Day: 105
Date: Monday, 07 August 2023
Start: VT Route 9 (AT Mile 1619.0)
Finish: Story Spring Shelter (AT Mile 1638.0)
Daily Kilometres: 31.2 (Ascent 4751', Descent 3310')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2702.5
Weather: Cool to mild, humid, overcast, raining all morning, heavy at times, and showery in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Shelter
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Muffins
Lunch: American subs.
Dinner: Rehydrated meals
Aches: Dave - a few niggles, sore rib much better; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: None really.
Lowlight: Very wet morning.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We were picked up at the motel by our shuttle driver promptly at 6:30am, driven to the trailhead, and were hiking by 6:45am on a dreary morning in light rain.
Our trail climbed steadily up onto a ridge which we followed for the rest of the day. Knowing that the forecast was for rain today and tomorrow, it was hard to summon much enthusiasm for the day's hiking. The trail was already very wet, as was the forest and undergrowth, and became much wetter as the rain increased in intensity. The going was difficult, with large bogs and puddles that had to be navigated and continual rocks and roots, all of them slippery. Julie's shoes and socks were saturated in no time and stayed that way for the rest of the day.
The dripping forest was conifer and fairy-tale-like at the higher altitudes and deciduous lower down but it was hard to appreciate when all of our attention had to be on our footing.
About the only thing that made us feel better about our situation was that we met quite a few other thru-hikers out there dealing with the same conditions. Originally, we planned to take a break after five miles, but the steady rain persuaded us to just keep walking and it was 12:15pm before we reached a shelter where we stopped for lunch. About eight other hikers were also there, taking a break out of the rain, and there was a fair bit of dark humour about the conditions.
After lunch we walked another four miles to where there was another shelter where we took a break and then it was another five miles to the next shelter which was our target for the day. There were no views all day, though there were a couple of peaceful beaver ponds near the end.
We decided we would stay in the shelter given that it is forecast to be raining in the morning as well and we wanted to avoid packing up in the rain and having a wet tent.
We're very happy with nineteen miles today, given the conditions, but it was very hard work and our average hiking pace wasn't much more than 1.5 miles per hour. I guess we better get used to it as we hike through these northern states.
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