Welcome to Vermud… errr… Vermont

This post can originally be found on The Trek.
Hello all. Is been a while, hasn’t it?
Sorry about that. I promise I never forgot about you.

In brief, the reason for my delay in posting is mostly due to the fact that as soon as I finished Vermont (and thus had the information I needed to write this post), I came town with COVID. In fact, a wave of it ran through the thru-hiking community and knocked a whole lot of us off the trail for some time. Then, as soon as I was recovered, I hiked off into New Hampshire… which… as some of you are aware, is where the terrain becomes increasingly challenging (and the cell service increasingly worse).

Alas, the greater detail of these events will be reserved for a future post. So for now, please accept my brief explanation and let us all turn our attention to the state at hand: Vermud… ah… errr… Vermont I mean.

Vermud

Let me start my tale of Vermont but clarifying that I was lucky enough to cross out of its border the day before the torrential floods you must have seen on the news ravaged the state and its trails. That being said, I was not so lucky as to have missed out on the muddy fun that has defined this state for hikers for oh so long.

(Please do tell me how one is supposed to hike through this while keeping their feet and socks clean and dry? Impossible.)

The beginning of Vermont for me was marked by some of the continually wettest, muddiest, and Trail-Magicy-est of days.

Here I am, trying to make the most of the rain. Also I’m sporting my new rain look which sees me put my arms through the pit zips of my LightHeart Rain Jacket, and tie the arms behind my head in order to create a rain-vest. The rain vest (which traps heat very well) keeps my core warm but allows my body temperature to regulate better than when my arms are in their sleeves and everything is sweaty.

Trail Magic

A few miles into Vermont and I was met by Bacon Wrap, who made me a hot dog. And just one day later as I made my way down a mountain, mentally dreading that as soon as I were to cross the road at it’s bottom, I would immediately have to make my way back up a mountain… I found another Trail Magic set up! This time, full of various friends I had made along the road such as Bambi, Cookie Monster, Lawsuit, Gumdrop and Sunnyside!

Gumdrop and Sunnyside were a couple I had met on the trail only a night or two prior. Gumdrop had hiked the AT before and wanted to share a price of it with Sunnyside. They were also planning on hitching up to the White Mountains for the 4th of July for a celebration with the Rainbow Family of Living Light (which is the first time I’ve ever heard of the group). Sunnyside was originally from Argentina, and actually grew up in the neighborhood where Tyler and I lived while there earlier this year!

The Long Trail

Something else important to my entrance to Vermont, is that it also marks the beginning of the Long Trail.
The Long Trail is composed of 272 miles that follow the main ridge of the Green Mountains from the Massachusetts-Vermont line to the Canadian border. The LT and AT share 100 miles of trail in the southern part of Vermont, but rumor has it that these 100 miles are the easiest part, and the moment the LT splits off from the AT, it instantly becomes ridiculously harder (harder, even, than the AT (some venture to argue)). The benefit for me of overlapping with the LT, was more hiker friends!

Near the latter half of my time, I began to stick with two hikers: Trudge and Lighthouse (you can figure who he is based on his shirt), both of whom you can see in the following photo of yet another amazing pop-up Trail Magic (put on by Sir Stops A Lot)

Momentous Moments

One of my most anticipated stops in Vermont was at the newly opened Farmstead. It’s a farm, ~0.3mi off the trail, recently purchased by a young couple with the dream of turning it also into a homestead and resupply for hikers. The resupply is also a mini market (their farmSTAND) full of produce and products sourced from farms around the area, including some of THE BEST chocolate milk and ice cream I’ve had in my life.

Another exciting moment for me on the trail was climbing Killington Mountain, Vermonts second highest peak and the first (but definitely not the last) 4K+ mountain I had encountered on the trail.
As always, the weather was meh, but I still made the most of my assent:

I entered Vermont at the end of June, and consistently I hiked 20+ miles, making quick work of the state and bringing with it the knowledge that the 4th of July was fast approaching… and my innate desire to gather people together for celebrations was triggered
SO. What to do? How to gather a group of wanderers for a celebration? Answer: Choose a town with an attraction hikers are likely to be interested in anyway, and spread the word. On the trail, news spreads through the grapevine quickly.
And what was the message I thus chose to spread through all hikers within earshot? That we would be celebrating the 4th of July in Rutland, VT, at the famed Yellow Deli.
Yes. That Yellow Deli. The Cult.
Which I will tell you about in my next post.

P.S.

The state of my trekking poles were in as I set out to climb Killington was terrible. Their tips were so worn I had worked my way all the way through the metal tips and by this point, was using the metal that was supposed to house the metal tips as my new pole tips. Furthermore, I snapped my trekking pole in half the night before climbing Killington 🙁 it was truly a sad sad day.