National Parks and Recreation

Long Trail miles: 5.7
9.27.20
65˚ and partly cloudy
Tillotson Camp

I didn’t get as early a start as I wanted. Instead, I took my time and cooked some oatmeal for breakfast as I chatted with the group that arrived late last night. They’re section hiking the entire Long Trail NOBO. They come out almost every weekend for 3-4 days to get as much done as they can at a time. That would be pretty cool.

I realized today that I don’t feel particularly sore. Like not how I usually do the couple of days after a big hike. Maybe it’s because it’s so hard just hiking every day and my body is just exhausted in general that I’m not noticing the normal muscle soreness. I don’t know. My ankle’s starting to bother me a little bit, but I’ve had issues with that sumbitch since like middle school soccer. Blisters haven’t been as much of an issue as I anticipated. There are a few baby ones forming on the sides of my big toes, but I put some blister pads on them and they haven’t bothered me at all!

The first challenge of today was Haystack Mountain and unfortunately, I discovered elevation view in my app.

This was daunting to look at as I stood at the bottom.

But then something amazing happened! I got into a rhythm. I started to realize that if I just took smaller steps during the steep uphills then I could hike for longer without having to stop. This was life changing. I was getting less tired! And before I knew it, I had reached the top!

There was a short spur trail to the actual summit, so I ditched my pack off the side of the trail and made the glorious, pack-free trip up to the official top of the mountain.

The view from the top looked directly North so I could see everything I had just done. The second mountain from the left in the above photo is Jay Peak, where I was the day before. (It always blew me away when I could look back and see where I was just 24 hours prior. How was it possible that my legs had brought me that far in such a little amount of time?)

Look how happy I look! Proof that I was really feeling it here.

Coming down the mountain I got my first good look at Mansfield (the tallest mountain in the distance toward the right of the screen) and even Camel’s Hump way out in the distance. Mount Belvidere can be seen in the foreground to the left of the picture, you can see the fire tower sticking out of it if you zoom in. I read in Guthook that there were stealth campsites at the base of that fire tower that you could camp at, but that idea kind of terrified me. If they’re already taken, you’re kind of screwed. Plus, it’s just comforting to camp at an actual campsite. But I was starting to realize that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the official campsite that was 5 miles past that fire tower (which itself was still 5 miles away). I couldn’t stay at the first shelter I came too though because that would be less than 6 miles of hiking on the day. So I carried on, figuring I would decide once I got to the shelter whether or not I was going to be brave enough to head to the Mount Belvidere stealth spots.

I continued on as the trail got muddier and muddier. I had heard a lot of horror stories about the mud on the Long Trail (they affectionately call it Vermud for a reason) and was thinking to myself (or honestly probably talking out loud at this point) that I had been pretty lucky so far and not gotten very muddy. This was mostly because it hadn’t rained in a really long time, but still. So there I was, hiking along, avoiding the mud where I could, using the strategically placed logs to hike over when necessary. Welp, I mentally jinxed myself and slipped on a log over the next mud puddle I came to and down I went.

I like to think that I did a pretty good job of tuck and rolling out of it to at least keep my pack and clothes from getting muddy. It was mostly just my feet and hands, but it also went up my leg.

(To this day I don’t know how I managed to stand up after this. I was flat on the ground, my feet sunken several inches into the mud, with 34 pounds pinning me to the earth. This was long before I got strong and used to the weight of my pack. This is another moment where I would pay to have the footage of myself, but mostly just because I’m impressed I managed to get to my feet with the pack still on my back.)

But I got up and weighed my options. I was less than half a mile from camp where there would be a reliable water source I could clean up in. But that was quite a ways to hike this dirty. Finally, I decided to take my pack off and clean up as best I could. I didn’t have too much water left in my bottles since I was almost to camp so I had to mostly wash off in a mud puddle which almost did more harm than good. Luckily I had my quick-drying camp towel (that thing ended up being one of the most useful things I packed all trip). I took off my socks completely to just hike in my sandals (I was really only wearing them to avoid blisters to begin with) and was very impressed with Darn Tough socks. My feet were still completely dry and clean underneath them.

After cleaning up as best I could, I hiked the rest of the way to camp and decided that this was a sign that I should just stop here and not continue on. When I arrived, Riley the dog and her owners were already there and had also decided to call it an early day.

(Tillotson Shelter ended up being my favorite campsite of the entire trip. It was an enclosed shelter with a large window and four bunks. It also had a bear box, a steady stream, and a nice fire pit/food-eating log. Plus, the view was amazing.)

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the scenery, especially as the sun began to set.

But first things first, I was starving. I ate my planned lunch of a tuna fish wrap and then took off to rinse out my socks and clean myself up a little better. With the anticipation of rain in the morning and having arrived so early to camp, I decided now was the perfect time to actually stay inside my first shelter. Especially since I “knew” the other people who were staying with me.

I spent the next several hours updating my journal, hanging up my sweaty clothes, taking lots of pictures, and checking out the trail ahead. (I started realizing at this point that I was going to need to have Canada pick me up a few miles sooner than I had anticipated. I was a full day behind now after two “easy” days in a row).

I also took my hair out of its braid for the first time the entire trip. It was surprisingly easy to comb it out and it wasn’t nearly as gross and greasy as I expected. (In general, I was amazed by how clean my hair stayed throughout the trip, especially during the early days when it was so hot out. I had wilderness wipes for my body that I would use every night, but obviously I was starting to smell by even the second day. But hey, so does everybody so you stop noticing it. But my hair never got bad. [I’m a strong believer in the power of mountain air on your hair! I noticed the same thing when we were in the Montana/Wyoming national parks for a week.] I thought I would be so excited to shampoo my hair as soon as I could, but instead I was just excited to wash my hands and scrub my feet.)

I’ll close this out with some direct quotes from my journal and pictures of the setting sun.

“I banged out some podcasts today. I think they help, though I do get frustrated when I listen to an entire episode and have only gone like 1 mile. Hiking with the pack is HARD. Why did I not really consider this? I know I intentionally chose to start the hard way, but SHEESH! I feel so pathetic. It’s about to get pretty easy until the Mansfield area though and once I get through there I get to SHOWER.”

“Food keeps being an issue. I’m hungry, but when I put it in my mouth I immediately feel nauseous. I threw up most of a Clif bar near the summit of Haystack today. It was cute. I did eat a whole tuna wrap when I got to camp though AND a full rice meal after for dinner with no issues! I don’t think I drank enough water today though, I’ve only peed this morning.”

“I wonder what’s happening in football today. I just realized it’s Sunday.”

“I’m going to try to do 14 miles tomorrow. We’ll see. Gotta get up and moving early.”