Day 9 Congdon Shelter

After a good rest. In Williamstown, I hit the trail at 7:40.  But not until I had breakfast of English muffins, butter, coffee with cream and sugar and orange juice complements of the Willow Motel.

I returned to the spot where I left off... The AT Hiker Kiosk. 

It rained hard during the night, which was much needed. The previous 8 days had been very dry and the water sources were drying up. So the humidity was high. Fortunately it wasn't very hot. 

It always nice to see people welcome hikers. That's not always the case. 

Soon I was crossing the Vermont border, my 12rh state on the AT. 

At that point the AT and the Vermont Long Trail join up. The VLT is. 271 miles trail that will split off and go to Canada while the AT goes to Maine. 

I also passed my 100 mile mark since leaving Salisbury CT. 

And I passed the 1600 mile mark for my AT Hike. 

I passed more beaver ponds. They are plentiful in MA and VT. 

I saw my first newt. 

I also found more American Chestnut saplings. Sadly they don't grow very big because of the Chestnut blight that can from Europe early last century. 

I arrived at Congdon shelter and found it full of Scouts. To boot the area was packed with the tents if other hikers. But I found space for my So Long 6 and made camp. Freeze dried beef stroganoff, dried fruit, hot chocolate and a handful of gorp with MnMs for dessert ended the day. 

Miles : 14.1

Miles this trip : 107.5

Total AT Miles: 1606.3