Last night I definitely didn’t get very good sleep. It was sometime around 11 PM when I finally fell asleep. Then I woke up around 1:30 AM to the crazy sounds in the shelter. Which just wound up being a porcupine inside the shelter on the bunk next to me. But it kept me up for a couple hours, so I woke up this morning absolutely exhausted.
I still packed up nice and early because I know I want to climb Killington as early as possible. I’m a little bit nervous about the snow conditions and want to give myself as much time as I can. I left the shelter just as the sun was coming up. The sun is rising so early nowadays. Then I walked along some very nice and easy trail for the next 4 to 5 miles.
The sunrise this morning was incredible.
Over the course of the morning I crossed over a couple of roads. Some sections of the trail were super flat and easy so I read some more of my comments from yesterday‘s blog. It’s been very entertaining reading the hundreds of comments for sure. Then about 4–5 miles into the day I came to a road where Iceman was waiting for me. He had said he wanted to meet me for breakfast, which is super exciting!
I really enjoyed the first few miles of the day, which were leisurely with just small rolling hills.
He made me a delicious breakfast quesadilla with bacon in it. I actually am more of a savory girl than a sweet girl at times. So this was absolutely perfect. We talked at the road for a while and I voiced some of my concerns about Killington. There’s really nobody out here on the trail, so it’s tough to get any information about conditions.
After a little bit, I said goodbye to Iceman and continued along. He’s going to be heading back home so this will be the last time that I see him. it’s been such an absolute treat spending time with him once again. Iceman is truly one of the kindest people that I’ve ever met. I feel incredibly lucky to have spent the last few days with him. And even more lucky that I got to see him three separate times this year on my thru hike. That was truly a blessing and something I’m very grateful for.
The forest has been so incredibly lush and green lately!
The last couple days were definitely hard, and having him around, made things feel a lot easier. Last night would’ve been absolutely brutal without him. I don’t mind road walking, and I don’t even mind road walking in the dark. I’ve actually walked along the roads until the early hours of the morning before. But after everything that’s transpired over the last couple of days, it was just such a relief to have him around. I really don’t know whether or not I would’ve done that late night road walk yesterday without him around. Just because of recent circumstances.
Right after I left there, I crossed by the sign which indicated 500 miles to go to Mount Katahdin. I can’t believe I’ve already come so far on this trail. It honestly feels like yesterday that I was down in Florida. The next hour or so was really nice and easy. There was some elevation gain, but it was nothing too crazy. I mostly just made my way over to another shelter and then slowly began climbing up Killington.
Less than 500 miles till Katahdin!
I’ve gotta say, though, I had some serious butterflies in my stomach this morning. The anticipation of what was awaiting me at the top of this mountain was a lot. Just after experiencing the climb of Stratton mountain and then Style Mountain over the last couple of days left me, wondering what to expect. If this climb was similar to those, then I would be fine. But I was a bit concerned that it was going to be dramatically worse.
I hiked for a couple of miles heading up Killington and there was absolutely no snow. Then I saw the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. There was a trail runner coming down the trail toward me. So I was able to stop him and asked if he had come from the top. Which he had! That was awesome because I was able to run him down and ask a ton of questions about the conditions. I can handle some pretty wild trail conditions. I just think a very important component is knowing what is ahead of you.
Setting into the snow up Killington.
There was good news and bad news and what he said. I’ll start with the good news. Apparently it was really only 1-2 miles of terrible snow. And maybe another mile of less significant snow. But the bad news was that he said at times he was post holing up to his waist! And said that the snow was so deep and soft at times that both of his legs were falling into the snow at once. And because of this, he was pretty concerned about getting stuck multiple times. That was ridiculously concerning to hear, especially as I am hiking by myself. But I was pretty relieved to know that I wouldn’t be hiking in 6 miles of snow.
Once you get up onto Killington, you’re above 3200 feet for well over 6 miles. And lately that has been the indicator of when snow will start. The trail runner let me know that the snow really didn’t start until you got to about 3600 feet. Which was honestly quite surprising to hear. He didn’t seem too worried about me and said that there was actually a hiker only 30 minutes ahead of me. He seemed to think that the two of us must’ve been hiking together, and initially I thought that it might’ve been Punisher. He was supposed to have done the mountain last night. So I figured it was at least possible that he postponed doing it until this morning. But in time, I would realize that it was just some random person.
After I saw that guy the next mile or two still weren’t bad yet. Then I started hitting small patches of snow and ice. Honestly, one of the largest obstacles early on was the great number of downed trees. It was super time-consuming to go around the trees because of the steep decline on the side of the trail. Along with all of the patches of ice and snow.
Initially the snow was only 3-4 feet deep, which was tolerable. But it just got deeper as I climbed.
The one main thing that I had going for me, though was my attitude. Today I told myself that I had nothing but time and I needed to remain calm and positive. I couldn’t rush this climb and I didn’t need to. So I was taking everything in stride with a smile. Rather than on some of these stretches of snow where I’ve felt rushed and been in a hurry to get somewhere. Today I was perfectly content taking my time as much as I needed to get through the snow safely.
I couldn’t help but laugh the snow conditions got progressively worse and worse. It wasn’t long before I was hiking in a few feet of snow and was post holing a very frequently. I told myself not to check that time and not even to worry about my speed. There was no rush rushing this game.
The first half mile or a mile wasn’t too horrific. It was very similar to the conditions that I went through the other day. And this section of trail actually had a whole lot more blazes on the trees, which was very nice. Plus, there were a lot of tracks through the snow so it was very easy to keep on trail.
This was the tame part of the climb.
After a little while, though, things began to escalate. I entered into the sections of snow which the trail runner must’ve been talking about. I began seeing places where other individuals had fallen 4+ feet into the snow below. In these areas I went super slow and tried to drop myself into those holes intentionally. That’s been one of my main tactics for hiking through the snow. I try to step into the places where other people have already fallen through the snow. That way I can gradually let myself down and don’t have to worry about falling as well.
There was one section of trail in particular, which was quite terrifying. I was basically surrounded by dozens of holes where other hikers had fallen in 4+ feet deep. There were lots of down trees and the snow was angled uphill and incredibly soft and deep. I struggled for probably five or 10 minutes through this section just to move 10 feet.
One of the biggest obstacles on Killington other than the snow, was the massive number of down trees. I was worried about them being buried under the snow as well.
I kept falling super deep above my waist into the snow. I was worried if I tried to move too quickly that I might get stuck at some kind of an odd angle. There was also the concern of getting hit or jarred by something beneath the snow, like a tree limb. And also the concern of potentially losing a shoe. As I hiked, I found multiple pieces of other people’s gear that they had lost along the way. Nothing too significant, but I found a piece of Tyvek and a bottle of hand sanitizer, which I packed out.
That one section really unnerved to me, but didn’t last for more than 10 or so minutes. Over the next half mile there were still many places where I was post holing up to my mid thighs. But the trail wasn’t nearly as slanted in the sections. So the snow wasn’t as deep or dangerous, in my opinion. I just tried to keep my breathing, very calm and keep my head level. It wasn’t going to help me to panic or get stressed out. I knew that the closer I got to the top the thinner the snow would get.
I think if I had been hiking through this section without any information, I would’ve probably been quite scared. My mind would’ve gone to some dark places, as I contemplated if the trail conditions would be getting progressively worse or better. So knowing that the closer I got to the top of Killington, the better the conditions would be, was very heartwarming. I knew that I just had to keep going and that everything was going to be ok.
The climb of Killington should’ve only taken an hour and a half or a little bit longer. I remember coming up here in 2023 and there was nothing significant about the climb. Sure, there’s a great deal of elevation gain. But it was by no means technical. This time around it took two additional hours longer to get to the top. Not to mention that the climate itself was actually incredibly dangerous.
The snow was so high in places that it almost completely covered large trees.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I got closer to the top. After a while, I noticed that when I fell through the snow, I only sunk two or 3 feet. That was a major improvement. Sure, the trip was still incredibly slow going. By no means was I making good time or was it incredibly “safe”. But I was no longer concerned about falling 4+ feet through the snow to the ground below. So for that, I was quite grateful.
It was pretty shocking to see the top of Killington have so little snow. You would almost expect that the top of a mountain would have the densest snow. But because of the sunlight, it must melt out more towards the top. Most of the mountains, I’ve climbed recently have had the majority of the snow on the northern descent off the mountain. But apparently the snow on Killington really begins to thin out once you reach the top.
Surprisingly the shelter at the top of Killington didn’t have a ton of snow around it. This is where the descent began and the snow got progressively better with time.
I heard some voices when I got up by the shelter near the top. But I never wound up seeing anybody. The worst part about the descent off the mountain was that there was more melt in the snow. So while the snow was a lot less deep, I was breaking through it much more frequently. But after a mile or so I got down far enough that the snow finally stopped. Though just when I thought I was out of it, I actually went across a really steep snowfield. The type of snowfield I would’ve loved to have micro spikes on. I had actually called my dad to catch up around this time so he got to listen to me struggle on the way down.
A cute sign along the trail.
Not long after that, though I wasn’t in any more snow for the rest of the day. The worst part of the trail for the remainder of the day was the large number of downed trees and other obstacles like that. I expected that I would be making good time once I got out of the snow. But shockingly I could not maintain 3 mph or anything more than that. I must’ve been going maybe 2.5 mph at best. Which isn’t the end of the world at all. It just becomes difficult when I’m trying to plan where to camp for the night and things like that.
I’ve gone almost 1700 miles since Springer Mountain! Maybe more as at the end of today.
There were a few miles of trail, which were well manicured and easy to hike along. The trail pass through a state park that had a bunch of picnic tables and areas for recreation. I also went past a waterfall, which was really beautiful. I was surprised how much elevation gain there was over the course of the day though. There were a couple climbs which were super steep and continued on for well over a mile. I was feeling really good though and just powered through them all. And it seems like the elevation profile would be getting a slightly easier as the day went on.
The trail went right past this beautiful waterfall.
Originally, I was hoping to go at least 26 miles for the day. That would bring me to a shelter. It’s supposed to rain so staying in a shelter would be ideal. But after I got off of Killington, I figured I could probably still go 34 miles for the day and go to the Lookout cabin. That’s a privately owned cabin just off the trail. It’s open to the public just like any shelter, except it’s fully enclosed.
This section of the trail went by some private property and walk along the boardwalk. You weren’t able to camp in this area.
I figured I would get there around 9 PM because of how long the snow took me. But once I got out of the snow that time just kept getting bumped back further and further. There were a lot of sections where the trail was overgrown or wasn’t well blazed. There were tons of trees down as well, which often obstructed the trail additionally. After a few hours, it became clear that I would not be getting to the shelter around 9 PM.
I couldn’t believe how much snow was on top of that mountain off in the distance!
At one point, I was hopeful I was going to maybe even do 36 miles for the day. But as the afternoon continued on, it seems like even 34 miles was going to take me until after 10 PM. I knew that navigating the often times overgrown trail was going to become even more difficult in the dark as well.
This section of the trail requires an actual ladder to get down.
As the sun began to sad, I got to watch some beautiful colors, paint the sky. And I tried my best to shift my mindset and prepare for a long night ahead. You can’t rush the miles when conditions aren’t ideal. And I knew I’d be walking in the dark for about two hours. So I just had to be patient and let it happen.
There were definitely some times where it was hard to find the trail. Blazes would be less frequent, and there would be a lot of different paths taken around down trees. Then, if the trail happened to switch back, it would be very tough to tell where it went in the dark. It was hard to tell where the trail went in daylight earlier today. I’m pretty good though at stopping in my tracks when I’m not certain if I’m on Trail. I always try not to go too far off trail, and instead just stop and look around before you make an error. So that that’s exactly what I did. I just took my time, found the trail, and continued on.
Hiking as the sun began to set on yet another day. Today, I’m going to wind up spending about 16 hours hiking. A 34 mile day would typically only take me a little over 11 hours in the right conditions.
My biggest concern for the night was whether or not anyone would be in the lookout cabin. I read all of the comments on FarOut and there was only one comment about a “creepy” guy in the cabin once. Which isn’t a big deal considering the cabin is close to a road. One comment really doesn’t concern me much. But it is a Friday night so I figured it would be possible that some individuals might be in the cabin. It’s just always hard to show up super late and in the dark, not knowing what to expect.
I decided to just try my luck though and hope for the best. Originally, I thought I was going to get to the cabin around maybe 9:40 PM. But I didn’t wind up arriving until closer to 10:20 PM. I was exhausted and so ready to be done. So it was incredible to walk into the cabin and find it empty. The cabin is super cool and has a ladder that goes up to the roof, where there’s a large overlook platform. It was dark and kind of overcast so I didn’t go up onto the roof. I just had it inside and got set up.
When I got into the cabin, I decided to sleep in the lofted area. That way if anyone did come in in the middle of the night, they wouldn’t even know I was there. You couldn’t see up to the loft unless you climbed the ladder. So that made me feel a little bit better. I was so utterly exhausted. I didn’t even know where to start. I just slowly began to get situated for the night and then try to eat some thing. It’s supposed to rain a lot tonight and possibly all day tomorrow. So that has the potential to be pretty brutal. Originally I was contemplating going into the town of Woodstock tomorrow afternoon to beat the rain. But now I’m just going to push 30 miles and go to Hanover, New Hampshire.
They might wind up being a long and tiring day in the rain. But at least once I get there, I’ll be able to relax. I’m planning on going to the same hotel in West Lebanon, where I stayed in 2023. And I think I’m going to take a zero day on Sunday so that I can make some plans and get caught up with some work. I haven’t zeroed in about 40 days, so it’s definitely time and I can easily afford it. I’m still well ahead of schedule.
I didn’t wind up rolling over to go to bed until close to midnight. I knew that I had to be up around 4:30 AM to hike in the rain. But it’s always easier when I know that I get to end a rough day in town for the night. I’m pretty exhausted from the last five days of hiking and snow and everything else that’s going on. So it’s going to be delightful to catch a break.
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