Speck In The Woods

From summit of Mt. Cube

Day 17, July 16, 15 miles

I woke up this morning to 35 degree temps, but I had stayed nice and warm in my 15 degree sleeping bag. As expected, I didn’t want to get out of it, but I emerged about 5:30 am and got moving pretty quickly. Climbed up Mt Cube to a beautiful view. Face-timed with mama and daddy from the top. Wish they could have been there. The rest of today’s hike was ho hum. Read More

Day 16, July 15, 14.7 miles

“You sorry, big fat sack of lard pig. Why don’t you grow some legs and carry yourself?” That’s what I said over and over to Olfrie today. I felt like throwing her off the mountain. After my slack pack yesterday, she seemed extra heavy. I had to carry about 5 lbs of water because I had a 7 Read More

Day 15, July 14, 16.6 miles

YEESSS!!! Good ole Olfrie got to shed about 20 L.B.’s today and I got to slack pack southbound 16.6 miles back to the wonderful trail angel’s house for another night. I walked straight through Hanover and got 2 free donuts from Lou’s Bakery and a free slice of pizza from Romundo’s pizza place. It was a good end to a good day. With only about 10 lbs on my back, I felt like I could fly. Read More

Day 14, July 13, 12.2 miles

Other than the heat and mosquitoes, today was a great day. Got up and out of camp by 7 am. It takes me about an hour to get up, wash my face and brush my teeth, get my mattress deflated, everything packed away, my tent taken down, my bear bag retrieved, my breakfast made and eaten, my water filtered, my feet doctored and get on my way. So today, by 7, I had completed all my morning tasks and was walking. At 7:45 am, I was so wet from Read More

Day 13, July 12, 12 miles

Started my day this morning with a instant breakfast shake. Packed up and intentionally hiked out at 8 am so I could stop at The Farm 4 miles north for a real breakfast. The Farm opened at 10 am. It was quite a neat place. Read More

Day 12, July 11, 16.6 miles

Well, Olfrie and I are on the trail again. I slept from about 9:30 last night until 6:00 am. Good sleep. I miss my bed though.

I’m trying to help Olfrie lose a little weight. She’s quite heavy right now. I’m helping her out by trying to eat as much as I can. I think the old hiker hunger has struck. I had 2 blueberry muffins and a cup of yogurt and coffee for breakfast. I had a power bar mid-morning. Then I ate a payday and butterfinger mid-mid morning. For lunch I had 2 pop tarts, a beef stick and a stick of cheese. Mid-afternoon I ate Cheetos and a snicker bar. For dinner I had a pack of Ramen with peanut butter and soy sauce. Even after all that, Olfrie still weighs too much. Guess I’ll just keep eating until she lightens up a bit.

The first climb this morning turned out to be 1500 ft in 1 mile instead of 1000. It wasn’t too bad though. But, what followed was a long day of ups and downs that wore me out. I was happy to see the shelter when I did.

The highlight of my day was: I had walked 7 hours today without seeing another soul. I came to the top of a climb and a southbound hiker appeared around the bend and we both looked up but didn’t speak until we got closer. I said “Hi.” He said “Hi.” I said, “How’s it going?” He said, “Renea?” I said, “What??? No way!!! What are the chances?? I don’t believe it!!! Steve Brown??” We were both astonished. Danny and I know Steve Brown from the gym we used to go to. He lives in Loganville. I haven’t seen or talked to him in about 2 years. I had no idea, but he is thru-hiking the AT southbound. We chatted for a few minutes and I had to get his picture. I told him I was sending it to Danny cause he would never believe it. He said to please tell Danny hello. Steve was moving on to the next shelter southbound and I was moving on to the next shelter northbound. So we’re both from Loganville, Ga and cross paths in northern Vermont and are camping 10 miles apart. How crazy is that? I won’t see him anymore since we’re going opposite directions. He did tell me that there are about 30 SOBO’s about a week behind him.

I didn’t see any other hikers today until I got to the shelter. Made It and UHaul were here already. As I was cooking my dinner, Five, who I haven’t seen in about 5 days came in and so did Poego. Made It is hammocking, UHaul, Five and I are all tenting and Poego is sleeping in the shelter.

Tomorrow is going to be a shorter day. I’m going to walk 0.2 miles off-trail to a farm store that has dried meats and pies. I’ll have breakfast there hopefully since I’m only 4 miles away. I’ll then move on to another shelter for the night, so I think I’ll hike somewhere around 12 miles–maybe.

Day 11, July 10, 4 miles

What does a hiker do when she takes a Nero? She walks. It’s ironic, but you end up really hiking another 3-4 miles off-trail.

I left the hostel this morning after a free breakfast of brown rice and scrambled eggs with onion bread. And yes, it was delicious (everything is good when you’re really hungry). I said goodbye to Michele and Rosie at the split-off where the Long Trail and the Read More

Day 10, July 9, 17.6 miles

Woke up at 4:30 am with the birds singing and trucks zooming down the highway. So excited to get up and have breakfast at Qu’s. Wow. It was delicious.

Today almost killed me. Hiked 17.6 miles up and over Mt. Killington. It was a big, long climb. It didn’t rain until the last mile today–a big improvement. I took my first spill today. After all this mud, rain, roots and rocks, I fell going UP a granite wall. Didn’t really hurt me too bad, just banged my knee pretty good. All is well, though. Read More

Day 9, July 8, 17.6 miles

Guess what I saw today? A moose. It was cool. I saw tracks for a while and so I was looking f or it and sure enough it was standing in the woods by the trail. It was tough to get a good picture, but I got a couple shots. When it saw me it ran away. I’m not sure if it was afraid of the way I looked or the way I smelled. That shower I had a couple days ago is long gone.

The shelter last night was another night of listening to some pretty powerful snoring by Poego. As a matter of fact, Biscuit got up in the night and put his tent up cause he couldn’t take it anymore. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d have done the same thing.

The morning, once again, started nice and turned quickly to drenching downpour. Supposedly, Vermont set a record in June for the wettest June in 130 years. I think July is on track for the same record. However, by 1:00, the sun decided to shine–yay!! It turned out to be a good day.

As you can see from the picture below, there really is such a thing as Bigfoot. I’m obviously following him. Have been seeing these barefoot tracks in the mud for a while now. And yall thought I was crazy.

Here I am in my tent (finally) in the backyard of Whistlestop BBQ. Thought it was a good idea at first cause I could get a burger for dinner and have breakfast before I hike out in the morning. However, laying here listening to the busy roads on either side and the train on my left is making me regret my decision. But, the burger was fabulous and I even got to have bacon on it. Oh yeah, I also had homemade Vermont maple soft-serve ice cream–in hiker heaven.

Great hostel

Day 8, July 7, 15 miles

Wow. I had the best nights sleep. The hostel was fabulous. This morning I had toast with lots of butter and an orange for breakfast. It was delicious.

Leaving town with a full resupply is always hard. It’s heavy for one thing, and town is always in the bottom so there’s always an immediate climb. But, today was a good day. I was rested with dry feet and I smelled good–really good. Of course that changed within about an hour. I was sweating on the climb, and then the Read More