July 21, 2018 – Daily Stats – End to End on the Long Trail
- Hiked 12.8 miles
- Start: Stealth camp at mile 18.4
- End: Stealth camp at mile 31.2
Today is Day 3 hiking the Long trail in Vermont and I didn’t sleep well last night. I hope as I get tired enough my circadian rhythm will return to normal without too much effort on my part. True Friend and I set out just before 6 am. We stopped for breakfast on top of Haystack mountain where a man and his dog stopped to say hi.
Splitting Up
Our next hurdle was the challenging climb up Belvidere. I sent True Friend ahead. just a quarter mile from the summit. We have been hiking at different paces and by sending her ahead I was able to extend the break I was taking. We agreed if she was going to take the side trail to the summit she would leave her pack or poles at the intersection. This would let me know that she went there and I would meet her there. If not I would catch up to her soon enough.
For two hours I was thinking, I should’ve caught up by now. Usually when I give her a five or ten minute head start I can catch up pretty quickly. It took a lot of convincing to calm my anxious mind. Upon reaching a register in the parking lot, the anxiety turned to fear and worry. She hadn’t signed it. Either True Friend forgot to leave her pack at the split in the trail, or something was terribly wrong. I tried not to panic, but I had no cell reception. Where was True Friend? I had no way of knowing. I started to worry that she might be lost on the Long Trail.
Is she lost?
Sitting on a rock step I waited patiently. Plenty of hikers left the parking lot northbound to summit Belvidere, but I hadn’t seen any return yet. I started pacing; I was anxious and worried about my friend. Luckily I saw a few day hikers coming my way. When we spoke they immediately knew who True Friend was. They told me they saw her at the fire tower and knew we must be together because of our matching hiking attire. My anxiety may have been misplaced. I hadn’t actually lost True Friend on the Long Trail.
From a mile or so away I spotted True Friend. I could hear her too! She had every intention of skipping the side trail, but missed the split in the trail. She didn’t know she had taken the side trail until she was standing there looking at the fire tower, fuming.
Reunited
Luckily once we were reunited we realized being almost lost on the Long Trail was not so bad as we had made great time on the downhill. We were both pushing to catch up to one another. We proceeded to the shelter for dinner, but decided not to stay. After dinner we decided to head out once more. We tackled a tough half mile uphill through the Devil’s Gulch before setting up a stealth camp.
The challenging mile through the Devil’s Gulch reminded me of a mini Mahoosuc Notch. We navigated a large crevasse by using our upper body strength pushing on one rock to balance ourselves on a large slanted slab. Rocks were jumbled like a challenge, or a puzzle. Areas like this make me think of an obstacle course built for adults. I had tremendous fun!