Janette

Day 30 (Bennington, VT to Story Spring Shelter)

I woke up this morning to Janette relaying Franco’s message to get my butt out of bed. I was sleeping so good that I didn’t even hear Janette taking a shower.

We got packed up and headed to breakfast at Papa Pete’s. Yummy breakfast! Janette outed me as a bacon eater. No worries, I’m still 98% vegan and will return to my old diet once I’m off the trail. While in trail towns I will make a few exceptions… because I can. 😉

Next, Laura, Janette, and I headed to the trail and climbed a small hill together. It started out cool and overcast but the cloud cover cleared quickly. After a few miles, Janette and Laura had to turn around so they could catch their flight. I’m still smiling about their awesome surprise.

I climbed Glastenbury Mountain which had an elevation of ~3800 ft. There was a tower at the top so I climbed it too. Wow! Awesome view but kind of scary. I hiked with Pa Bert in the afternoon for a couple hours. Hiking with him is always a pleasure. He stopped at the Kid Gore Shelter. I hiked on 4.6 more miles to the Story Spring Shelter. Funny thing about saying goodbye to fellow thru hikers is that you never know whether you will see them again. We are together but we are all solo. There is no signal here tonight so I will post this in the morning.

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Bonus Gallery!

Beaver pond in the evening
Hard to look down.
In the tower
Baby grouse – mama bird was not happy with me. Made noises I didn’t think a bird could make. They reunited once I passed.
Wild hydrangea – I only saw this above 3500 ft.

Day 29 (Sherman Brook Campsite to Hampton Inn)

I woke up early, packed up, and was on the trail by 6:30. I knew I needed to keep an even pace today since I would be meeting my trail angel Janette Maas in the afternoon near the 17 mile mark for me.

The morning started with a pretty steep hike up to the MA/VT border. I’ve now finished 5 states, only 9 to go. 🙂 The first 105 miles of the AT in VT is also the Long Trail. It is maintained by the Green Mountain Hiking Club. Unfortunately, they really need to do some trail maintenance. It was the least maintained part of the trail I’ve been on.

Early afternoon I climbed up Harmon Hill. When I got to the top, I decided to sit and sign the register while I waited on Janette. To my surprise, in a minute she walked up with my sister Laura! Awesome surprise and awesome day! Thank you Laura and Janette for being the best trail angels ever!!! All clean and fed now. Sleeping in a soft bed tonight.

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Special Report: A visit by Janette Maas and Laura Pound

Laura: Janette And I hiked 1.7 miles until we found Susan Cashmere Hornbuckle, then turned around and hiked back for a grand total of 3.4 miles! After Hornbuckle was decontaminated at the hotel, we had a lovely dinner in Bennington then cruised the local Walmart. Now, Susan is stinking up the room spraying her clean clothes with tick repellant.

Janette: Fun, fun mini-adventure day. This was one of the hardest secrets I’ve ever had to keep, but I met Susan Cashmere Hornbuckle on the AT on day 29 of her thru-hike in Vermont. Unbeknownst to her I used a buddy pass so that her sister Laura could join me and surprise her. Mission accomplished! BTW, this trail is tough! We climbed 900′ in the first half mile over nothing but rocks and Cash says she does 2-3 of those climbs and descents every day!