August 13

The Long Trail

Another amazing meal this morning.  I can't thank them enough for their hospitality, but eventually we had to leave our fantastic hosts in North Adams.  We got back on the trail around noon, and started doing some climbing.  After a few miles, we hit a major milestone.  We are now in Vermont!  A sign along the trail stated that for the next 100+ miles, the AT was concurrent with the Vermont Long Trail.  If you continued north along the Long Trail, eventually you would reach the Canadian border.  We all stopped for a break, and partied a little bit, in celebration of our accomplishment.  We weren't really sure how far we were trying to go today.  Apache and I fell back a bit from the others.  We came to a power line that had a nice view in each direction down either side of the mountain, and took a break.  The break ended up turning into a nap.  I woke up an hour or so later and noticed the sun was a lot lower in the sky.  I woke Apache up and we continued hiking, with no idea what time it was exactly, but it sure was getting dark fast.  I've started to notice recently, now being further and further north, that not only are we losing a bit of daylight each day, but the angle of the sun is different up here too.  You get long shadows late into the morning, and early in the afternoon.  It's really strange.  We crossed by a pond.  Later in camp that night we found out that Tink, Slims, and Rainbow Eyes had seen a moose when they passed that same pond earlier!  We continued down the trail, passing the 1600 mile mark.  We passed a few more ponds and boggy areas just as the last bit of light slipped away.  We made it to Congdon shelter after dark, covering 14 miles today.  Not bad for a noon start.

Vermont!