We were leaving at 9a. Warthog went down for breakfast with his parents. I stayed up to finish closing out the room. We had just a couple of items to pick up at the gas station before hitting the trail; batteries and new Smart Water bottles. I didn’t want to leave. It hadn’t been enough time.
After a drawn out goodbye and photos with our new headbands (thanks Sandy Bands!), we disappeared into the woods – but not before turning around once more for a good wave. I was sad to see family go. I was just across the street and I missed them already. I miss everyone at home. However, just five more weeks or so and I should get to seem them all again soon! That helps to move me forward. I would be lying though, if I didn’t admit to still being in a slight funk.
We had a big day ahead of us, over 4,000 ft elevation gain. Basically, we were climbing all day. I had a bit of a panic attack right at the start. It probably didn’t help that I was so sad to have Warthog’s parents leave. But after awhile, the climb actually didn’t feel that bad. Especially not after we hit the sign saying Katahdin was only 500 miles away!
We had lunch at 12:30p at an overlook… complete with trees blocking the view. Dessert at lunch was the banana bread and cinnamon pistachio bread my sister-in-law Jenelle sent for us. They were delicious. I wouldn’t have ever put cinnamon and pistachio together, but holy cannoli, it was good. While we ate, a nobo hiker we hadn’t met yet stopped to chat. His name is also “GQ” and his dog is Buddy. Buddy is a cocker spaniel/lab mix. He has funny body proportions and his fur is black with white feet. Pepperoni was sitting on my lap as I made my sandwiches. Buddy walked over to me, sat down, and intensely stared at the lunch meat. His expression mirrored the one my own cocker (Jackson) used to have when food was out. My heart melted in memory of Jackson and my sandwich was quickly short two pieces of pepperoni. Buddy won. He and GQ soon pushed on ahead. The rest of my food was safe.
After lunch we continued to climb. We were tired, our packs heavy with the resupply and the additional weight of our winter gear. At some point Warthog exclaimed and swatted at something. He had been stung. Later, research would tell him it was probably a bald-faced hornet. The mark from the sting was a deep divot, as if a small chunk was taken out of him. A four inch section of skin around the sting was red. It was really intense for one sting. Come to find out, many hikers were stung here. We must have unknowingly hiked near a nest and Warthog was the lucky recipient of the warning the hornet wanted to give.
We didn’t attempt a long day, just 12.6 miles. Those miles took us to a shelter that was just short of the summit of Killington Mountain. A quarter of a mile trail led you to top. It was steep and rocky. A locked fire-tower and antennas crowned the top. Warthog and I set up camp down at the shelter and took dinner to the top to watch the sunset. It was cold up there. We wore our down jackets and thermal bottoms. Even bundled, the wind chilled you. So we tucked ourselves in between some rocks for dinner. They protected us while still offering a nice view of the sunset, which turned the mountains a particularly breathtaking shade of blue.
Knowing that the way up was precarious, I expected going down would be dangerous. Even though we brought headlamps, I didn’t want to stay too late. I wanted to head back down to the shelter while we still had plenty of light. We caught the last bit of sunset through the trees on our way back.
Even down by the shelter was cold. It was probably our coldest night since the spring. I felt lucky to have our winter gear. Warthog and I were cozy and slept well. Poor Wonder Woman and Snow Monkey still had their summer gear, but they plan to switch out in a week or so. The low temperatures this night was far more challenging for them than it was for us. In the morning I would insist that should we have another night this cold before they get their warm gear, they would swap a sleeping bag with us so they could at least use a bag rated to fifteen degrees.
-ansel