breakfast at 07:30, but of course today is Saturday, their sabbath, so they didn’t have breakfast until 8am. I probably should have just left then and got the 08:15 bus back to the trail (there is a free bus that goes around once an hour and it’s way easier than hitching from Rutland) but I waited for breakfast and it was granola. Homemade, it looked lovely and I’m sure it was delicious, but it was packed full of nuts so I didn’t eat it. I had a bit of watermelon and sat with everyone else while they ate their granola.
There were also rumours of a farmers market setting up in town so with about half an hour to wait for the bus I wandered around it while they were still setting up. Had I had more time I’m sure I would have been able to buy some nice food from there but I also didn’t have the capacity to make decisions so I decided whatever was in my pack is what I would have for the next 3 days.
Toe, May Queen and Cal still had to resupply so they would leave town later than me. I wanted to get a good start so I could take my time struggling up the climb to Killington.
The bus was super simple, I played the clueless Brit really well and asked the driver to tell me where I needed to get off.
Free bus back to the trail
I was back on the trail at 09:35 and the first 6 miles were a little slow as it was an uphill climb, but I was on my 2mph pace I think and it was so much more chill that it has been any day previously on the trail. I saw a few NOBOs early on.
The trail head
At Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail become one
When I reached the shelter at the top of the climb there were a couple of guys there. One was called Poptart Megatron (I think) and in my limited knowledge he seemed stoned. He was talking in the same tone as Donald trump! He told me I was never going to make it - but in a joking way which was pretty funny. It turns out they both hiked in 2018, one was a flip flopper so there is a good chance our paths crossed before. Poptart Megatron asked if I was green blazing and at first I had no idea what he was talking about but he said if I was he would have “dropped a nugget of trail magic in my pipe”.
There is a blue blaze which goes 0.2 up to the top of Killington, where there is some skiing paraphernalia, and those 2 guys were on their way up there. I was in two minds, leaning heavily towards not going up there and they were a lot to deal with so they kind of made my mind up for me, and I hiked on the trail instead of going to the top.
A happy hiker
1700 miles to go
The way down was trickier than I had anticipated. I think this was one of the areas which was really affected by the floods and the trail had a lot of dirt washed away and the roots and rocks seemed more exposed than usual so the potential for tripping, which is already generally pretty high, was even higher, but I made it down without incident.
I had a little dirt road walk before getting to a shelter where I stopped and had a couple of snacks from my food bag. There was also a privy there which I thought I really needed to use, because of all the gas, but nothing happened. The rest of the day continued to be an uncomfortable development of gas.
Quick break at a shelter
Quite pleased I’m not staying here tonight
Quick privy stop
I moved on and the trail got really nice for a small section. I thought I had missed the 500 miles to Katahdin sign, but it was next to the trail register at mile 501.8
Lovely smooth trail
It was a reminder at how slow I’m going. I’ve only done 500 miles. It’s taken me 7 days longer to do 500 miles than it did when I went north. I’m a week behind a good schedule.
I signed the trail register and saw the name Lemonhope - this mysterious SOBO we have been hearing about.
500 miles down
A trail register
The next 5 miles were easy and uneventful. There was one river crossing which looked tricky at first but I saw some Long Trail hikers and they pointed out the route they took and I was able to point out where the trail went for them so we helped each other out. I did manage to dip a toe in the water so I had a bit of a soggy foot, but compared to what I had been through in Maine it was nothing.
This trial is so nice
Rock hop river crossing
Road crossing
I had seen quite a few Long Trail hikers today, and when I got to the shelter at 6pm there was one long trail hiker there. I set up in the shelter, one of those cooler ones which has a table in the middle and upper and lower platforms.
I stuffed in a few crisps and a couple of brownies and set all my stuff up, did my chores and I was lying down at 7:15pm.
Clarendon shelter
Inside Clarendon shelter
There are 2 AT NOBOs here and a section hiker too. No sign of my friends though! I thought this would happen! I’m kind of kicking myself a bit for not hiking out yesterday but ultimately I think my body benefited from it and the days like yesterday are the ones you remember forever, days like today are a bit forgettable.
Toe, Cal and May Queen arrived way after dark and cooked dinner by red light
