Day 34: Happy Hill Shelter to Thistle Hill Shelter

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.
~e e cummings

Hike from Happy Hill Shelter to Thistle Hill Shelter
AT miles: 8.8
Ascent: 2401’
Descent: 2393’
Weather: rainy in the morning, drippy in the afternoon. Temps in the high 60’s
High points: all the hikers and trail magic we encountered on the trail

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Last night it poured continuously. Since the shelter had a metal roof the rain was LOUD when it pounded down, I now know what it feels like to live inside a snare drum!

We had intended to hike 20 miles today, but when we woke up it was still pouring, so we lay in our warm dry sleeping bags and enjoyed being dry.

Eventually we got up and get on the trail. The trail was beautiful, dark, and damp.

Seriously, the trail was muddy enough that occasionally it felt like a skating rink. I skidded a few times but thankfully managed to avoid a mud bath.

According to the northbound hikers we have encountered, there has been at most one day in the past two weeks when it hasn’t rained! (And there have been some AT sections in MA closed due to flooding!)

In the morning the trail was mostly in the woods, with occasional road crossings and occasional stream crossings. At one point the trail crossed a supposedly small creek, but after all the rain it was quite swollen — the water came up to my  mid-calf at the deepest point. We just walked through, though my shoes sloshed for a while afterwards!

After a few miles of woods walking, the trail led us through the village of West Hartford, where the hospitable folks of the town offered us three different forms of trail magic — free snacks on a porch and coffee with coffee cake offered by two different families. We stopped at the house that was having a family reunion. The various relatives were all spending the day hanging out on their front porch feeding grateful hikers. We hung out there for a half hour, telling odd trail tales and being very grateful.

By this point thankfully the weather had changed from a soaking rain to an occasional drip. We followed the trail back into the woods.

We walked through beautiful wildflower meadows.

We spent most of the day walking in the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). Occasionally we would bump into traces of the people that used to live here— stone walls and stone foundations.

And apparently the GMNF hires goats to maintain some of the meadows!

We were happy to arrive at Thistle Hill Shelter. We unpacked, spread out our stuff, and relaxed for a bit when suddenly there was an invasion of six smelly thruhikers, with four or five more coming over the course of the evening. We spent the night with five other people in a tight but dry shelter. The conversation was awesome, especially talking with Little Skunk!

Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!