Day: 109
Date: Friday, 11 August 2023
Start: Governor Clement Shelter (AT Mile 1698.6)
Finish: Inn at Long Trail (AT Mile 1711.1)
Daily Kilometres: 16.1 (Ascent 3189', Descent 2671')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2810.4
Weather: Cool to mild, breezy, overcast in the morning and partly sunny in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Inn
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Sourdough bread & goats cheese.
Lunch: Patty melt & chips/Pulled pork burger & chips
Dinner: Chips & salsa, Bacon cheeseburger & chips/Turkey melt & chips, cookies.
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: After five days of hiking in muddy, grotty conditions, with no showers or laundry, and with everything wet or damp after last night's torrential downpour, we were very happy to reach the inn at the Long Trail, where we had a room booked, on the early afternoon.
Lowlight: None really.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We kept dry despite the torrential rain last night, though there were a few damp spots inside the tent and muddy rain spatter had left our tent and groundsheet very dirty. We rose at the usual 5:30am and were on the very wet and muddy trail around 6:45am.
We had about ten miles to reach the Inn at the Long Trail where we had a room booked for the night and hoped to dry out our gear, shower and launder our clothes, so we're keen to get there as early as possible. However, Killington Peak had other ideas. The first 4.5 miles took nearly three hours of climbing on gnarly, rocky, rooty and boggy trail through foggy conifer forest. Nearly every footfall had to be carefully placed, often gambling on the slipperiness of a rock or root, or the depth of the mud, and not always getting it right. Dave, in particular, was taking it very carefully. Not much opportunity to look around, but also not.much to see apart from more eerie and quiet dripping wet forest.
The trail doesn't actually go to the very top of Killington, one of the most renowned ski mountains in the US north-east, but very close to it. The ski fields and resort are on the eastern side of the peak, but you would never know from the AT which passes just below the western side of the peak and feels like isolated wilderness. We took a breakfast break in an old lodge at the highest point the trail reaches on the peak, around 3900'. There were no windows in the old stone building, just huge openings where the windows used to be and an icy wind blew inside as we ate and were later joined by two other hikers.
From there we had a little over five miles to go, mostly downhill, and we gradually warmed as we descended, especially when the sun began making an occasional appearance. The trail was still hard work, but we made reasonable time and with 2.5 miles to go we branched off the AT to take a side trail (the old AT route) directly to the Inn at the Long Trail and got there around 1:00pm. Our room was ready and they let us check in straight away. Our French-Canadian friends are also here so we arranged to have dinner with them tonight at the Irish Pub that forms part of the Inn.
We had a fairly intensive hour or two showering, laundering, washing and spreading gear out to dry, before having a late lunch in the pub. Julie then walked a.mile or so down to the Killington village where she bought some things we needed while Dave finished the chores back at the Inn.
Later, we had dinner with Matthew and Christine in the Irish pub downstairs with live music which was very pleasant.
Most of our gear is now clean and dry and we are ready to resume hiking tomorrow. More rain is forecast.
1700 Mile Mark was passed today!
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