Follow the White Blazes

The white blazes are the iconic Trail Blazers of the Appalachian Trail. We are constantly looking for them all along the way for reassurance that we’re still on the right trail.

If there’s a change in direction, there’s a double blaze with the top blaze indicating the direction of the change.

But, the white blazes changes more than just the direction of your steps. Out here, surrounded by peace and daily struggles, you end up realizing how much “you” are being changed along the way. Stress melts away as daily triumphs rise above any struggles you have at home. Ending your day with your body in agony from all the trail had to offer that day, your surroundings bring you to a better place. The sound of nature as the birds sing and the wind blows, humbles you. It’s a hard earned magic experience like no other. You begin to understand why it’s said out here that, “you hike your own hike.” Ben is gaining benefits from this that are not the same as mine and mine not the same as his. We each are on our own journey out here, that just takes the same path.

Well, our path led us out of Bennington on June, 8th and straight up stairs of rocks.

Little by little, I go up. As usual I’m still a “slinky” going up these mountains and hills. I’m so grateful that Ben is still willing to hike with me. I know it’s a challenge to stop on the ups and lose your momentum, but he won’t leave my side. I have been hoping for weeks that I would turn into a machine and just keep going on these ups, but I guess this is just the way I have to hike.

Once we make the climbs there’s always some sort of reward. A view, a peaceful setting or just flatter miles. Well, Meadow loved the reward this day and was feeling so good this morning. I wish I could have the energy she has.

It’s nice to see how much fun she’s having out here. She’s always making us laugh.

The lovely miles ahead, lead us to a clearing with a view of Bennington. It’s got a really nice tent spot, but we’ve got more miles to go before we let ourselves stop.

We hiked on to the next shelter and visited some NOBO (northbound) hikers who were pushing on to town. We found a place for our tent and set up camp for the night.

With some time to spare before supper we hike back to the bog that we passed and find a place to sit and watch for any animals that might come in or maybe the beaver that lives here, but after about an hour no one showed up. Still it’s nice just to be still and silent.

We get back to camp as others arrive and set up camp for the night also. We met a woman named “why not” who talked to us for a while. She was actually a friend of the hiker “Stronghold” who was the veteran that was murdered on the trail this year. It was nice to hear stories about him from her chance to hike with him for several days. She really got the opportunity to get to know him, a proud veteran who as many struggle with PTSD and was well on his way to recovery before this tragedy.

We sat that night with heavy hearts thinking of this tragedy. We also thought of the many people we’ve met on this trip who also suffer from PTSD. This is truly a place to heal.

The next day will be a victory for us as we’ll be passing from Vermont into Massachusetts. Vermont has been wonderful. A beautiful state. Lots of wonderful memories we’ll cherish from here.

Bye bye Vermont.

The white blazes are leading us on.

The next morning we walk lovely miles along a babbling brook. The sounds this morning warm our souls and lighten our moods.

We turn away from the brook and deeper into the woods to come upon a couple big bogs. Now the sounds shift to the croak of the frogs that live here.

We move on and gain elevation to find a beautiful spot for lunch in the power lines with a lovely view.

As we eat our lunch we watch a dark mass move across the way in the power lines far off, too far from view to identify. With Meadow with us, we haven’t seen much for wildlife up close. The animals can smell her and stay away, which I don’t mind since I really don’t want to have bears trying to steal our food.

On we go and we reach the MA/VT border. Goodbye VT. It’s been fun, but I really won’t miss the mud that seemed to want to swallow us whole at times.

We also say goodbye to the LT (Longtrail) which we’ve been walking on as well as the AT (Appalachian Trail) since Killington VT. This trail is very popular and goes from the MA/VT border all the way through Vermont and to the VT/Canadian border.

Walking through Vermont has been beautiful. All along the way we’ve watched the trees and forest come into bloom and now the forest is thick with green leaves and is ready for the arrival of summer. Unfortunately the mosquitos and black flies are part of this change too. We went from several days of NO bugs to swarms of bugs all over. It’s okay, the wind is always a welcome bug repellent and having a campfire too helps.

Hold on everyone. I will return soon to give you the story of our journey into MA.

To Be Continued…….

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