Hello from Manchester Center, Vermont. That's right...we are in Vermont and officially crossed over mile 1600 two days ago. (insert oooh and aaahs accordingly) Crazy. I still cant believe we have walked this far. It feels like only yesterday that I was writing emails about walking a measly 100 miles. I have two more days of hiking before I meet my grandparents and they whisk me away to Manchester, NH to fly to Asheville, NC for Mike & Kelly's wedding. It will be a quick, busy trip before coming back north and finishing up the last 500 miles.
The weather is definitely changing up here and the leaves are already starting to change color and drop at the higher elevations. It looks like we will be up here for a really beautiful fall. Vermont has been great so far and it seems that we are on the tail end of a pretty nasty, rainy season. All the hikers just a week to two weeks ahead of us hiked through record setting rain for July and spent their days wading through knee deep mud. Its been muddy since we crossed the VT border the other day, but definitely bearable. Some of our friends actually skipped ahead to get away from the muddy terrain. Hopefully the weather will hold for us over the next few weeks and we stay relatively dry.
This morning for breakfast we climbed over Stratton Mountain (elev.3936) and hiked the 18.5 miles into town. Its pretty cool to think that Benton MacKaye, the inspiration behind this footpath I've been traveling on, first thought about an eastern continental trail while sitting in a tree on its summit. We climbed the fire tower at the top and the whole mountain was completely socked in with fog. It was funny to see all the labels on the windows of what we were supposed to be seeing and just imagined the views he must have seen in the distance.
Last week we stayed in Dalton, MA with a local named Tom Levardi. Twenty years ago he brought a hiker home and the next day he had three hikers sleeping on his front porch. He's never turned anyone away since. His house hasn't been redecorated since 1975, but it was a much needed comfortable day off. Tonight we are staying at the "Green Mountain House" in Manchester Center. Its a new hostel opened by a hiker just 5 weeks ago. By far, this is the nicest hostel we've stayed yet. If you can even call it a hostel. When we pulled up to the house there was a small barn next to the big house. To all of our surprise, the large house was the hostel and the barn was their house! It feels almost too nice for all these stinky hikers to be hanging out in.
Well, I'm off to enjoy cotton sheets and an actual pillow under my head(and not my rain jacket stuffed in my clothes bag.) You people out there in the real world don't know how good you have it :)
Madison County View
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