Mud and Bugs: Hiker Finds Friendship to Overcome the Long Trail's Challenges
By Andrew Komorowski, a 22 year-old from West Virginia resident hiking the Appalachian Trail.
This story first appeared in “The Trek"
Starting out
Vermont on the AT is famous for two things… mud and bugs. And I certainly got to experience both of them in that order.
When I first entered Vermont, I was surprised by how steep and how slow the state felt. Maybe it was because I thought I could get a resupply done in the middle of a 24-mile day or maybe I was overconfident, but Vermont humbled me quickly. As soon as I crossed the state line, I discovered that I was not going to be cranking out miles like I had been in the last few states. But I knew that I could continue to relentlessly chip away at the miles and get the state done one step at a time.
The mud
My first day in Vermont, the mud was solid and was easy to work around. The massive mud pits existed but were super easy to step around or to find places within them that a foot wouldn’t sink into. But my first night in the state, the rains came, and they didn’t stop for the next two days. The continuous rain left the trail in a muddy, soupy state that made the mud pits unavoidable. Within a few hours of walking in the rain, I had given up and was marching right through the mud.
The Bugs
As much as VT is famous for the mud, the bugs are almost equally as bad. Black flies have a knack for flying right into my eyeballs and mosquitoes are relentless. I feel like I am leaving Vermont with more bug bites on my legs than not. But at least I finally purchased a head net.
The long trail
For the first 100 or so miles of Vermont. The AT and long trail share the same path, meaning an influx of visitors to the trail. This came as a fantastic surprise to me! There were so many people on the trail to hang out with. Seemingly double the amount of hikers came out of the woodwork, and the trail was feeling crowded and social like it had in the south for me. So overall, I loved the section of Vermont that paralleled the long trail.
The hostels
I stayed in two hostels in Vermont: the Green Mountain House and the Yellow Deli. Both were incredible experiences. Jeff does great work running the Green Mountain House, and it was one of the best and smoothest hostel experiences that I have had so far. Additionally, the Yellow Deli was run great as well (…yes, I know all of the talk about it). Regardless of what other hikers may say, my stay at the Yellow Deli was great!
The end of the state
After Rutland, the AT goes East as the Long Trail continues North to Canada. After the split the trail was seemingly back to normal. The influx of hikers tapered off, but I managed to find myself in a small bubble of section hikers as we knocked off the end of the state together.
The heat
While the trail at the end of Vermont was more tame, the weather was not. I was faced with three straight days of temps in the 90s. This was an uncharacteristically hot stretch for the northeast and made for some seriously tough hiking. I had to adjust my scheduling to starting hiking much earlier in the morning and stopping earlier in the afternoon to beat the heat of the day. While I didn’t enjoy the heat, I survived it and even got some fantastic views from the top of the lookout shelter because of my early morning start.
The green tunnel?
Some hikers have referred to VT as the biggest culprit of being the green tunnel. The state famously has fewer views than its many climbs should provide. And these hikers were somewhat correct. The combination of several days of rain and fog left many views completely erased into a sea of clouds. But while some cores disappointed, others were equally as amazing. The Green Mountains sure were a great time!