I hiked the 150 miles of the Green Mountain State for most of 11 days, entering Vermont on July 17th and crossing the VT/NH border on July 27th. On my first day in Vermont, I met up with CLiCK! again at the Vortex in Bennington, after her week of hiking with her friend, Diana. It was a pretty good time of year to be there, as the mud season was (supposedly!) past and the weather was generally good with warm days and comfortable nights. During this stretch, we started seeing many more southbounders (or “SoBos”), as thruhikers starting in Maine don’t generally get on the trail until early June.
Enjoy some of Vermont’s beauty in these photos! (Remember, you can click on any single photo to enlarge it, then scroll left and right through the whole collection.)
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- The Green Mountain Club welcomes us!
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- Little Pond (I think!)
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- Sleeping quarters in the barn/garage at “The Vortex”, a wonderful hiker hostel in Bennington
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- All this for NO CHARGE!
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- Chris and Arla, owners and hosts at the Vortex
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- Fire tower on Stratton Mountain
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- Plaque on Stratton Mountain
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- A view from the fire tower
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- No crowds allowed!
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- It’s green even BETWEEN the Green Mountains!
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- Top of the ski lift on Bromley Mountain
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- You can’t hike here without at least a little “Vermud”.
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- Work crew rebuilding the Peru Peak Shelter
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- Hmmmmmm… how do you deal with this?
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- …change into your Crocs and be glad the water’s warm!
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- How exactly does one lose a pond? Or is it the shelter that’s lost?
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- I found the shelter; small but a good place for a lunch break!
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- Fees are charged for some tenting areas in Vermont. I guess that’s so they can maintain these expensive signs!
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- Little Rock Pond
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- A hammocker’s set-up in front of Governor Clement Shelter
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- The Whistle Stop Restaurant – a group of about 6 of us had BIG lunches here!
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- Ice cream!
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- Another milestone! (we reached here July 22nd)
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- CLiCK!, LongTime & Tigger celebrate the milestone with ice-cold Cokes (Trail Magic!)
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- Let’s ride the gondola down from Killington Mountain, leave our packs, ride back up, and hike down light!
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- View from the gondola
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- Easy Rider!
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- The gondola gets a lot of paying business from mountain bikers. It’s free for thru-hikers!
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- At the base of the gondola, tents were set up for a wine festival.
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- At Gifford Woods State Park we met Cimarron, who at age 89, trying to be the oldest ever thru-hiker!
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- Flogging? Am I in a Monty Python movie?
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- Oh well, the skies weren’t ALWAYS blue!
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- Where Vermont cheddar comes from
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- A sidetrip took me into Woodstock, VT for a bit of resupply
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- Okay, get your watercolors out and paint this one!
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- West Hartford Village Store and Deli, where I ate a huge Philly Cheesesteak sandwich with mushrooms, peppers and onions, got a roast beef sub to go, and a New York Times (what a treat!)
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- Front of the Village Store
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- Rays pierce the woods before sunset on July 26th
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- Trail Magic at “The Brain’s” in Norwich, VT
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- Nice planters! (Hey, wait a minute! Those boots are in better shape than what I’m wearing!)
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- Approaching the bridge over the Connecticut River (which forms the VT/NH border)
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- Looking across the river into New Hampshire
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- Connecticut River
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- Granite plaque on the bridge marks the border – another state bites the dust!
Thanks for the tour of Vermont. I see your smiles getting bigger. If I could paint, I’d paint No.12.
12? 16?