7.23.2007

Vermont: Slippery When Wet

After climbing the final mountain in Massachusetts, Mt. Greylock, in fog and heavy rain, we crossed another state line and began our journey through the Green Mountains. Here, the AT joins the Long Trail, the grand-daddy of long distance trails. Vermont is lovely and green and lush...and very, very muddy. Several days of rain had not yet soaked into the ground the trail still had standing water, as well as vast, black mud pits that made a distinctive "sploosh" noise as our boots sank in. Last weekend was dry and warm, and in addition to enjoying a marvelous view from a fire tower, we also enjoyed the trail drying out a bit. By Monday, however, it began to rain again...a fine misty rain that seemed to fall from the sky and rise from the earth all at once. My glasses fogged enough to turn Vermont into a blurry, enchanted-looking forest; I half-expected an aged wizard or tiny gnome to appear through the mist.

We began to meet some southbounders this week - almost 600 miles into their journey from Katahdin to Springer. They have endured three solid weeks of rain. We treat each other with equal amounts of admiration - they admire us for the sheer duration of our journey (almost 1,600 miles), we admire them because they have traversed the most difficult terrain of the AT.

We're stripping down our packs again to reduce weight and prepare for the upcoming 4,000 foot climbs, so Mom and Dad, expect to get some more packages of random hiking gear we thought we needed. Some items already discarded include a 16 oz bottle of Mr. Bubbles, a James Brown CD, 200 feet of rope, and a 10 X 12 tarp.

We're about to link up with Jack and Tim (Jack's dad), who will hopefully help us to get moving through Vermont, a la slackpack.

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