Vermont July 13-29, 2017

[Jeff]

Rainman,

West Hartford has several Trail Angels, most notably The Hart Family immediately after you cross the White RIver. They offer snacks, sometimes breakfast and tenting is always an option. There are others in this very small town who also allow tenting in their yard.

The Hart Family will encourage you to jump off the nearby bridge on hot summer days. They have marked exactly where you can jump without hitting submerged rocks !!!

[Jeff]

Noticed you are scheduled for staying at Story Spring Shelter. That shelter as well as Kid Gore Shelter are experiencing bear problems in 2017. Hang your food well.

There are plans to install bear boxes but the install date is not yet known. Maybe you will arrive on the day they are recruiting volunteers to lug those heavy boxes in from the nearest FS road. LOL.

[Rain Man]

Am at Bennington, actually Greenwood Lodge hostel for second night. Slacked two days from Mt. Greylock; thanks Teacher! Bad predicted rain storms have steered clear of us. Tomorrow we climb from VT 9 with full packs for four days to ZERO day at Green Mountain House at Manchester Center. Speedbump and pup "Ellie Mae" have joined us. Fun!

Nice surprise yesterday was lunch in North Adams with Sarcasm the Elf!

[tiptoe]

Enjoy your hike, Rain Man. Today was very soggy here in SW Connecticut.

[Slo-go'en]

Vermud will likely live up to it's name.

[Driver8]

Am at Bennington, actually Greenwood Lodge hostel for second night. Slacked two days from Mt. Greylock; thanks Teacher! Bad predicted rain storms have steered clear of us. Tomorrow we climb from VT 9 with full packs for four days to ZERO day at Green Mountain House at Manchester Center. Speedbump and pup "Ellie Mae" have joined us. Fun!
Nice surprise yesterday was lunch in North Adams with Sarcasm the Elf!

'Sposed to be a nice weekend. Happy Trails!

[Rain Man]

Six days in and we were half a day ahead of schedule. At wonderful Green Mountain House hostel this afternoon relaxing. ZERO day tomorrow, as planned. Weather has been GOOD. Only real rain has been two nights while snug in my hammock. Lots of SOBOs and NOBOs, both AT and LT. Have run across plenty of mud, but manageable. All water sources running.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

Glad things have been going smoothly since we left you. Enjoy Green Mtn & give Jeff my best. See you Saturday!

[Rain Man]

Heading into my last week! It's Monday and I'm taking a ZERO in Killington (THANKS Speedbump and Teacher!), as today is 100% rain, hoping it'll clear to do Mt. Killington another day.

Also many thanks to CookerHiker, who plans to shuttle and slackpack day-hike with me to make it all work! So many nice folks in the whole AT community.

I've had good weather, decent trail, and am in the midst of a slew of NOBO & SOBO AT & Long Trail hikers.

Schedule calls for 5 more days of my 15 total days of hiking and I'll finish Vermont in Hanover this Saturday. Over 2,000 miles done.

Back in September to knock off Maine, starting at Caratunk.

[Rain Man]

Sitting in Coolidge Hotel hostel section tonight in White River Junction, clean and well fed. Tomorrow I finish! Will hike 9.3 miles from West Hartford to the Connecticutt River at Hanover. The trail in Vermont is not easy, but has been fun. It has rained, but never on me. That is, only at night when I'm in my hammock or a room. Mostly sunny days!

Have met tons of hikers, including the couple with the baby, Roo. Have enjoyed MUCH trail magic in form of Teacher's shuttling me, Cookerhiker's hosting and feeding me in Rutland, and use of Speedbump's Killington home.

Crossed my personal 2,000 mile mark this week.

Will report more another day.

[rocketsocks]

Congrats Rain Man

[Rain Man]

DONE!!! Got to the Connecticut River today at 1:45. Have now hiked from Georgia tp Caratunk, Maine! Showered and in clean clothes. About to hit road for Providence, RI for my flight Monday. Till then I'm a tourist.