Day 1-5 - 2025

Days 1-5:  40 miles

Bennington, VT to Manchester Center, VT

We have so much to share with you and it’s only been 5 days, so grab a drink, sit back, relax and enjoy our journey thus far. 

Wishful thinkers.  We had high hopes that the hiking itinerary we planned months ago would pan out and each day’s miles could be achieved.  Hah!  This is not our first rodeo so you’d think by now we’d know how much we’d be able to backpack in a day.  Nope!  We get older but our minds still think we’re in our 40s and can achieve great physical feats, that we can handle a heavy load on our backs after not having done it for a year, and that the terrain will be more tolerable than in the past.  I thought people got wiser with age?! Nope, not us, but hey, we still think we’re in our 40s. 

Flexibility is key.  What a Godsend Charity (our personal trail angel) has been with all the changes we’ve thrown at her.  So many Plan A’s have become Plan B’s; but her flexibility to change has been wonderful!  Realizing we wouldn’t be able to hike as many miles as we planned, she tried to find a road closer for pickup by making several calls to the forest ranger only to find out it’d work out best for us to spend another night on trail, she’s made our hotel reservations so we haven’t had to worry about doing it ourselves, ran us to Walmart to pick up things we forgot, tolerates all of our baggage in her van, takes us to get food, drops us off and picks us up at trailheads … I can really get used to this … maybe she might want to consider being our personal trail angel full time?!

Where’s Charity??  After it was determined that we’d have to backpack the full 22 miles and be picked up a day later, we arranged our pick up to be at Kelley Stand Road Trailhead between 11-12:00.  Charity was going to show up between 10:30-11:00 to hand out trail magic to hikers that may be passing through.   Sounded like a great plan.   We get to the trailhead about 11:00 with no Charity in sight.  We’re not concerned, just figuring she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes. (Hey, that sounds like it’d be a good song ).   To our great excitement, we see …

Trail Magic!!!!  There’s nothing better after a hot and humid day to arrive at the trailhead and see someone set up with cold drinks and food!  We were so thirsty and hungry!  BUT, we knew Charity would soon arrive so we said if we could just get a cold drink and sit in his chairs to wait, that would be enough.  “Jonny Shofar” (his trail name) was not going to let us only have drinks, he wanted us to enjoy his gourmet BLT toasted sandwiches as well.  Well, one can’t be rude and not partake can they?  They were so good!   Jonny Shofar is a strong Christian that feeds hikers, blows his shofar (hence his name), prays over hikers for their safety (video to follow), and is a great storyteller.  We are so engrossed, until we realize an hour goes by but where’s Charity??

APB on Charity!  Now we’re concerned.  Our Garmin has lost power so we’re not able to contact her through that, our phones have no reception there at that spot, but Jonny says he has reception and will call her.  He was able to get through with no trouble (I was shocked she picked up a call from an unknown caller, but thankful she did!) We find out she has been driving up and down Kelley Stand Road trying to find the trailhead.   The confusion:  The trailhead is called “Kelley Stand Road Trailhead” but is actually located on Stratton-Arlington Road.   She did not have the correct road.  But why would they call it by one road when it was located on another road … that IS confusing!!!   We felt horrible for the confusion and what she went through in trying to find us and I know she felt horrible not being there for us and worrying about us being hot, thirsty and hungry.  If only she had known we were being well taken care of.   I truly believe things happen for reasons we don’t always understand.  If Charity had been there on time, we wouldn’t have spent an hour and a half with Jonny who we can now say has become a lifetime friend.    We gave him one of our books and said we’d be there the next morning for his famous pancakes, and we were. 

Where’s all the beautiful Vermont colors? Ok, I know Vermont is a beautiful state, I’ve driven around and seen its beauty but I have to say, the section of trail we did the first few days did not do it justice.  We have been walking through what I would call a “green tunnel” nothing but a green forest with no wildflowers at all or any wildlife seen (FROG says he saw one chipmunk and a garter snake, I saw neither and the latter is definitely fine by me!).   We’ve seen a lot of gray rocks, and many shades of brown: dead leaves, broken branches, tree roots, dirt and mud pits - but no color and not many views.  Finally day 4 and 5, we got some views - maybe the best is yet to come?  Here’s hoping … don’t disappoint us Vermont!

Bongo and Hatchet - we met them at the top of Stratton Mountain at the Fire Tower.  They are a couple of men also section hiking their way to the finish. Not a lot of information exchanged but enough to know that we’re headed to the same area to camp that night.  We leave first and make a detour along the way - I am excited that we’re going to see something other than just green and can take a side trip to see a pond, which sounds not incredibly exciting but it was beautiful and so worth the steps out of the way.  Anyway, they beat us to the campsite area and this is why this has made our blog.  When we get to the area for tenting, the first site next to the river is vacant and it’s a great spot! We can’t believe our great fortune.  We see other tents set up just beyond and wonder if it’s Bongo and Hatchet.  As we’re setting up, Bongo walks over and says, “We saved this site for you.”  Who does that? Who gives up the best site for someone else? Someone they don’t really know? I had to step back and ask myself, “Would I have done that for them?”  I’m embarrassed to admit, I’m not so sure I would have  We had the best nights sleep as we were lulled to sleep by the sounds of flowing water.  Thank you Bongo and Hatchet for your unselfish gift to us. 

He does it again.  As we’re hiking, we come upon Half Iron and Pie Top (Father/Son thru-hikers) as they’re stretched out and listening to a church service overlooking a valley below.  We are drawn to sit and enjoy both the sermon and the beauty that our Creator made for us to enjoy.   After the service, we learn they started their hike in March and need to finish in August because Pie Top is getting married.  Awww … she must be an absolute gem to agree that he can have this dream of hiking the AT and not being at home helping her plan their big day.  As we’re talking, FROG decides he is much too hot in his pants and unzips his convertible pants to make them shorts.  If you remember last year, he did the same thing and left his pant legs around his ankles (because he couldn’t remove the legs over his boots).  He thought he was going to start a new trend and that he was a stylin’!  Let me tell you, my husband does not know anything about being stylish, nada.  I wasn’t having that this year, I threw out the old pants and I bought him pants that had zippers so that you could easily remove his pant legs over his boots. But once again, I look over and he’s walking around with his pant legs around his ankles.  I call him over and here I go again, I start undressing my husband in public.  Oolala! Ohh, right, family friendly.  See what you get to look forward to Pie Top - your wife dressing and undressing you in public!!  We prayed with them, we know they will finish and wished him a lifetime of wedded bliss!

Bad Vibes.  We decided to go look at a shelter, the biggest one in Vermont, the Stratton.  It was a nice one that held 16 people but again, not someplace I would be interested in staying.  As nice as it is, I can guarantee you the mice and snakes think it’s pretty nice too.  No thank you.  I know FROG is getting close to calling it a night and would love to stay and pitch our tent up somewhere close by.  The moment I walked into the shelter, I got the most uncomfortable feeling about the guy and gal in there.  I couldn’t shake it.  I told FROG we needed to leave.  We’ve learned to go with my instincts because it usually meant something.  I’m not sure why I had those feelings and what may have been going on but I sensed they did not want us there at all.  We got out of there as fast as we could and are so thankful, if we had stayed we never would have met …

Trinity.  We hear a voice behind us, “Are you FROG and Faith?”  We turn in shock and acknowledge we are.  She says, “I saw your picture so I thought it was you.”  I’m thinking, what picture? Is there a wanted poster of us someplace?  She mentions that Jonny Shofar showed her our book and our picture is on the front so she was pretty sure that was us.  Oooh, yes, that’s right, he has our book.  She was so excited and wanted our picture together to show her family.   We felt like celebrities!  She was a bright light of sunshine and so fun to talk to.  She had many God moments she shared with us that sent goosebumps up and down my body.  Meeting her and Jonny were definitely highlights our first week out.  I’m not sure if I got bad vibes because there was something going on at the shelter or if we just needed to leave so we’d run into Trinity.  I will continue to go with my instincts and listen to God, it usually means something.

Keep me in the moment.  I love Charity’s choice of music when we’re riding in her van.  She plays the most uplifting Christian music and one morning a song I have heard before came on.  “Lord, keep me in the moment, help me to live with my eyes wide open, cause I don’t want to miss what you have for me.”  A song by Jeremy Camp.  It’s beautiful and a reminder to not look behind or look ahead, just stay in the moment.  That has become my theme song for this hike.  I too often wish I could just get to the destination and I don’t enjoy the journey right in front of me.  How much of life am I missing by not staying in the moment? What or who has God put in my path that I missed because I was focused on something else?  A good reminder for us all I’m sure.