Free Ice cream!

June 15, 2014June 15, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Hexacuba Shelter, NH, AT NOBO mile 1,771.8, Saturday June 14, 2014 — Hexa who? what? Simple.

The Hexacuba Shelter is a hexagonal shaped shelter located on Mt. Cube. That’s the story.

This shelter features told to me years ago by Bob Schwarz and Bert Porter told me about hiking in the White Mountains. The place is unique, and it’s special to be here.

The day started with a treat. Bill Ackerly, who lives trailside, has been befriending passing hikers for decades. Like the cookie lady, Bill has an affinity for the dirty, tired itinerants drifting past his door.

The lucky ones are invited to a game of croquet. Warning: Bill is good and has home court advantage.

Tomorrow it’s a short hike to a small hostel. The following day the serious challenges begin starting with 4,802 ft. Mt. Moosilauke. Not a hike. It’s a climb.

The genius trail designers have been helping us practice. The photo is Warren testing the rebar ladder.

Note: I’ve refrained from scatalogical and privy humor so far. The privy at Trapper John left no choice. .

Penultimate state.

June 9, 2014June 10, 2014 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

High Octane Hiking

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

Winturri Shelter, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1,716.9, Saturday June 7, 2014 — I’ve been eating everything in sight.

Thursday night at Pico Camp, I ate two entrées for dinner plus a couple of chocolate bars. Yesterday, I ate a Reuben sandwich for lunch at noon, a bowl of thick beef stew for late lunch at 1:30 pm. Those two were followed by two more meals, ending with shepherds pie with a pint of Guinness around 7 o’clock.

The breakfast I scarfed down this morning would have embarrassed Paul Bunyan. We’re talking high calorie, high octane hiker fuel here.

I’m burning calories at a huge rate. The constant ups and downs just add to the demand. Without high calorie intake, I’d be out of gas in no time.

I’m attaching photos of various feed bags I’ve observed lately.

Yesterday we ate lunch at the Yellow Deli. This place is like a movie set for the early 1970s. The throw-back decor fit the psychedelic decade like a tight penny. It reminded me of a place in Aspen my wife and I used to frequent in that same decade. The affiliated hostel is noted for its fundamentalist Christian proselytizing.

Today’s hike diverted to the east from the Long Trail at Maine Junction. We could sense the drop in attention to the trail immediately. We plan to be out of Vermont early Monday morning.

Pointless Ups and Downs

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

Happy Hill Shelter, Vt., AT NOBO mile 1,737.3, Sunday June 8, 2014 — The sky is blue. The leaves are brown. The trail goes up. The trail goes down.

I recited this little ditty all winter. It’s still true except that the leaves are now green. Today was a pleasant hike that was all about PUDs – pointless ups and downs.

Trail conditions were the only other remarkable note. The mud in this section has dried up for all intents and purposes. Only residual blood sucking insects remain. They were relentless today, but oceans of DEET kept them at bay.

The uncut weeds are a problem. A study last year proved that the vector for deer ticks, the carriers of Lyme Disease, is trailside vegetation against which hikers brush. They also help spread invasive species in the same motion.

It’s a jungle out there and all if us are concerned that we won’t find all the deer ticks that find us. I just wish the trail overseers would be more diligent about keeping the weeds and other vegetation cut back.

Four miles to Starbucks in the morning. Indeed! I can use the caffeine.

Last night my blog was so boring that I fell asleep while typing.

True story. If it’s reputation holds true, I think NH hiking will eliminate the boredom.

You can hear the whistle blow!

June 5, 2014 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

Pico Camp, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1693.2, Thursday June 5, 2014 — Under 500 miles left to go! You can almost hear the whistle.

As the trail gods would have it, no sooner did I pass the 500 mile sign – not even 20 steps – than the Kingston Trio began singing “500 Miles” in yet another episode of iPod serendipity! It’s hard to believe, but the iPod seems totally in synch with the hike.

As I’ve noted several times previously. This is no time to become over confident. The most challenging states are yet to come. Plenty of thru hikers have bitten the dust in New Hampshire and Maine just a few miles short of their goals.

Today’s hike featured the Hurricane Irene bypass, except we missed it. (Yah, I know. Pretty dumb on our parts, but they didn’t remove the old blazes and we missed the first one for the new route.)

That led to two Colorado style stream crossings because the bridges were washed out. This is good practice for Maine where there are no bridges. Warren, aka Swayed, made a video of me inching along a tree trunk which I’ll try to post when I have WIFI tomorrow.

Tonight we’re on the old AT before it was rerouted for highway safety. It leads directly to the Inn at Long Trail where we’re headed in the morning.

Our digs remind me of a trapper’s line shack from yesteryear from which we have a beautiful view of the Killington ski area.

A Tale of Two Hikes

June 5, 2014June 5, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Clarendon Shelter, Vt. AT NOBO mile 1680.6, June 4, 2014 — It was the best of hikes and the worst of hikes albeit in reverse order.

After last night’s thunderstorm deluge the hiking was no surprise this morning. I’ve always complained that the trail in Vermont was more like hiking in a dry river bed. Well, today they turned into real rivers. The torrents raging down the trail could have been on a movie set.

Oh yah, we also found Vermud too. The viscous goo was ubiquitous, black, juicy and about as sucky as it could be. Stick in a trekking pole and you’d just as likely lose the rubber tip in the ooze as any thing else.

That was all this morning. Our fortunes reversed when we crossed Vt. 140 at mile 1,673.3.

The trail conditions shifted radically on the climb out. It appeared that far less rain had fallen on that side of the mountain. The trail was mostly dry and the going quick. What a flip! We were able to double our pace.

That was the best of hikes. It was like a new day. The humidity and temperature even dropped to more comfortable levels.

Tomorrow we scale 3,920 ft. Killington Peak. If the ski patrol warming hut on the summit is open, we’ll sleep there. Otherwise there’s a shelter not much further down the back slope.

Schuss

June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Green Mountain House Hostel, Tuesday June 3, 2014 — This morning Jeff drove us to AT NOBO mile 1,664.6 for a southbound walk back to town of around 18 miles. That’s where we’ll start northbound tomorrow.

In the big picture we’ll be in Hanover, NH in about six days with one town stop in Killington’s Inn at the Long Trail in between. The rain today made a lot of new mud, so our progress might be slowed to a degree yet to be determined.

Today’s highlight was the Bromley Peak ski area with its spaceship chairlift. Otherwise it was a pretty mundane hike.

Sweat rolled off our brows as the humidity soared and rain threatened. The temp broke 80 F for the first time this year. Fortunately we beat the rain to the hostel by about ten minutes.

When today’s slack pack was in the books, I buzzed Price Chopper for additional supplies of grape and lemonade drink mix. Staying hydrated in hot weather under conditions of prolonged maximal exertion is always problematic. Flavoring the water helps make it more drinkable.

Definitely looking forward to tomorrow.

The Mountain!

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 / jim fetig / 3 Comments

Stratton Pond Shelter, Vt., AT NOBO mile 1,636.6, Sunday June 1, 2014 — From the top of a fire tower a mighty inspiration was born.

From the Stratton Mountain fire tower Benton McKaye became the father of the Appalachian Trail. From one singular and magnificent view he envisioned a trail threading together the peaks of the Appalachian range all the way from Georgia to Maine.

Of note, McKaye never thought thru hiking was a good idea. I’ve put off reading is biography until the end of my hike because I thought it might mean more then. I hope to learn more about his logic. I suspect it was a different day and age , unlike ours where extreme sports and big accomplishments grab all the attention.

I do know from skimming the book that his shelter design and spacing have held up.

The vista from at atop the Stratton fire tower on a clear day is stunning. The horizon seems to stretch forever. Nature’s magnificence is on full display, dominated by verdant wilderness as far as the eye can see.

The immediate horizon encompasses Mt. Monadnock in NH to Graylock in Massachusetts. Some say Canada is visible on a clear day.

On days like today, this long walk has been worth every minute and all the effort.

Note: bandwidth from now on is extremely limited. Most blogs will be posted during town stops.

I’m goon to add the photos from the “Vermud” post. My phone says they’re up. The email says not. Sorry for the confusion.

From Stratton Mountain the world is endless and so are the possibilities.

Vermud?

May 31, 2014June 2, 2014 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

Goddard Shelter, Vt., AT NOBO mile 1,617.2, Saturday May 31, 2014 — New York had mud. Connecticut had mud. Massachusetts had mud. It was all warm up. Vermont has mud, real mud.

Vermont reminds me of northern Minnesota. The forest features firs and birch. The glaciers cleaned off the soil. Now there’s bits of soil that becomes black goo slathered on smooth bedrock when it gets wet. The water has no place to go, so you get mud and mosquito breeding habitat until the water evaporates.

It wasn’t long before mud became Vermont’s middle name. That said, the deepest I’ve found is eight inches. It also so far hasn’t been as terrible as predicted. The trail crews use rocks, corduroy wood and duck boards to mitigate the mud’s impact. There’s a lot of Vermont left, so time will tell.

We’re 30 miles from a real treat – a stay at the Green Mountain House hostel in Manchester Center. It’s the third jewel in the hiker hostel triple crown which also includes Woods Hole and Bears Den. Jeff, the owner, sent me an email saying he’d welcome a visit, and I cannot wait.

Meanwhile the temp dropped into the mid-30s last night. My feet got cold! Should never have switched to a quilt. This is not a normal spring/summer transition. I’ll survive, a wiser man for the experience.

Vermont!

May 31, 2014May 31, 2014 / jim fetig / 4 Comments

Congdon Shelter, Vt., AT NOBO mile 1,602.8, Friday May 30, 2014 — “Green Mountain Leader, this is Green one-five. I have hiker bandits at my three o’clock. Permission to engage, over.”

“One five, this is leader. Permission granted. The flight will follow you in. Green Mountain Flight, this is leader. Turn to two-eight-five. Bandit hiker. Attack.”

The engine whine of a WWII Japanese Zero reached my ears just as the first flight of Vermont mosquitos closed within range. The first wave scored some hits, but I managed to apply Deep Woods Off! before the second could come round.

Thanks to the chemical warfare, the second and third waves took their share of casualties. Thereafter the mosquitos were watchful but kept their distance.

It’s funny. We hadn’t seen a mosquito for our last two days in Massachusetts. Two feet into Vermont they attacked with a vengeance.

This could be an interesting state. A porcupine showed up to take a look, but the cool weather has kept the black flies under cover. This is the first time on this entire hike that I’ve wished for continuing cool weather. Everybody who’s ever met a black fly knows why.

The bigger climbs are returning as the trail runs northward. Yesterday a good glimpse of what’s ahead appeared on the horizon from Mt. Graylock.

We’re joined tonight by the Knoxville folks and three Vermonters out hiking the Long Trail which runs the length of the state. The AT shares the route for the first 105 miles to Rutland where we will bear right toward Hanover, NH.

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