I finally decide I need to get up and get moving, and fortunately there is now some movement from the other campers, so I start breaking down my camp. A short time later Croft walks over and we talk for a few minutes. I tell her I will come over to the shelter so we can chat before I leave.
I pack up and check out the elevation profile today, and try to come up with a plan. This whole week my goal was to get up to Killington Summit and stealth camp up at the top and catch a sunset tonight and the sunrise tomorrow morning, and then nero in town tomorrow. I could really use a resupply; my stomach's been a little err, upset, and I have gone through all of my toilet paper and most of my hand sanitizer in the last two days. Plus the thought of a shower and fresh laundry is really appealing.
If I do a short day tomorrow I won't have the time to clean up and get back on the trail to do very many miles, but if I go into town today I can clean up tonight and hopefully get a ride back early enough tomorrow to get some more miles.
There aren't many shuttle options on the app or online, but I send some texts, hoping I hear back from someone. My other option is to start calling hotels In the Killington area to see if anyone would have a current list of shuttle drivers. I'd like to shuttle my car to Hanover, New Hampshire tomorrow morning and get a return shuttle back to Killington to continue hiking. In the afternoon.
I get packed up and go to the shelter where Croft is sitting with her son. We exchange phone numbers and get a picture together. I can't wait to text Kelly and Gigi that I saw her! I say goodbye and head up the trail at 8 AM, a very late start for all the miles to get to town.
The trail leaving the shelter goes sharply uphill 600 feet or so, and I get warmed up really quickly; even though it's not really cold this morning there's a little chill in the air. On the way up I find some raspberries!
I cross Kieffer Road and travel through a gorgeous hemlock woods, and a short time later Cold River Road. There is a farm stand called Stone's Throw down the road to the left that is highly recommended. I was originally planning on stopping here, as they are supposed to have excellent Vermont made cheese and fresh bread, but I have plenty of food and I still have a lot of climbing to do so I continue on the trail.
The trail starts ascending through a mixed forest and crosses several water sources. I won't have to worry about water until I am further up the trail. I nibble the tender leaves of the plentiful large wood sorrel, enjoying the refreshing tart flavor of the clover-looking leaves.
Another two miles and I see kiosk with a registration journal inside. I sign the register with my trail name and look over to the side to see that I am exactly 500 miles from Katahdin! So far I have climbed 1,000 feet spread over four miles. The trail has been quite easy and I'm really enjoying this gorgeous weather.
The sun is shining and a light breeze is blowing with temperatures In the low 70s. I cross over Sergent Brook and I am blown away by the beauty of all the wildflowers next to the forest road. Common milkweed and tall Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota), mixed with black-eyed Susans offer a riot of color, and bumblebees and dragonflies and are busily flying around and alighting on the flowers, attending to their pollination duties.
A short way up the hill from the creek I come across a 500 mile marker for the southbounders. Rocks around the mile marker are really cool; etched with the abbreviations for each state on the Appalachian Trail.
A few minutes later the trail crosses a gorgeous big stream in front of the Governor Clement Shelter. This will be the last water for the next five miles and 2,000 feet of gain, so I stop to filter a couple of liters so I can drink my electrolytes.
I sign the shelter log book and continue up the mountain, where I will hit the 1,700 mile mark in less than two miles. I lose myself in music as I hike when I stop, realizing I should be setting a mile marker. I check the app, and see that I am a just over the mark, but haven't seen anything on the ground.
I take off my pack and get to work making one. I prefer rocks, but there aren't a lot of small ones on this stretch of trail, and I don't want to take the time to gather them, so sticks it is!
On the way up, I keep thinking about continuing my momentum instead of camping on Killington. I decide I definitely want to book a hotel for tonight and arrange a shuttle for tomorrow. I turn my phone off airplane mode and breathe a sigh of relief that I have service. I'm not in the best place to stop as the trail is perched on the side of the mountain. The trail here is very narrow and pitches dangerously on the edge of a drop off. I find a rock to lean against on the upside of the trail.
.
I have yet to receive a reply to my earlier text to a shuttle service, so I call another listed in FarOut. He tells me that he prefers to stay in the Rutland area but gives me the number of another driver out of Hanover, New Hampshire.
I called a number provided and the man who answers says that he can do the shuttle and gives me a rough estimate of three dollars per mile, which is the most I've ever heard a shuttle going for, but at this point I'm kind of desperate, given the lack of drivers in this area. He says he will send me a text with the quote.
With the shuttle taken care of, I look at my hotel app and see a very highly rated hotel near Killington for only $130. I book the room, and I am now on a mission to get hiking so I can get to town, but first I still have to hike eight more miles!
The woods up to Killington are out of a fairy tale. Dense and dark with spruce and fir, the ground covered in moss and wood sorrel. The trail near the summit is some of the muddiest I have yet to encounter in Vermont, and the reason the nickname for the state is Vermud.
After another 1,000 feet of climbing, I finally reach Cooper Lodge, the shelter near the summit of Killington, and I drop my pack to take a blue-blazed side trail to the summit. I put my phone and InReach device in my waist pack and take my poles for the steep hike up.
I didn't climb up Killington Peak the last time I hiked here, as I was already wiped out from the climb up by the time I arrived. Becky did the climb while I waited, and she had a bad knee at the time, so I know I should be able to do it now that I'm unnarguably in the best shape of my adult life after doing 900 miles continuously on the AT.
The quarter-mile climb up is insanely steep, and I don't want to think about how scary it will be to go back down, but I make the arduous climb in less than 20 minutes.
The view on top of the mountain is breathtaking, with 360-degree views. The weather is perfect today for this, and I turn on my PeakFinder app to identify the distant mountains. I am delighted to have an almost 200 mile view, although the farthest mountains are a little hard to distinguish in the haze.
To the south, Stratton Mountain is visible. I can't believe I hiked this far in only a few days!
To the west, PeakFinder shows me the location of Whiteface Mountain and Mount Marcy, which are over 1,000 feet higher than I am now.
To the east I can see Mount Washington, the second highest peak on the trail but unnarguably one of the most dangerous. I will be hiking toward the mountain, covering 150 miles from here and hope to summit it within the next two weeks.
I spend about 15 minutes on top of the peak before I turn around and start down the steep descent. The descent is actually easier than I thought and I only have to throw down my poles a couple times to boot scoot down some of the steeper boulders.
At the bottom I shoulder my pack and peek in Cooper Lodge before I begin the almost 7 mile hike to Route 4. Cooper Lodge was disgusting when I last visited about 12 years ago, and it has certainly declined since then.
A couple who stayed at Clarendon Shelter last night, and with whom I have played hopscotch up the mountain, was thinking of staying here, but the gentleman remarks that it looks like a Hantavirus hotel, and they elect to continue another 4 miles to the next shelter.
I filter a liter of water from a nearby pipe spring and begin the next leg of my journey. I am energized by completing what I thought was the hardest part of my day, but the trail definitely has some challenging sections ahead.
The trail ends up being crazy hard, winding around trees, roots, and rocks for miles and miles. Spruce trees are down on the sides of the trails, and they branches stick out into the narrow trail, ready to impale the unsuspecting hiker. I do my best to avoid the sharp sticks, but I am focused so intently on where I am stepping that I inadvertently get scratched several times, on occasion drawing blood.
I could have passed 20 bears and 20 moose and I would have no idea that I did so, I was that focused on my footing. I'm tired and stumbling a little and my feet hurt so I'm trying to avoid an injury.
The hike down seems to take an eternity. By the time I reach the Route Four trailhead and my vehicle, I have been hiking for almost 12 hours. I spread a towel out on my seat because I am a disgusting mess, sweaty and covered in dirt. Thankfully the drive to the hotel that I booked is only 10 minutes away.
The owners of the Inn are an adorable couple who unload their bikes from a weekly local trail ride as I arrive. Casey is very helpful, giving me a bucket of ice and informs me that the laundromat is across the street under a bar.
By 8:00 PM I am showered and call to order takeout from the Jax Pub. I am to beat to consider doing laundry tonight, but I look inside the laundromat to see that it opens at 6:00 a.m. so I plan to do laundry tomorrow.
I see that I received a text message from the shuttle driver. He informs me that the shuttle will cost $150. I blanch at the amount, indignant at the highway robbery. But I am between a rock and a hard place so I respond "Wow! Okay."
I return to my room and sit in bed eating chicken wings and part of the salad, but I am too exhausted to enjoy anything. By the time I get done eating and turn off the light it's almost 10:00 p.m.. I am so ready to finish this day!
Good night!
Todays Stats: 16.7 miles, 4,100 feet gain
Trail Stats: 1,709 miles, 333K feet gain
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