Make it count: Day #114 - AT Hike

Saturday, July 4th - Day #114 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 16.5
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 1602.3/2,193 (73.06%)

Mark Noepel Shelter (1585.8) to Seth Warner Shelter (1602.3) - tent at Seth Warner Shelter

Total ascent - 3,851’
Total descent - 4,392’

Total States Completed - 11/14

**No Rain - Really nice weather day. High - mid 70’s. Low - mid 50’s

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Happy 4th!! A long, tough day out there for me today. I started around 6:45am and only finished about 5pm. Over 10 hours for less than 17 miles - I wasn’t setting speed records today. The course was tricky - with 4,392’ of descent on wet rocks. There was also 2 significant climbs - both steep with boulder field sections.

I hiked some of the day with Slow as Molasses. She is a lady from Massachusetts who is also thru-hiking. She hiked the same course as me - she agreed it was tough sledding out there. She finished about 6:30pm - we both started roughly the same time.

A few cool things happened today: I finished up Massachusetts and entered Vermont, I passed the 1600 mile marker, and I climbed Mt Greylock - the highest peak in Massachusetts.

Only 3 states to go. Vermont (151 miles), New Hampshire (161 miles), and Maine (282 miles). The AT follows the Long Trail (LT) in Vermont for 105 miles. Once you arrive in Killington - the AT leaves the LT - heading east to New Hampshire. The LT is a really popular 273-mile trail that stretches from Massachusetts to Canada. There’s actually 2 guys here at camp tonight starting a thru-hike of the LT today. They’re camping near me - I can hear them cooking their first meals in the bush. It’s funny listening to them - they’re obviously pretty newbie campers. (I can only imagine what I sounded like on Day #1 back in Georgia).

Climbing to the summit of Mt Greylock this morning was nice. It had rained most of the day yesterday - but this morning - the sunrise through the trees on the way up the mountain was pretty spectacular. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I had a good break on the summit. The first part of the day for me was relaxing and special. The afternoon became a job again - a tough job at that. It’s just so hard to predict the difficulty of sections until you’re out there. The terrain means everything. Wet, technical, rocky conditions brings you to a turtle pace - which results in more hours on the course, which results in 1 tired feller.

Tomorrow is a 11.5 mile day (we’ll call it a Nero) into Bennington, Vermont. I hope to get there before noon. I need to do laundry and resupply - before sleeping/eating the rest of the day.

To celebrate July 4th and the 12th state of my AT journey - please welcome to the stage - Ms Martina McBride:

“Well she seemed all right by dawn’s early light
Though she looked a little worried and weak
She tried to pretend he wasn’t drinkin’ again
But daddy’d left the proof on her cheek
And I was only eight years old that summer
And I always seemed to be in the way
So I took myself down to the fair in town
On Independence Day

Well - word gets around in a small, small town
They said he was a dangerous man
But mama was proud and she stood her ground
But she knew she was on the losin’ end
Some folks whispered and some folks talked
But everybody looked the other way
And when time ran out there was no one about
On Independence Day

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It’s Independence Day

Well - she lit up the sky that 4th of July
By the time that the firemen come
They just put out the flames
And took down some names
And send me to the county home
Now I ain’t sayin’ it’s right or it’s wrong
But maybe it’s the only way
Talk about your revolution
It’s Independence Day

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It’s Independence Day

Roll the stone away
It’s Independence Day”

“Independence Day” —- Martina McBride

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Good night from Vermont!