October 11: VT Route 58 / Home
 
Miles Today : 13.1
Total Miles : 31.4

OK, so I didn’t make it Canada this trip. I only had about 20 miles left on the LT and I did not make it Canada. I am a little bummed about the situation, but there was not a lot that I could do. I needed to be home to do some job search stuff, and this section of the trail has been a little harder than I expected. While I did have time to finish, I would have had to rush and hitching back to my car would have been interesting. So instead of rushing the trip, I decided to cut it a bit short.

I woke this morning nice and early and headed down to the over look for the sunrise. While a ridgeline blocked the actually sunrise, it was still a glorious sight as light slowly crept up and lit up the surrounding area. This is a great place, for sure, and one that I hope I will be back to visit. I got back to the shelter, packed my gear, wished my new friends luck on the rest of their trip and then headed north.

Leaving the shelter, the trail immediately passes through Devil’s Gulch. This is a narrow passage through two steep cliffs. The trail is one big boulder hop, and there were ferns and moss just about everywhere you looked. This place was very cool to say the least, and reminded me somewhat of Mahoosic Notch.

From there, it was on to the formidable Belvidare Mountain. It was another perfect day outside today, so Bear and I took a long break and enjoyed the sweeping view from the firetower. I could see Jay Peak, the only significant peak in this section, clearly to the north, and color in the leaves was again astounding. At this point, I still thought that I was going to make it to the Canadian border, especially since the weather was so nice.

When I realized that I was not going to make it was when I arrived at the Tillotson Camp. By the time I got there, my energy was unexpectedly low and from looking at my watch I realized that I was actually moving pretty slow today. There was a great view into the valley from right in front of the camp, so I took a nap to think about it before heading north on the LT once again.

The last few miles to the road were pretty painful, and convinced me that reaching Canada was just not meant to be this trip. Physically, I could have easily done it, but trying to push through tired legs because of a deadline is just no fun, and I really wanted to have fun getting to Canada. I was not on my game at all today, and I really don’t have a good reason why. So when I got to Route 58, I hitched my way down and eventually back to my car. That is all for this week, next week I will be back to finish up the last section.

-Chomp

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