Day 163

Day 163: 1683.1 | The Yellow Deli @ Rutland, VT

We got up with the sun and walked as fast as possible to Rutland. Miles quickly lost me. We were both sort of in a hunger fugue that drove us to Rutland. All I had left in my food bag was: 1 block of dry ramen noodles (150cal), 1 kids' RXBar (100cal), 5 Sweet Tarts (30cal), 1/4 bag of sunflower seeds (60cal), and a handful of dried cherries (30cal). For a combined 340 calories to be distributed over 16 miles. I will say, I didn't exactly put myself in the best situation here... I pushed myself through the hunger pangs and used podcasts to distract me while I walked. On the bright side, the terrain wasn't too hard and my pack was the lightest it had EVER been because I wasn't carrying any food and only one liter of water. I caught up to Miles about 8 miles out of town and we found a Rock Stack (cairn) collection. We stopped there to take a break. I ate everything except for the sunflower seeds and sweet tarts. Miles found a spider in his water.

We stopped together after that to gather more water. To save time we decided to filter it on the go... I tried hanging my water bag from my neck, it didn't work out that well. After we got water Miles went ahead again, I couldn't keep up. Up and over one last hill, a view appeared at the top. The hill overlooked the Rutland Regional airport through the gray fog.

I finished the 16 miles in about 6 hours. We were at the road by the early afternoon. In the parking lot by the road we got a ride from some day hikers into town.

They dropped us off at the Yellow Deli, a Twelve Tribes community, that hosted hikers for free if they worked or made a donation.

We walked into their cafe and they gave us some Yerba Mate to sip while we waited. After a few minutes a man came in and lead us upstairs to the hostel. He showed us around. I was given a bunk in the 'women's room' and Miles was lead to the 'men's room'. I showered and changed in to their very interesting loaner clothes. After my shower, Miles and I combined our laundry with a couple of southbounders and went downstairs to get dinner in the deli.

After a delicious and filling dinner in the Deli we walked over to WalMart to resupply.