Thank you to everyone who has been following our journey.  Our week has been great — hiking through the woods is beautiful, and Ted and I made friends with many fellow hikers.   We encountered a thunderstorm and got soaked one day; one night it was chilly so we zipped up our sleeping bags and kept warm.  The trails in Vermont are sometimes wet and muddy, so I have to be careful to keep from losing my balance and falling.  I knew Ted was leaving the trail today to participate in a Tough Mudder this weekend (because hiking the AT isn’t challenging enough!), and I looked forward to our friends Didier Collin de Casaubon and his son Matthieu joining me.  However, I felt fatigued and unsteady yesterday, and was worried because we were planning a long hike to the Bromley Shelter today.  My left leg felt especially weak this morning, and when my wife, Eileen, brought Didier and Matthieu to meet us at a parking lot off the AT early this afternoon, I decided to go home for a few days and rest up so I could rejoin the group ready to hike again.  ALS is affecting my strength, and I must thank my colleagues for lightening my pack.  With a smaller and lighter pack, I think I can keep hiking the AT.  Like today, I expect to have to take a break every so often, but friends and neighbors have offered their houses near the trail to give me a break without driving all the way back to Boston.

I am proud of Didier and Matthieu, because they hiked on without me and made it to Bromley Shelter this evening.  I look forward to rejoining them in a few days.  I have always enjoyed hiking the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and Baxter State Park, and again I will do the best I can.  I will undoubtedly have to skip sections of the Appalachian Trail, but I hope to hike as far as I can.  Stay tuned to this blog.

Had a good 5-mile hike today to the William Douglas Shelter.  Stratton Pond is beautiful in the morning.

 

A great crew at the Stratton Pond Shelter this morning, wishing Steady and Wombat a good hike as they head out for the day.

From Wombat (aka Ted):  An easy hike along the Stratton Pond Trail avoided climbing Stratton itself and brought us to the Stratton Pond shelter, which is luxurious by AT standards.  Steady (aka Rick) is strong and in good spirits.  We ran into Five Bucks again who told us that the wind on top of Stratton Mountain was blowing so hard that he decided not to climb the fire tower for fear of being blown off.  Whew, glad to have passed on that route!  Five Bucks is now sitting in his sleeping bag, shivering and reading a Michael Crichton novel which was left by a kind hiker.  I mention this story by way of explaining another AT tradition called “Trail Magic.”  Trail Magic happens when folks leave food, drinks and books along the way for thru hikers to use.  These folks are called Trail Angels, and while you never meet them in person, you see their work from time to time.  The weather is turning cold tonight (51 degrees gets chilly after a few hours outside) so we’re going to test my Boy Scout fire building skills.  If you see a fire picture over the next few days you’ll know it worked.  If not, don’t tell the Boy Scouts!

 

From Eileen: I dropped Rick and Ted off this beautiful morning at the Stratton Pond Trail. On the recommendation of a thru-hiker they met the other day, they are taking this trail around Stratton Mountain rather than the AT which goes over the mountain, and will hook up with the AT again on the other side. It’s a longer but less steep route. I think Rick is a bit nervous after the challenge of last Monday, but hopeful

to see if the changes they made to their pack setup will make a difference. They remembered their insect repellent too, so perhaps they won’t be devoured by deer flies the way they were the first few days. The midges were out in force this morning; I’m driving back to Boston now with a car full of them. I know, poor me, right?

Today was a “zero mile” day, in hiking terms.  Eileen drove up yesterday and picked us up in the late afternoon after a very challenging day of hiking, partially in a Vermont thunderstorm.  We were a mess.  I needed a day off the trail to rest and to change out my big pack for a small one, and Ted and I both welcomed the chance for a shower and a visit to the laundromat to wash our wet and muddy clothes and sleeping bags.  We had a great high-calorie dinner last night in Bennington, spent the night at The Catamount Motel (where we reconnected with some hikers we met on the trail), enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and revisited our gear today.  Going forward Ted will carry the majority of our gear and I will have a smaller daypack with lighter-weight items.  We are hoping this change will prevent falls and enable us to move a bit faster.  We highly recommend The Mountain Goat shop in Manchester Center — Lisa and her colleagues helped us with a new larger backpack that Ted will use (and will be available to other hiking partners over the next few weeks).  Looking forward to getting back on the trail bright and early tomorrow!

From Ted:

Still water runs deep.  I’ve known Rick for decades now, at first socially then on various financial committees at our church.  The thing that I remember about those early times was that Rick was always the guy that said very little but when he spoke everyone listened.  He has the sort of natural gravitas that generates enormous respect from people.  ALS has taken those few words from Rick, but it cannot take his gravitas.  What he does he does for a reason and when he commits to something he does his absolute best to make it work and work well.

This morning we woke at the Congdon shelter with some wonderful young thru hikers who had started months ago from Georgia, Virginia and the Delaware Gap and had walked to VT.  They were full of fun and energy and kindness for Rick.  They had arrived early in the afternoon and having heard about Rick from their friends had saved a spot in the small shelter just so that Rick could have a comfortable spot to rest.

One of the traditions of thru hikers is to give each other”Trail Names” they reported that they were in order of appearance in the photo below: Superman, Splash, Five Dollar and Butterfoot all with stories to go with.  They then asked us what our trail names were I told them that my names was “Wombat” standing for Whiny Old Man Bitching About the Trail. They then asked for Rick’s name.  I told them that we hadn’t decided yet and Superman just said “Steady” and everyone there said that’s it!  These kids had just met Rick last night and I think they nailed it.

 

Ted and I made progress on the AT today.  Photos below are show the view where trees were cut down for some power lines, a beaver pond, and the lake coming into our camp last night.  We hiked 9 miles, but Ted carried my pack a couple of times on the way because I couldn’t do it.  I needed a rest. We are going to rethink my pack because it is too big.  Nevertheless, we made it to Congdon Shelter late in the evening.  As I said before, Ted is my hero. (note: posted a day late because we had no cell service last night)

We made it to Mount Greylock and on to Vermont.   It was a difficult first day and several falls.  I am all right, and going the second day with Ted Kellogg.  He is my hero.  Rickshikeforals.org.

From Eileen:  According to the GPS map, Rick and Ted made it to the Seth Warner shelter in VT around 9:00 this evening, completing about 8 miles today.  I heard from them earlier in the day that everything was going well.  They are hiking about 1 mile per hour, so it’s slow and steady.  One small casualty:

Duct tape fixes everything!  Thanks for following the blog, and for all your good wishes.