Make it count: Day #119

Thursday, July 9th - Day #119 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 19.8
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 1673.7/2,193 (76.32%)

Manchester Center (1653.9) to Little Rock Pond Shelter (1673.7) - tent at Little Rock Pond Shelter

Total ascent - 3,819’
Total descent - 3,754’

Total States Completed - 11/14

**No Rain - really warm and humid day. Highs at 90 degrees

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Coming to you live from a very hot tent at the Little Rock Pond Shelter - Mile #1673.7. It’s 8:51pm - and I’m sweating while writing the blog. It’s got to be 85 degrees in this tent. There’s a swarm of black flies all over my rainfly. (Black flies are these small, biting flies often found up here in New England in the summer - worse than mosquitoes)

A really solid 19.8 mile day today. Slow as Molasses (goes by Sam) and I walked together all day today. Because it’s set to rain for several days - we ended up going longer than originally planned. I was happy with the mileage - better to push miles on a dry course.

The first 8 miles of the day were the toughest. We climbed Bromley Mountain (a ski mountain) and Styles Peak to start the day. The final 10 miles were a lot of downhill and relatively flat sections. We got some bona fide Trail Magic between the 2 peaks. Spineless Cougar was there with a full setup - lawn chairs to sit in, cooler of sodas/Gatorade, donuts, watermelon, cookies, etc. it was awesome!!! This was my second full blown Trail Magic of the entire AT (the other being in Georgia). I’ve had coolers left with sodas/water - but this type of setup is very rare during Covid-2020.

I gotta say the guy (Spineless Cougar) was a little odd however. He asked Sam and I if we wanted an adventure. He handed us a map to find a “Secret Shelter” that is supposed to be near the AT. He asked us to report back to him if we found it - he gave us his phone#. It was more than bizarre. Sam and I were joking around about this. There is a known religious cult in Rutland, VT - at a place called the Yellow Deli - that tries to recruit AT hikers to go to “the farm”. We would not be surprised to find some sort of cult at this “Secret Shelter” - as we are near Rutland. Needless to say - we listened to the guy and thanked him for the Trail Magic - but we have no plans to go on a search for a secret cult anytime soon. (The scary part is - this is the exact thing that many of the stoners on the AT live for)

Tomorrow’s hike and distance will largely be dictated by the weather. I’m just going to see how the day goes when I’m out there. Tomorrow will help determine if I’m going for Killington on Saturday or push to Sunday.

Here’s to staying safe and healthy. (Sam fell twice on course today - luckily only some cuts/bruises). Goodnight from steamy Vermont!