“Ice Cream Revisited”

AT Day 98; LT Day 11

Miles Today: 2.29

LT Mile: 164.9

(Hyde Away Inn; Waitsfield, VT)

It’s going to have to stay brief until I get my keyboard replacement next week… working on brevity could be good for me. It’s never been my strong suit.

We went to sleep under a ski lift last night and I woke up to see the stars, maybe for the first time on trail. At least the first time like that. The trees were all cleared around the lift where we were camping. So it gave us a rare view of the open sky.

The sun was setting as I fell asleep, not even covered up by my quilt. I barely managed to sign my journal before I knocked out. But when I woke, the stars were out in full view.

The second time I woke it was around 11pm and the wind had become torrential! It was the first mountaintop camping that I’ve done on this trail and I’d basically forgotten what mountaintop camping is like–windy.

My tent vestibule was open and my open tent was facing into the wind, thus turning my tent into a kite that was only staying on the ground because I was in it.

I put in ear plugs and went back to sleep.

But the next time I woke up to piss the stars were gone, and I saw the flash of lightning. I put on my headlamp and restaked my tent. I also closed up the vestibule. For the rest of the night the wind howled uncontrollably.

We woke up in a cloud. But it never rained.

—

We drank coffee in the cool, foggy air, and started to trail around 7am. It was only 2.29 miles to the road crossing where we hitched to town, but they were steep descent miles. Plinko nearly had a bad fall on some rebar. It spooked both of us–nearly had his leg broken when his foot slipped into the rock-side of a rebar ladder rung.

—

We checked into the Hyde Away Inn early, and they were still serving breakfast to the two SOBO LT hikers who were still here from last night.

They invited us to breakfast and we drank coffee with them and shared stories.

The two staff members here are Romanian exchange student workers and they are here for the summer. I don’t know exactly how it works out, but somehow they get a work visa, they get paid low, but they get housing out of it.

They were nice and gave us extra hard boiled eggs and Greek yogurt. So I gave them each a coyote tooth. They were both extremely appreciative. One of them traded me some Romanian currency as a token of trade. I told him I appreciated it, and he shared that the figure on the bill is a famous Romanian poet. I told him that felt appropriate.

Plinko’s friend whose trial name is Alaska drove down from Stowe, VT to meet us, get him a new headlamp since he lost his earlier this week, and shuttle us around. Mostly it meant bringing us to the Ben & Jerry’s factory. We didn’t end up going on a tour as it was a 90-minute wait, but we did eat ice cream from the source and liked the visit.

We’re now back at the Hyde Away Inn. I talked with family and Boots on the phone. I ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Tomorrow we’re back to trail.

We’re planning 5-6 more days of the Long Trail. One true resupply at Stowe in two days.

We’re really trying to rest for what remains of today.

It’s raining heavy outside. Get it out of the system. We don’t need this weather while we’re up in those mountains.

Wormwood.