The first of Twenty-five Days: We staggered the first time we hoisted our packs.
We were about ten minutes into our twenty-five day hike on the Long Trail, still two miles south of the Vermont border where the 275-mile Long Trail begins, when I said, “We’re not going to make it.”
“What do you mean?” Jan asked. We’d been planning this trip for a year and a half; Jan had flown in from Juneau for this adventure.
Despite all our planning, from gathering gear to packaging our own homemade, dehydrated meals, the reality of hoisting our thirty-five pound packs and heading into the woods was staggering. Thank goodness for our hiking poles, which helped us balance.
Nevertheless, after just ten minutes on the trail, the improbability of what we were attempting hit home, and I was momentarily ready to accept defeat.
But defeat was not an option.
We’d both turned sixty within days of each other earlier in the year, and a major point of the trip was to figure out how we wanted to live this next phase of our lives. No one said it would be easy. So we toiled uphill until we intersected the Appalachian Trail, turned north, and crossed the state border into Vermont.
That was the last time I considered defeat. Once we were on the Long Trail, life became simple: walk north. That’s all we had to do, and that’s what we did. Daily. For twenty-five days.
The nights we didn’t stay in shelters we pitched a tent.
That first day, we established our routine: arrive at camp; shake out our sleeping bags; sponge off the day’s sweat; cook & clean up; record the day’s exploits; collapse.
In the morning, we’d eat breakfast, pack up and walk north, stopping to rest, eat, admire mushrooms, filter and drink water, and talk until we reached our night’s destination.
The next day: Repeat.
Life was simple, really: we were on the trail eleven hours a day, walking anywhere between 6.8 miles (our shortest day) to sixteen (our longest). We reached our stated goal every day but one, when we had enough miles under our soles to have the wisdom to stop four steep miles short of the shelter rather than risk climbing difficult terrain in the dark. We hitched to a nearby state park and pitched our tent instead. There were even hot showers. It was a good call.
We walked and we talked.
Jan and I met in college and have been friends for forty-two years, most of them spent on opposite sides of the continent. We’ve only seen each other a handful of times since we graduated in 1978; mostly, we’ve been busy in our respective bailiwicks, raising our daughters, building careers, engaging in the civic lives of our communities, and being good daughters to aging parents, good sisters to our geographically dispersed siblings, and good friends despite long silence.
On the trail, we made up for the long silence.
On Jay Peak, Day 24 of 25, and we’re not just still talking and smiling, but starting to grin: we can see Canada and the end of the trail!
At first, it didn’t seem as if twenty-five days would be long enough to hike 275 miles or catch up on thirty-eight years of thick living. We didn’t fall silent until about Day 20, when it became clear we were not just nearing the end of the trail, but that we were going to reach it.
Our silences never lasted long, and this one was no exception, because it spawned the questions that occupied us until the end of the trip: What did we learn from the Long Trail? And how would we bring those lessons to bear on our off-trail lives?
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Till next Wednesday: Happy Trails!
Day 25: ready to hoist the packs for the last time and hike out.
I’m impressed, as I prepare my short hikes in the Western US eventually leading to multi-day hikes.
Yes! In fact, our Through Hike of the Long Trail was a series of 25 shorter hikes, each one completed step-by-step.
WOW! Very impressive what a wonderful gift to each other! You inspire me!
It was a fabulous, fantastic, adventure!
I love your essay! The act of completing a task so big it daunts you early on. The lesson learned is so universal. Carry on. Keep calm. One step after the other. And finally, it happens. It certainly sounds like you two prepared with care! I’m impressed!
Yes, there were so many lessons from the trail that I’ll be writing about this for weeks and weeks – AND trying to live them. One of the big ones: life without social media was heaven! So I’ve cut waaaaay back on when I check email, Facebook and comments to the blog – But I do reply eventually! Thanks for your kind words.
Great accomplishment, Deb!
Look forward to your weekly emails.
Carol (formerly Coronella)
Thanks, Carol!
Jan is a very special person, no one can get bored when she is around, even when she is silent, she is up to something. How nice you shared such a trip!
I couldn’t have done this hike with anyone else!
Exciting
inspring!
Hi Jan and Deborah, I am in awe and just plain proud. Jan and I met in the 70’s in the law world when Jan first started to “practice” law. We have always kept in touch (Yay!) and recently reconnected. Congratulations! You are heroes. Sure hope champagne or your favorite beverages were waiting for you. Glad you are safe, Peggy
Yes, we were met with champagne and strawberries at the Journey’s End trailhead by Trail Angels Lynn & Ken, who also took us home, provided the best showers of our lives, fed us, and put us on the train the next day. We did not do this hike without oodles of support and help (the subject of a forthcoming blog post). Thanks for your comments.
Hurrah — I remember it was difficult for my daughter to end her AT days and come back to the every day world. Super that you did this! She and I had talked about hiking together for my 60th but we didn’t…maybe in three years w for 70! Wishing you a gentle landing.
Except for sore knees, my re-entry has been gentle – in part, I’m sure, because I’m so very mindful of trying to bring all those lessons from the trail into my off-trail life. If I don’t do that, it becomes just a walk in the woods, and it was so much more…
Wow, great read. Congrats on the trail, and even more so, for keeping a close friend for so many years! As someone who is taking a long hike out West next month, this is really inspiring. Best, DG.
Thanks. Which trail are you doing? Solo? Good luck!