2020 Long Trail Backpacking

Aug

2020

Day 13: Middlebury Gap, Calling It

**Mileage**: 9.7 I started this morning off in a hotel about 30 minutes from the trail. Some friends were able to drive me back to the trailhead. As I left the hotel with my pack on and walked down the stairs I felt my knees feel a bit tender which made me a little nervous to get back out on trail. Nonetheless we hit the road and I was on trail by 8:30am. The climb up to the Horrid Cliffs was steep and beautiful. The view from the cliffs was one of the best I've had on trail yet. The air was cold, the sun shined through the trees making the trail golden, and everywhere smelled like pine. These are the exact conditions that drew me back to VT in the first place. I was very careful with each step since the last thing I wanted was more knee pain. About a mile in my left knee starting hurting so I put my brace on just to be safe. The trail skirted a beautiful ridge with occasional views to the east and west. There were a series of almost vertical rock scrambles up and down the trail. I loved it. On a steep descent I felt a pop in my left knee and just like a few days ago (before my zeros) I couldn't put any weight on that leg for about 15 seconds. From that moment on the pain returned in my left knee. Before my zero days my right knee was the one hurting and now it's my left. I'm pretty certain it's my IT band since I feel pain in my hip and my outer knee. I took a few breaks and went painfully slow. I looked at my watch and again I'd dropped from my usual 3 miles/hr to about 1.5 miles/hr. I felt frustrated that I didn't take care of my body starting the trail. I hit the trail with excitement and feeling a bit invincible since this was my third thru-hike. I've now learned the importance of warming up to these hikes and not hitting the trail going 100. Now I was back to every step being painful. A few miles from Middlebury Gap I crossed over the Middlebury Snow Bowl. I sat on the ski lift for a break. I could finally see the endless range of Green Mountains that I'd been longing to get to. Feeling torn about my hike I decided to do a meditation and considered leaving the trail. After that and some thought I accepted that it was the best decision. I didn't want to permanently damage anything by taking a half dozen Ibuprofen again and pretending I'm fine. I won't be able to come back to finish this year because I have a deadline for a family wedding in a couple weeks. Part of me feels I'm making a bigger deal over leaving than I should but this would've been my third thru-hike and the first I'd have to not complete. I also had my PCT permit this year but decided to respect the PCTA's requests to stay off trail. So this was my mini thru-hike to fulfill that desire. However, I do feel like it did fulfill that and more. I feel a strong sense of gratitude for time I had out here. Getting to Middlebury Gap meant I'd completed half the LT which I'm happy with. My [AT Thru-Hike](https://hikerfeed.com/hikes/1) was extremely emotional. Coming back to the VT section of the AT gave me a lot of closure I needed. It also helped me realize that the magic of thru-hiking is still attainable despite my other thru-hike being long over. Thank you to everyone for the support and encouragement. I hope you follow my [2021 PCT Thru-Hike](https://hikerfeed.com/hikes/2). - Forrest Gump

9.7 mi

27,311

Aug

2020

7.8 mi

19,582

Aug

2020

Days 10 - 12: Brandon Gap, Double Zero

**Mileage**: 7.8 I woke this morning in more pain than I was yesterday. I knew I had to take a couple zero days. I looked on my phone for places to stay but they were all extremely expensive. I couldn’t afford to do a double zero out here. I called my mom and she offered to come pick me up and take me home for my zeros. I hiked all morning on some of the easiest trail I’ve done yet. It was beautiful, cold, and uncharacteristically flat. Despite the easy terrain I was in so much pain that I took 6 Ibuprofen and still was hurting. It was about 8 miles down to the gap. I stopped only twice. Once to get water and another for a snack. Riley passed me early on and told me he was given the trail name “Bellows”. He took a selfie with my and I told him I was getting off for a couple days and wouldn’t see him again. We said goodbye and he hiked on much faster than I could in my current shape. I made it down and waited a couple hours for my mom to arrive. I hit the trail again in 3 days. I hope I heal up by then.

13.0 mi

37,140

Aug

2020

Day 9: David Logan Shelter

**Mileage**: 13 Sting, Riley, and myself walked from the hotel toward town to get a hitch. We probably walked two miles before stopping. After nearly two hours someone stopped to give us a ride. We started the hike around 10:30. Sting told me there was a chance he’d go home today. He just wasn’t feeling it. I wished him well and left. We hit the junction where the AT and LT split off from one another. I remembered being here five years ago. I felt both sad and relieved to be off the AT. It would be nice to have a new trail with no memories but at the same time I loved being back. At the first shelter about five miles in I met up with Riley and Haiku. Sting showed up and we all were excited he’d made it. He told us he chose to continue on. I breaked for about an hour then hit the trail again. I was in so much pain again. The terrain was not really that hard either but it ended up taking me nearly 6 hours to go 8 miles. Every step was a struggle. My food bag had to weigh 15 pounds too and that wasn’t helping. At camp there were surprisingly a lot of hikers. I was thinking I’d see less since we were only on the LT now. We all sat around the fire and made food and had some laughs. I headed to bed early with the hopes of healing my legs by giving them some rest.

6.2 mi

22,314

Aug

2020

Day 8: Rutland

**Mileage**: 6.2 I woke around 5:30 this morning and started a slow and beautiful descent down Killington. The air was so cold and it smelled strong like pine. The springs were ice cold and the water I stopped to get tasted amazing. I hit the 100 mile mark and had a mini celebration alone. I’d made the decision to hike the blue blazed trail to the Inn at Long Trail because it was the quickest route for me to get to Killington where I had my mail. When I reached the road I realized that the post office closed at 11am and I had less than 30 minutes to walk 1.4 miles. I’m not sure why I rushed but I walked as fast as I could and I knew I would regret it. Nobody stopped to give a hitch either so I pushed on and made it with two minutes to spare. At the general store next to the PO I ran into Queen Diva. She told me that Faithful had broken her foot in two places and unfortunately had to call it quits. I felt crushed for them. Renegade in Faithful had started on March 2nd and remained on trail the entire time. They were in their 60s (my best guess) and had just about 500 miles to go and had to call it. I can only imagine how they felt. I was able to get a hitch with Sting toward Rutland. The man who gave us a ride brought us most of the way. I was hesitant to take it because I didn’t know if it would be helpful or not to have a ride part of the way. Despite that we had a second hitch within minutes of him dropping us off. The gentleman was driving an Audi and I thought there was no way he’d give us a ride. I was wrong. He was happy to stop and take us. He brought us to his 110 acre property where he had a pond and he released some trout he’d caught earlier in the day. He showed us around and said they make and sell maple syrup. It made for a fun side trip. He brought us into the Days Inn. Riley met us there later and him and I went out to do a minor resupply and get some dinner. It felt great to be hiker trash again and to be around other hikers. I feel thankful and happy to be here.

14.3 mi

33,916

Aug

2020

Day 7: Killington (Cooper Lodge)

**Mileage**: 14.3 Today I woke a little late after a horrible sleep. The mice were crazy all night long and kept me up. I made breakfast, got water, and left camp. The views were great from the start today. We had a large climb and my knees were okay doing it. I came down the the bridge and the gorge that I vividly remember from my thru-hike. Then I remembered the road crossing and a horrible and steep climb up. It was more of a vertical rock scramble than a trail. While I was getting water at the next shelter I met a man who seemed very off. He was watching me in the distance and approached and asked for food. He said his card was declined in town. I asked where he was going but his story didn’t make any sense. I gave him some bars and hit the trail. There was another nasty climb and then I took a break on the summit of Beacon Hill. I picked loads of tiny blackberries. Cole (now named “Sting”) joined and we chatted for a bit. His knees are also hurting him. I pushed on and then we came down to another area that I remembered. It was the gorge with the steep climb next to the river. After that we hit the 500 miles to Katahdin sign. My heart ached. I remembered standing here five years ago and thinking how short that mileage felt and how sad I was that it was almost over. I almost want to keep on the AT and head to Katahdin instead of doing the LT. If only I had the time. I took a break at the shelter before Killington. I met Riley who looked just like a college professor of mine and also is studying Computer Science. Sting came by and we all chatted and elevated our legs. We agreed to get a room together tomorrow night and exchanged info. The climb up Killington was long but wasn’t that hard. It was just that my knees made me go painfully slow. It was otherwise so beautiful. I arrived at camp and Sting did shortly after. We had some dinner and saw what we could of an amazing sunset through the trees and a small clearing above the shelter. Tomorrow we hit town.

15.2 mi

36,131

Aug

2020

Day 6: Minerva Hinchey Shelter

**Mileage**: 15.2 Last night after we were all in our tents the sky opened up and poured during a crazy lightning and thunder storm. I thankfully had already put my fly on after contemplating sleeping without it. I woke around 5:30, packed up, and all had breakfast and coffee with everyone from the night before. I left before everyone who was going north. The man who was with his son who did the AT/PCT in the 90s left to go south. I hiked with my net on all morning so I could avoid getting webs in my face. It was quiet and beautiful. A couple hours in I came to the road and a parking lot. I immediately knew it was the road Sarah and I started at when we did our big day to Killington. In 2015 we hiked 29.1 miles from here past the summit of Killington. I wished my legs were as strong now as they were then. There was a woman at the parking lot who gave us hot dogs for trail magic. Her name was Queen Diva. Since I don't eat meat she made me some vegan dogs. We all dried our tents out and enjoyed the magic. I hiked on and I was remembering so much. I saw a bridge I remembered and the lake from that morning too. It's strange that I could immediately remember something was just around the bend and sure enough there it was. The lake was gorgeous. I sat and remembered the quiet morning I was here five years ago. This time people were swimming in the lake but five years ago we'd come through in mid September and we were the only ones. I started to feel a lot of pain in my legs again and slowed down. Around the same time the day became very hot and sticky. There was a heat advisory for Rutland where the temp hit 91. I'm not sure what it was but it was hot. I hiked past the rock gardens where people have stacked all sorts of creative cairns and made shapes out of the rocks. It smelled like Christmas trees while I was hiking through there. I stopped to take in some deep breaths. I saw that Faithful was elevating her leg a few miles down the trail and when I asked what happened Renegade said she'd taken a fall. I stuck around with Slow and Steady to help out. We took their packs to the next shelter but then realized there was no water so we came back. We found a family who offered to help carry their packs down the mountain for them. We called Queen Diva and arranged a pickup at the next road. It was only 1.3 miles but it was a very steep descent which made things very slow and painful for Faithful. At the bottom of the climb Slow and Steady and myself met Queen Diva and she gave us cookies and Gatorade and then went to go meet Faithful. We had one final climb that sucked. On the way up I met a guy named Mr. President who was finishing his triple crown and starting a non profit that was trail related. I got to camp and saw Cole and a lot of new faces. I decided to stay in the shelter with my tent setup and everyone decided to hang their food bags in the shelter with me. I can already hear mice stirring.

14.6 mi

34,999

Aug

2020

Day 5: Lost Pond Shelter

**Mileage**: 14.6 Today I woke up at the Pinnacle Lodge and the last thing I wanted to do was go back on trail. Sort of. I was just so tired and it felt great to be in a bed the night before. I didn’t elevate my feet though, so my feet were very tender. I packed up and hit the road back down to the trailhead with my new knee braces on. The morning started with a climb up Bromley. I’d done this in the dark on the AT and I also did this section south so this was all new to me. It was a gorgeous hike up the way up. When I came out of the trees the trail continued up the ski slopes. I summitted next to a ski warming hut and a ski chair lift. The views were spectacular. I ended up seeing Renegade, Faithful, and Slow and Steady at the top. The climb down wasn’t too bad. My knees felt alright with the braces on so I moved at a decent clip. I climbed down to Mad Tom Notch where I met a bus driver who was waiting for a group of highschoolers to come down from Styles Peak. The few people I passed all asked me questions and for a moment it felt like I was a mini celebrity like I was on the AT. They were all amazed that I'd been out for a few days and planned to hike the entire trail. Which to me seemed like not much of an accomplishment since the AT is so much longer. Either way, I appreciated it. I took a break at the peak and ate lunch and Renegade, Faithful, and a newcomer named Cole joined. Cole is doing the LT but started at Mad Tom Notch. As the day went on my knees hurt worse and worse so I slowed way down. I started to recognize a lot of the trail and it hit me that this was the part of the trail we did before entering Manchester Center. We climbed up Baker Peak and I realized that this was also the climb I thought was on the other side of Manchester Center with the cliffs and the view toward town. It was just like I remembered. I remembered sitting having a snack and my hiking partner coming out of the trees behind me excited for the view. I could almost see her coming today. My heart ached a bit. I pushed on to the shelter and we had a large group here including a man who did the AT and PCT in the 90s and a family with a young kid who they let send his pack home because he complained too much. I got water, washed up, meditated, and ate dinner with everyone while we sat around the fire and chatted. It finally feels like a thru-hike again. I’m happy.

10.7 mi

28,234

Aug

2020

Day 4: Manchester Center

**Mileage**: 10.7 I woke this morning and hiked 10.7 miles very slow all the way to Manchester Center. My knees hurt pretty much all day so I kept taking breaks and going slow to get footage. I stopped for about 40 minutes at an overlook and had a break. I remembered coming in to Manchester Center years ago on the AT and seeing some cliffs that were right on the trail. But I didn't see them this time. There's a chance they were off on a blue blazed trail but I doubt I would've gone off to see them. Anyway, I didn’t see those same views. I made it to the road and walked a half mile up to the Pinnacle Lodge which ended up being a very nice. I decided to give in and spend money staying at there. I got a ride into Manchester Center with Renegade and Faithful. It was so weird how much I remembered about this town just from being here briefly with Sarah all those years ago. I got some knee braces, ordered Thai food, and then went to get a minor resupply at the Price Chopper. I came back and sat and talked with a gentleman two rooms down named Slow and Steady. We had a good chat and then I went in to FaceTime my mom since it was her birthday.

11.0 mi

27,362

Aug

2020

Day 3: Stratton Pond Shelter

**Mileage**: 11 I woke this morning around 5:30 and watched a beautiful sunrise while I made breakfast and coffee. The sun rose over the mountains and a distant lake that had fog above it. It was gorgeous. I hit the trail at 7am and immediately felt exhausted. I think my problem is that I try to go too fast and too many miles without warming up. Starting off slower and easing into the hike makes more sense for me. I hiked slowly and took some footage. About an hour in I was getting excruciating knee pain with every step. It was so bad that I actually couldn't walk for a few minutes and had to take a break. I paused at a beautiful beaver pond and relaxed before pushing on to the next shelter. I realized it had taken me nearly 3 hours to go 4 miles and I usually average 3 miles/hour. I remembered there being a parking lot ahead before Stratton Mountain so I'd decided to see if I could get a hitch into town and find a knee brace. Instead I found a blue blazed trail that I could take directly to the shelter and it would avoid the strenuous climb up and down Stratton. I was bummed but I'd already done Stratton on the AT years ago and this made the most sense to save my legs. Even during the flat road walk and bypass trail my legs felt awful. I had to keep stopping and rest. Eventually I made it to the shelter for the night where there was a mix of LT and AT thru-hikers. We had a fire, chatted, had some good laughs and called it a night. I was able to run down to the pond just before the sun went below the trees and caught a spectacular sunset on Stratton Pond. A great ending to the day.

12.5 mi

29,003

Aug

2020

Day 2: Kid Gore Shelter

**Mileage**: 12.5 I woke to some crazy thunderstorms around 4am. It started with light rain, then thunder and lighting, then the lightning was right over my head. It was crazy but I stayed relatively dry. I dozed off and woke around 6am. The first order of business was to get my bear bag down. I struggled with it for quite a while and almost cutting the rope. That was my longest morning activity and delayed my start. I filtered water, ate, and hit the trail with the intent of doing 20 more miles. In the first hour the trail was pretty much a river. There were so many creeks and places I had to rock hop. Shortly into the morning there was a large stream and it looked like it usually is a rock hop but the intense rain flooded it. Without much hesitation I walked in with shoes on and crossed the ankle deep raging creek. The current wasn’t actually too bad. I kept leap frogging Faithful and Renegade all day. I started to feel horrible and my knees were going to crap again. Every step started to hurt. I took vitamin I and kept on going. I called Cam to chat because I was feeling emotional being back on the AT. It's really weird to be back here and especially without my hiking partner. I wanted to quit and go home. I kept pushing on and I stopped at Kid Gore shelter which I vividly remembered from my 2015 hike. I also stopped at Goddard shelter and I remember that too from hiking a long long rainy day with Sarah. It’s so strange to be here 5 years later. I sat alone and debated staying at the shelter or sticking to my plan. It didn’t take long for me to decide I wasn't going to keep moving. I made the choice to stop doing big days and instead get some great filming and enjoy myself. I ended up hanging at the shelter and Faithful, Renegade, Redbeard, and Snakebit all showed up to stay along with some weekend hikers. We had great conversations, saw a nice sunset, and called it a night. I’m staying in the shelter for the night despite the fact that I hate staying in shelters. The hope is to get an early start. As I lay in the shelter typing this I still feel like bailing early. I may just do 100 miles and go home. I see it less as quitting and more as changing plans. I definitely bit off more than I could chew by starting trying to do 20 mile days. I’m wrecked physically.

19.7 mi

45,875

Aug

2020

Day 1: North Adams to Melville Nauheim Shelter

**Mileage**: 19.7 Today started off a bit cold and cloudy. I was feeling really anxious and ended up calling Cam. Once I got started the anxiety melted away and I realized my love for the trail again. The climb out of North Adams was quite rough. It was a vertical rock scramble that ended up being a lot of fun but very challenging and technical. There were some parts where I remember being with 5 years ago that were a bit emotional to return to but overall I was okay. I hiked 8 miles without stopping and took a small lunch break at some powerlines. I hiked on again without stopping for another 5ish miles where I met some SOBO hikers and got water. It was the shelter that Sarah and I had to sleep in with a tent for a blanket during a crazy rainstorm five years ago. I pushed on and made it down to the gap for Bennington. The climb down was absolutely horrible. My legs hurt so bad and I could barely even move. It took me over an hour to go 0.8 miles. Then on the climb up I felt like I was going to pass out. It was horrible. I had to keep stopping and taking breaths and finally stopped for a snack. I think I’m not getting enough protein or I’m just doing too much starting off. I arrived at the shelter and cleaned off. There were some NOBO AT hikers and also an LT hiker named Alex. Him and I chatted for a while while I ate dinner. I tried hanging my bear bag for almost 15 minutes and finally got it. Someone hung their bag right above my tent and I didn’t notice till it was too late. I peed around the tree to hopefully deter any bears.

19.7 mi

3,428

About This Hike

drew

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