Our Unconventional Life

I'm running out of clever titles to put on these blog entries again. Suggestions welcome. The northern part of Vermont doesn't follow a continuous ridge, but instead passes over a series of short but steep hills west to east. After splitting off from the Long Trail, the Appalachian Trail improves noticeably. It's nice to leave the mud, slippery rocks, and roots that have defined hiking in Vermont for me behind. Crossing into New Hampshire means that the tough job of hiking through the White Mountains is fast approaching. I've hiked in New Hampshire most of my adult life and have walked all these sections at one time or another. I know what to expect, but I'm not underestimating what it's going to take to hike them all again as a through hiker day after day. 7/4 Cooper Lodge Shelter to Killington, VT - 9.7 miles I woke up early to a very chilling morning at the top of Mount Killington. I warmed myself up with a cup of coffee then headed down the mountain with war...

I'm getting to the end of the trail in Massachusetts and entering Vermont. Once crossing into Vermont the Appalachian Trail follows the same paths as Vermont's Long Trail until it splits off shortly after Mount Killington. We'll be sharing the trail with Long Trail through hikers as well as Appalachian Trail through hikers. This part of the trail traverses the central spine of Vermont's Green Mountains. 6/27 Mount Greylock Summit to Seth Warner Shelter - 15.6 Miles It's a chilly morning starting out. This is way better than the unbearable heat just a few days ago. Angelika brought me back to the Mount Greylock Summit which was not quite as socked in as yesterday. There's a war memorial tower, a model of the mountain, and some nice views from here. There's even a view of Mount Monadnock in the distance from here. We're getting close to my old stomping grounds. There's a long descent down Greylock into North Adams. It's rocky and steep so the going...

There's only 52 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and 90 miles in Massachusetts so visiting these states will be short. In this section I'm following the Taconic Range and the Housatonic River through the river valley. The weather is turning hot on me now. There's a heat dome over the eastern United States that's driving temperatures towards 100 degrees. This is less than ideal conditions for strenuous hiking.   6/20 Pine Swamp Brook Shelter to Salisbury, CT  - 17.1 miles I got an early start out of the shelter this morning hoping to get to the campground at a reasonable time to recover from yesterday. I haven't had a shower in three days and I'm mighty stinky. The weather calls for sunny and cooler conditions. This is most welcome news after the sweltering weather we had the last couple days. It's actually pretty overcast rather than sunny, but there's a nice cooling breeze. It makes for great hiking conditions. In Amesville I cross the Hou...