Vermont
We ran into a big group of hikers in Vermont. On one rainy day, there were about 10 of us hiking and taking bets on who would be the next one to fall. It was real slick and just about everyone almost bought it. The big winner was Hoover... He fell pretty hard and everyone laughed and cheered... and then asked him if he was alright. When we got into the next town, we met a guy named Tom. That's his back yard pictured above. He let us pitch our tents in his yard, he gave us ice cream and drove us all to the store to resupply. There had to be at least 20 people in his yard that night! Four guys that were biking to Lake George stopped and pitched a tent there! It's called trail magic and we were soaking it up.
We were still making pretty good time. One night, we stayed on top of Stratton mountain (I slept in the back of a snow cat - it sleeps four comfortably) We took a gondola ride down into the town with Hoover and Redwing, got some food and hung out in the ski cabin watching the Simpson's.
Icky's aunt and uncle (Jody and Joel) came out to hike when we got to Manchester Center. It was my birthday and we went to the movies to see Mystery Men. here's a friendly warning.... do NOT go see a movie in Manchester Center. The theatre looked like an old porno theatre (don't ask how I know that) it was run down and there was 1 guy to sell tickets, usher and sell food. And he was to busy hitting on some girl to notice the film destroying itself. And the movie sucked.
Anyway, We hiked out of town and stopped on Bromley Mountain. A lot of hikers stopped there and played hacky sack. I just slept on a rock. It was a beautiful day. I went down to Mad Tom Notch and waited for Icky and Company, but they never showed! I camped with Apteryx, a hiker from New Zealand. I figured Joel had a hard time (He has Cystic Fibrosis) and they went back toward town, so I strapped on the jets and hauled 25 miles to the next major road crossing the trail. Icky was there getting ready to hike back.... great minds think alike.
I forget the name of this shelter, but I do remember getting punched in the back in the middle of the night by Sam-I-am. She must have thought I was her husband, Sidewinder. (Or I was snoring) Icky was smart... he pitched his tent outside.
This is the Inn at the Long Trail. The Long Trail only runs about 300 miles or so, so when we ran into people that we almost finished it, we were comparing them to day hikers. Like I said, Icky and I were getting pretty egotistical... and why not? We were HARDCORE!
The picture above shows Gepetto, Sam-I-am, Darth Drifter and two chicks from Canada who's names I can't remember. The blue blob is my sleeping bag. here's a tip... leave your bag in the sun for a while to get rid of the stink! We stayed the night at the Inn. I beat the hell out of Icky when we played darts and won all his money! Poor Icky lost more money when Sam-I-Am and Sidewinder took off for Oregon with out paying for their part of the room the next day.