“Broken Hearts & Hiking Poles”

AT Day 101; LT Day 14

Miles Today: 6.57

LT Mile: 208.2

(Stowe [Plinko’s Friend’s House])

The trail was steep this morning. The four-thousand foot peaks are all like that in Vermont. Steep and aggressive. And Mount Mansfield was no exception.

I ended up sleeping in later than I’d planned this morning, but man plans and god laughs. The plan was tentatively to catch the sunrise at the mountain peak this morning, but when I woke up to piss last night the sky was heavily overcast and it had started to rain lightly. The sun would rise today, but there would be no “sunrise” as it were.

At least that’s what I decided when I rolled over and ignored several alarms at 4:30, 5:00, and 5:30am. But I was sleeping well and clouds filled the sky. There was no reason for me to be up and in it early today. And my body has been so exhausted by the miles on the Long Trail that I needed the extra rest.

Plinko was up and out of the Taylor Lodge before me. He was out the door just as I was starting to pack up my sleeping pad. We only had about 5 miles to hike today, so we discussed yesterday that he might be out before me and that we’d just meet at the bottom of the Gondola.

So we ended up hiking solo today.

It wasn’t raining heavily, but there was a sprinkle when I started to trail. The first miles were dark, wet, foggy, and steep. Plinko texted me from the top, telling me to watch myself and be careful on those first three miles of climbing. The text was well received and appropriate. It was the first time he’d sent such a warning text in the 800 or so miles that we’ve hiked together.

There were no views up top. The summit of Mansfield was completely clouded out. But the AT got me used to that. You get a view every now and then, but that’s really not what this trail is about. If ya get a view out here, that’s great, but I’ve learned not to count on it.

And as rough as the climb was today, the hardest part was the descent. It was about 2,500 feet of descent from the peak of Mansfield to the parking lot where Alaska had left her car for us. And during that 2,500ft, the trail had some steep drops. At one point it was bad enough that I literally just tossed my hiking poles down the side of a ledge and picked them up once I made it down myself.

On that note, about two or three weeks ago I damaged one of my hiking pole tips and it’s been getting more problematic since then. It’s not something that I think can be repaired. And so when Alaska asked if we needed anything from REI, I bit the bullet and decided it’s time for new pair. I wanted to get this set through the full AT, but after the bend in the one tip, it’s been less and less functional. And on the LT I’ve needed those poles to hold solid when I’m climbing and descending. Honestly, it could have led me to getting hurt if I didn’t replace them. For the last week or so I’ve been using my “good” pole in my dominant right hand and using the bent one as balance in my left. But that’s when failed me a time or two when I needed the one in my left hand to hold but it slipped.

It’ll be good to have new poles! These ones got five or six thousand miles since I purchased them on the CDT in 2019.

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Overcast for most of the day today and then started raining heavy once Plinko and I were settled into Alaska’s place. She works today, so we had the day to resupply, shower, laundry, and repack for the next trail segment.

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We had pizza for dinner and have been resting most of the day.

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We only have 63 miles remaining, but that will take us at minimum 4 days.

Tomorrow is Monday. Two days to our last resupply, and a day and a half from there.

We should finish the Long Trail on Thursday the 25th. Then back to Rutland and the AT. Might take a zero in Rutland.

I ordered more coyote teeth, athletic greens, Kachava, a new water filter, and a few other things to Rutland. My buddy Geoff might join us there for a day or two.

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Tired and distracted this evening. Looking forward to having my new keyboard for these journals once I get back to Rutland.

Wormwood.