detour!!
so long trail fest was pretty awesome, complete with homemade oversized slip'n'slide and gelatin off ramp, and some psycho threatening to kill everyone with a pick ax and burn down all our tents...
so this guy's a total creep, camping right next to us, giving everybody scary looks and not capable of normal conversation, yet wearing a gmc polo with gmc patches and at patches etc, supposedly a ridge runner somewhere, and right outside his tent is parked a giant pick ax. and then later that night this thru-hiker from french canadia named julien decided in his drunken state that it would be a good idea to jump over this guy's tent. ok so he does successfully jump the tent, but not without knocking the cross pole with his foot and clearly distrubing the crazy dude resting inside. so the crazy dude climbs out of his tent, grabs his pick ax, wields it like a weapon, and says, 'who f*cked with my tent?!' serveral times in a row, then threatens to kill whoever f*cked with his tent, then threatens to burn down all our tents if we don't tell him who f*cked with his tent. so lumpy gets up and trys to mellow the guy down, and then a crowd of guys get up and sort of surround him and try to talk him down, then john trys to lead him over to the check point where the event organizer is hanging out, and as soon as he turns his back on the dude he raises his ax again like he's about to swing it into john's back. so needless to say the crowd of guys around him quickly (and quite impressively i might add) remove the ax from him and pin him on the ground.
long story short, he was eventually escorted to the twelve tribes for the night, not allowed back to the party the next day, but instead layed down outside the entrance ALL day 'waiting for his boss' to show up, who apparently fired him, and then somehow got a ride back to some place in connecticut. apparently also, he's some kind of witch and none of this would have happened if he'd 'had his crystals with him' (this is rumor coming from when he stayed at 12 tribes).
but slip'n'slide was awesome, and so was the rest of the festival, and then neon and cc showed up and we chilled, and then they drove us to the adirondacks where we spent a zero hiking 15 miles over the tallest mtn in new york (mt. marcey) and along avalanche lake through avalanche pass, which was totally amazing (the peak sucked, but only bc we were stuck in a cloud).
important info: slip'n'slide is a serious ab work out (who knew?) and all of our abs are incredibly sore, which is trouble when you're hanging out with three of your best friends, because you can't actually laugh without discomfort.
tonight i believe the plan is to head back to vermont, camp by clarendon gorge, (which we bypassed on our hike this year due to laziness and convenience) and then go to some apparently amazing pancake place, where i will be dearly tempted from my veganism with 'the best pancakes on earth.'
and then, swear to god. i'm actually gonna start hiking towards canada again.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
waitsfield, vt
so a lot's happened:
we went to the bromely thrill zone, where i totally crushed the alpine slides. we only rode once, due to cost, but also due to impending thunderstorms for which they kept shutting down the lift. then we walked up the ski trail to the top of bromley and played around on the ski lifts, ate some left-overs from the green mountain house and then watched the sunset from the lookout tower.
we walked from there to big branch shelter the next day, which is the same hike i did a year prior, only this time without the rain and impending death and doom. no trudging through ankle deep standing water, or walking over a ridge with lightening crashing all around. needless to say, this time was much nicer. on the way, at peru peak shelter, we ran into sam and darcey, aka swami and duckfeet, with whom john hiked last year, who are now working for the GMC leading trail maintenance crews.
we camped right by the river that night, and here's the crazy story from that: so chance apparently has been practicing swinging some stress balls around on string with he intention of 'eventually lighting them on fire.' so obviously we just convinced him that that night was the eventually he had been waiting for (even though he'd only been working on it for 3 days and still frequently hit himself wih them). so we soaked the balls in white gas and waited for darkness, then had him swing them around while standing on a rock in the river. that was fun, but ended pretty quick, after the strings got tangled and one of them was burned through. the fireball flung straight up, and landed on the rock and rolled into the river, so luckily there were no casualties.
eventually we landed in rutland, and stayed at the twelve tribes hostel, which was fun, but only for a night. i got a creepy 'women are slaves' vibe from them, and also, they actually make you work for your work for stay, which is not so great for the relaxation part of a zero. the highlights of the rutland series of zeroes include: long trail brewery, thai star, pico peak alpine slides, meeting a thru-hiker's town girl who drove up from palmerton and turns out went to the same college and graduated the same class as john.
and then we were no longer on the AT.
and to make a long story short: we accidentally took a blue blaze off of breadloaf mountain, and didn't realize it til we'd already walked nearly 2 miles down, when we were supposed to be up on the ridge. needless to say we had to truncate that day, which ended in us staying with bobcat (AT '07) here in waitsfield. she put up last night and now tonight, and today slacked us between lincoln gap and appalachian gap, only 11 miles, but not a very easy walk. the stretch goes over sugarbush and mad river glen ski resorts, which are the 5 or so peaks of lincoln mtn, and gen. stark mtn., respectively.
tomorrow will see us to burlington for a day, and then down to rutland (again) for the start of the long trail festival. secret surprise in store for those making the trek!! can't wait!!
we went to the bromely thrill zone, where i totally crushed the alpine slides. we only rode once, due to cost, but also due to impending thunderstorms for which they kept shutting down the lift. then we walked up the ski trail to the top of bromley and played around on the ski lifts, ate some left-overs from the green mountain house and then watched the sunset from the lookout tower.
we walked from there to big branch shelter the next day, which is the same hike i did a year prior, only this time without the rain and impending death and doom. no trudging through ankle deep standing water, or walking over a ridge with lightening crashing all around. needless to say, this time was much nicer. on the way, at peru peak shelter, we ran into sam and darcey, aka swami and duckfeet, with whom john hiked last year, who are now working for the GMC leading trail maintenance crews.
we camped right by the river that night, and here's the crazy story from that: so chance apparently has been practicing swinging some stress balls around on string with he intention of 'eventually lighting them on fire.' so obviously we just convinced him that that night was the eventually he had been waiting for (even though he'd only been working on it for 3 days and still frequently hit himself wih them). so we soaked the balls in white gas and waited for darkness, then had him swing them around while standing on a rock in the river. that was fun, but ended pretty quick, after the strings got tangled and one of them was burned through. the fireball flung straight up, and landed on the rock and rolled into the river, so luckily there were no casualties.
eventually we landed in rutland, and stayed at the twelve tribes hostel, which was fun, but only for a night. i got a creepy 'women are slaves' vibe from them, and also, they actually make you work for your work for stay, which is not so great for the relaxation part of a zero. the highlights of the rutland series of zeroes include: long trail brewery, thai star, pico peak alpine slides, meeting a thru-hiker's town girl who drove up from palmerton and turns out went to the same college and graduated the same class as john.
and then we were no longer on the AT.
and to make a long story short: we accidentally took a blue blaze off of breadloaf mountain, and didn't realize it til we'd already walked nearly 2 miles down, when we were supposed to be up on the ridge. needless to say we had to truncate that day, which ended in us staying with bobcat (AT '07) here in waitsfield. she put up last night and now tonight, and today slacked us between lincoln gap and appalachian gap, only 11 miles, but not a very easy walk. the stretch goes over sugarbush and mad river glen ski resorts, which are the 5 or so peaks of lincoln mtn, and gen. stark mtn., respectively.
tomorrow will see us to burlington for a day, and then down to rutland (again) for the start of the long trail festival. secret surprise in store for those making the trek!! can't wait!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
manchester center, vt
so about an hour after my last post from bennington, johnny and i were hanging out in the outfitter in bennington, waiting for a bike to return to go grocery shopping, when chance walks in and says, 'you guys wanna go get a beer at the brew pub while i wait for my bus?' of course, we do. and on the way there, chance explains his need for the bus:
giant trail magic party up in manchester (a $2 bus ride from bennington, the next trail town north) being thrown by rainman and ahab, both of whom johnny had done trail magic for before in the south. as we're walking, john says to me, 'don't let me get on the bus to manchester,' to which i reply, 'why not?? what do we have stopping us'
fast forward 2 hrs, and we're sitting in the back of an enterprise rent-a-van with 20 other hikers on our way to rainman's parents' house, were a party 40 strong (it had been 60 the night before) was playing croquet, cooking absurd amounts of food, and watching movies such as life of brian, home alone, superbad, super troopers, etc.
and so, instead of a town day in bennington, we spent a town day in bennington and manchester. and seeing as we were already in a trail town, instead of riding back to bennington to hike back to manchester, we just got right on trail and hiked south. yes, that's right, i hiked south.
we blue-blazed out of town to prospect rock (on a trail i learned about last year from zack and mike from connecticut), and then went swimming in stratton pond before camping for the night. the next day, up and over stratton mtn, birthplace of the AT, where once again i was inside a cloud; the day did clear up tho, and ended up being really beautiful, which was good since we walked over 18 miles! (in one day...we're supposed to be taking our time!!) to goddard shelter. we met a sweet southbounder named ledge that day, who had spent the previous year bicycling over 20,000 miles, and had arrived at big k via bicycle, and was planning on returning to ontario by bicycle after he arrived at springer. he's an ecologist from ohio state who is currently on sabbatical and thinks he might just never go back to working... OH, and, he is old friends with wasabi, wookie's best friend from home who started the hike with him. so when we made it to bennington we had beers with him, lost rob (who was famous for being lost for 4 days with no food or water in the okefenokee swamp back in 2008), and a weekend hiker who gave us a ride back into town, then caught the bus back to manchester.
we spent last night at the green mountain house, the hostel in manchester that opened last year, and we're planning on spending our day today at the bromley thrill zone before hiking out to the top of bromley mountain, and saying at the warming hut. check it out! they have zip lines, alpine slides, a water slide (the longest in vermont), mini-golf, a giant swing, and a trampoline thing! hiking is my favorite!
giant trail magic party up in manchester (a $2 bus ride from bennington, the next trail town north) being thrown by rainman and ahab, both of whom johnny had done trail magic for before in the south. as we're walking, john says to me, 'don't let me get on the bus to manchester,' to which i reply, 'why not?? what do we have stopping us'
fast forward 2 hrs, and we're sitting in the back of an enterprise rent-a-van with 20 other hikers on our way to rainman's parents' house, were a party 40 strong (it had been 60 the night before) was playing croquet, cooking absurd amounts of food, and watching movies such as life of brian, home alone, superbad, super troopers, etc.
and so, instead of a town day in bennington, we spent a town day in bennington and manchester. and seeing as we were already in a trail town, instead of riding back to bennington to hike back to manchester, we just got right on trail and hiked south. yes, that's right, i hiked south.
we blue-blazed out of town to prospect rock (on a trail i learned about last year from zack and mike from connecticut), and then went swimming in stratton pond before camping for the night. the next day, up and over stratton mtn, birthplace of the AT, where once again i was inside a cloud; the day did clear up tho, and ended up being really beautiful, which was good since we walked over 18 miles! (in one day...we're supposed to be taking our time!!) to goddard shelter. we met a sweet southbounder named ledge that day, who had spent the previous year bicycling over 20,000 miles, and had arrived at big k via bicycle, and was planning on returning to ontario by bicycle after he arrived at springer. he's an ecologist from ohio state who is currently on sabbatical and thinks he might just never go back to working... OH, and, he is old friends with wasabi, wookie's best friend from home who started the hike with him. so when we made it to bennington we had beers with him, lost rob (who was famous for being lost for 4 days with no food or water in the okefenokee swamp back in 2008), and a weekend hiker who gave us a ride back into town, then caught the bus back to manchester.
we spent last night at the green mountain house, the hostel in manchester that opened last year, and we're planning on spending our day today at the bromley thrill zone before hiking out to the top of bromley mountain, and saying at the warming hut. check it out! they have zip lines, alpine slides, a water slide (the longest in vermont), mini-golf, a giant swing, and a trampoline thing! hiking is my favorite!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
bennington, vt
it may only be our second day on the actual long trail, but you can never have too many town days...
our first night out we cowboyed on top of mt greylock, woke up with the sun and the dew falling around 5am, and made it to the williamstown stop & shop before 9am. that afternoon, set up camp in the rain, only to discover this monster of a tent we are carrying is too large to fit on a standard wooden tent platform. it rained all night our second night out, ensuring that the vermont/mass border would be as muddy as we remembered it.
it was. a giant mud pit surrounded by and filled with rocks. vermont, some things never change.
we are now in bennington, our first official town day on the long trail (yes, only one day in...) staying with chris and arla, trail angels who open their house and barn for hikers to stay and chill.
oh, and fyi, long trail festival in rutland, be there or be square.
our first night out we cowboyed on top of mt greylock, woke up with the sun and the dew falling around 5am, and made it to the williamstown stop & shop before 9am. that afternoon, set up camp in the rain, only to discover this monster of a tent we are carrying is too large to fit on a standard wooden tent platform. it rained all night our second night out, ensuring that the vermont/mass border would be as muddy as we remembered it.
it was. a giant mud pit surrounded by and filled with rocks. vermont, some things never change.
we are now in bennington, our first official town day on the long trail (yes, only one day in...) staying with chris and arla, trail angels who open their house and barn for hikers to stay and chill.
oh, and fyi, long trail festival in rutland, be there or be square.
Monday, July 20, 2009
the beginning of the long trail
circumstances being what they may, i have not updated my blog in ages. here's a quick recap of the last 2 months of my life:
- got diagnosed with mono while staying with a friend in orange county, ca
- flew home that night on the red-eye to boston
- stayed in bed at my parent's house for nearly a month
- got tonsilitis so bad i couldn't eat
- got liver inflammation that gave me jaundice and misery
- fell in love
- spent a week in nyc
- found out delaware really exists
- sobo'd the the monadnock-sunapee greenway trail in nearly constant rain
- spent some time with my 95 year old gramma
- acquired a monster blister at the most rediculous italian wedding ever
- served hotcake to a funk of thru-hikers at tom lovardi's in dalton
and that just about puts me to here. johnny thunder and i are leaving today from cheshire, mass to hike up and over greylock as the official beginning of our long trail thru-hike, which will hopefully take 5 weeks and no less (which is a LONG time to hike 300 miles). wish us luck!
Friday, May 22, 2009
los angeles, ca
well, now that arizona is behind me...
some highlights:
so i'm in LA for the weekend, mostly on my own, since unfortunatly tyler is hosting his mom and they're going to be in palm springs until monday. my bike won't be ready to go until monday evening, and tho there's a chance my maps will be here tomorrow it's far more likely not til tuesday am, so best case scenario i'll be riding north starting the 26th. apparently, there's a constant headwind riding north up the california coast. that sounds awesome.
some highlights:
- wind that melts your skin
- "enjoy the cool weather" and "it's really not that bad out there today" re: 90 degree days
- 'misters' spraying water over outside patio seating...in a desert...
- getting accepted to volunteer at dandelion farm
- last minute cancellation of ALL plans
- it's my bike in a box!
- NOT buying new clothes (i'm so awesome)
- migraine headache that had me passed out on the bathroom floor for hours
- gender stereotypes and new state mottos
- 1am train with migraine hangover to LA
so i'm in LA for the weekend, mostly on my own, since unfortunatly tyler is hosting his mom and they're going to be in palm springs until monday. my bike won't be ready to go until monday evening, and tho there's a chance my maps will be here tomorrow it's far more likely not til tuesday am, so best case scenario i'll be riding north starting the 26th. apparently, there's a constant headwind riding north up the california coast. that sounds awesome.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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