I woke up with a lot more energy today, and the trail was in great shape most of the day. There were a few actual views, and the descent into Clarendon Gorge, across the swaying suspension bridge and back up the super step gully was spicy. I broke the tip off one of my poles going up that gully — an unfortunate incident with a boulder.
Early on, another NOBO LT thru hiker named Spencer caught me as I was dallying, taking a photo of a flower. He’s a nice young lad with a giant beard, which I later learned he’d been growing since puberty, which reminded me of Oskar. He said he’d be staying at this particular shelter that I’d been flirting with trying to reach, and that lit a bit of a fire under me. I encountered him again at another random shelter, and we sought some blazes together. We discussed a side trek to a farmstand a little ways off trail a few miles ahead, which he was hoping to visit for lunch. More like afternoon snack for me.
As the day dragged on, I slowed down, and the notion of stopping at the farmstand came into conflict with the idea of making it to my target shelter. I could’ve camped nearby, and it would have been glorious, but that would’ve left more miles than I wanted to hike tomorrow — did I mention I’m meeting Liz tomorrow afternoon? — so I decided to press on, knowing it would be a slog.
This last section really was a test of mental over physical. I was slow as molasses, but I made it to the shelter because I Just. Kept. Moving. My body is exhausted, and my ankles are gross, but I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. 14.1 miles and over 3k feet of both elevation gain and elevation loss is a lot for me.
I met Spencer at the shelter, and he looked both surprised and glad to see me. Spencer is an aspiring history PhD or possibly an aspiring lawyer from outside Worcester who’s also doing the LT as his first thru hike. He’s a vegan, and he has a wicked fear of heights. He’s a human abacus when it comes to calculating mileage. And he had the same MC Escher interaction with the tie dye guy, who I learned is named “Char”.
Then a SOBO AT section hiker named “Banker” joined us. Banker is a chatty older guy (only 6 years my senior), who good-naturedly talked our ears off most of the evening. He grew up in New York but moved to Atlanta to raise his family. He’s now retired, volunteers for the trail crew in Georgia, and is piecing together the AT. We bonded over some places we used to hike in CT as kids.
It was nice having some connection and conversation after 4 nights bedding down solo.
Tomorrow, the rains arrive at some point. And so does Liz. 10 miles and change to the Inn at Long Trail.
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