Day 62: Migraines, Mud and More Mud, and the 100lb. Chocolate Moose

Summary

June 26th

NOBO mile#1610.6

Tolmann’s daily mileage 4.3

Tolmann’s total mileage 586.9

Woke before midnight with a migraine. Did a privy run and took ibuprofen. 

Woke at 4am; still hurtin’. Took more ibuprofen. 

My shelter-mate got up 6-ish, made breakfast (smell of alcohol stove was not welcomed by my head and stomach), and packed up to leave.  I got up for a short time, and he shared some hot mocha with me, which I appreciated. Then I crawled back into my sleeping bag as he finished his prep. 

After he left, I must have fallen asleep again for a while, cuz I woke up feeling a little better. I got up and began to do my own preparation for leaving. The two young guys who had slept in their tent came by in the meantime as they were leaving, and then a NOBO thru-hiker came into the shelter to change into cooler clothing. 

The day before I had been struggling with the way previous occupants had left their trash behind, both in the shelter and in the privy. In the moldering privies, there is often a trash can that holds wood shavings or duff from the ground around the shelter to put in the privy after one “does their business”. There’s always a sign reminding people not to leave their trash, but people often throw trash in this “trash can”. Someone or multiple people had done this, and someone else had pulled it all out and dumped it on the privy floor. As I said, I was struggling, because I knew the right thing was to gather up the trash and pack it out, but I was rationalizing why I wouldn’t; headache, added weight, concern that the trashbag would tear on the bushes and such and dump trash on the trail. None of it particularly convincing to me. 

I told this NOBOer about the trash, and that I planned to contact the Green Mountain Club to let them know the state of the shelter. Then I left. After about an hour of hiking, I took a break, and wondered why the guy hadn’t passed me yet. I had a pretty definite feeling he had stayed to clean the trash up. I got up and started hiking again, then heard trekking  poles coming up from behind. And sure enough, it was the NOBOer and he had the bag of trash tied to his pack. 

He said, “You’re going into town today, right?”

“Yep,” I said.

“Would you take his trash in to throw it away?”

“Sure!”

“I’ll leave it at the road.”

“OK.”

And off he went. 

So I felt pretty guilty about leaving him the mess to clean up, even if by bringing it into town to throw away I was going to be part of the solution. I kept bumping into him over and over all the way to RT 9, and offered to carry the trash out the rest of the way, but he declined. 

So had the trail magically dried up overnight? Well, it had actually rained overnight, so no. And the mud immediately became an issue for me, soaking my feet early on, and I continued to get wet as the morning progressed.  I was very frustrated, but knew I just had a couple of hours to deal with it. I was feeling a little bit better. 

Then I got to the top of Harmon Hill, where there was a very nice view down a short side trail.  There I found my NOBO friend, and we shared our enjoyment. As I came back to the AT, I looked more closely at the sign. Specifically, I looked at the mileage to Katahdin: 557 miles. I’m not sure if that is accurate anymore; in fact, my guide shows the mileage at that point as being 581.0. But if you take a moment and check that against my total mileage today, you’ll see that I crossed the halfway to Katahdin milestone yesterday. I had been feeling like I was quite a distance away from getting to this point, so it was a morale boost, for sure. 

I was still nearly 2 hours out from RT 9, but making decent time, despite the mud. In fact, as I was approaching the road, I met up with my shelter-mate (the LT thru-hiker) from the night before, the couple who I had found at the shelter the day before, and the NOBOer with the trash, so I must have been moving pretty well. 

At the road, I finally took charge of the trash, and started walking toward Bennington, trying to hitch as I went. There was no cell phone service at the trailhead, so I couldn’t call for the shuttle from the motel. Although there was no one stopping to pick me up, I eventually got to a place where I got cell service, and called the motel for a ride. 

So a shower and change of clothes later, including putting on sandals to air out and dry my feet, and I was ready to walk down into Bennington proper. The main goal? To get lunch and the lay of the land as I determined my next steps. 

Bennington is a pretty little town. Main Street seems to be intentionally free of chain stores. I found a cool place that sells educational toys, craft supplies, scale model kits (including some vintage AMC Star Trek models), and GUITARS! I took the opportunity to play a couple, and it soothed my soul. I also got a root beer float at the Village Chocolate Shoppe (home of the 100 lb. chocolate moose), before stopping at the local Stewart’s and getting my customary half gallon of chocolate milk. 

I called Deb when I got back to let her know I was off-trail. We talked for quite a while as I tried to grapple with my feelings of overwhelm. I haven’t resolved anything yet;  but I intend to zero here and take the day tomorrow to research how people cope with wet feet, and to try to find something about the next few days of the trail to get me charged up and excited. Vermont is the biggest state I’ve been in for a while, so it’ll take me longer to get to the next state line. 

And I need to get my laundry done; seems that the competition for the washing machine is fierce here. 

And as afternoon/evening rain sets in, I wonder: is there any way to tap into that childlike delight of dancing in the puddles? Cuz the trail is NOT about to dry out…