Don’t get us wrong, we think Vermont’s woods are beautiful, maybe the prettiest we’ve seen. But after hour after hour and no views (except maybe one at a power line), they were beginning to wear on us. Part of it was the 2,200′ elevation gain from VT Highway 9 and the shelter, but just as bad was the last seven miles without a single landmark to locate our position – just gently undulating but always upward woods, woods, woods!

What a downer! We were in fact feeling beat up and running on empty. Then in less than 100 yards, everything changed and the world once again became a wonderful place.

After dealing all day with streams with brownish water, here was crystal clear water flowing from a plastic pipe just a few feet from the shelter. And right in front of the shelter, someone had cleared just enough trees to see three parallel ridge lines off in the distance. With the perfect weather, you could see for miles. We quickly fixed our dinner and enjoyed the sunset colors as we ate.

Way back at the start of the day, we walked over another nameless stream which gave us our confirmation we were indeed over 1,600 miles for the hike. Looking back over the last four months, that takes a while to sink in…

At the shelter, we run into two old names from July and New York: Animal and Radio. Animal still has bucket in hand, but is complaining of fatigue. His symptoms sound a lot like Lyme, and he says he has had several tick bites. We hope he can resolve his health issues quickly. (We had commented earlier in the day how we seem to be just about out of tick habitat.) We last saw Radio back on N’s birthday. It’s something how all our different journeys occasionally intersect. Even more amazing, we run into a young hiker who saw our old friend Sixty-five on a nearby trail just two days ago. We were tickled to get a report his Florida to Canada hike continues.

After a lot of miles today, we go to bed tired but very content…