Day 11: A Return to Civilization

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Left Cowles Cove Shelter about 7:45 a.m. for the 5.5-mile hike to VT-17 and back to civilization. Another "nearo day" to give myself some recovery time. I’ll be picked up by Tim, co-owner of The Swanson Inn, around noon.

Climbed a few small mountains to get there - Beane, Molly Stark, and Baby Stark - but a very manageable hike down to Appalachian Gap. I reached the trailhead about 11:00 a.m. and called Tim for my ride to his inn. I switched out of my hiking shirt that I had been wearing for five days straight and put on my spare shirt while I waited. I figured it was the least I could do before our short drive back to the inn.

Tim arrived shortly thereafter and was kind enough to snap a quick photo of me with my old school sticks before I returned them to Mother Nature.

I needed a little break so this “town day” came at the right time. I already sent my resupply box to the inn and my dad overnighted my spare trekking poles (which are made of aluminum, not carbon fiber, so hopefully they'll hold up). Looking forward to using real poles again.

My room at the inn has a Long Trail theme and is named “Journey’s End”, which is the name of the approach trail I started on 11 days ago to get to the northern terminus of the LT. I took my first shower in six days and had a nice meal of bacon cheeseburgers. Tim and Rick are wonderful hosts and they joined me and another thru-hiker, a 20-year-old Dartmouth student going northbound, for dinner.

I’m going to do another "nearo" tomorrow and just hang out at the inn for most the day. I’ll leave mid-afternoon to get to the next shelter, only a couple of miles up General Stark Mountain. That’ll set me up to summit a couple of big peaks the following day (Mt. Ellen, Mt. Abe).

Unfortunately, the weather will be unsettled for the next several days with some rain and thunderstorms. It’ll just add to the adventure, right?

Total miles for the day: 5.4