The surrounding noises (coyote howls, random thumps, noises from the valley near US-7, etc.) made it a bit hard to sleep last night... The wind came up and died down repeatedly - I realized I’d been asleep when I’d wake up. By 0500, I was wide awake but had to wait another hour before there was enough light to strike camp. After breakfast (0715), I got underway, expecting to hike just over six miles to reach my car. It was foggy so I missed seeing the actual sunrise. Once the sun got higher, the temps quickly climbed (mid 70s) and I ran out of water... Fortunately, I was already planning on filling up my reservoir again at Hell Hollow Brook. While I was there, I encountered a young couple who were on their last day of a Long Trail Thru hike. The guy was chatty but his S.O. was not - maybe she just needed coffee? Even though I left before they were done refilling, I let them pass and continued south. For the rest of the section (it had a couple more roller coasters), I saw about 10 people (trail runners, young couples day hiking and an energetic young lady who asked me a million questions (I was up for it!). The 1.5 mile descent (a retread) from the last shelter, down to VT-9 (which I could hear for the last couple of hours) was as treacherous as I’d remembered from my last visit (see OCT 2014). Felt very relieved that I didn’t fall... Made it to my car by 1015 (after just over 6 miles today for a total of almost 21 total miles). Was glad to be done early and even happier to have finished such a long section. Got cleaned up and then headed east on VT-9. The drive was good and I had enough cell signal to communicate with the girls (they were happy that I was OK after not hearing from me for a few days). I made it to I-91 and returned to my condo via I-89 (arrived at around 1230). I’ve completed the entire southern half of the Long Trail (south of Killington), passed 1700 total AT miles and only have 17 miles left in Vermont. Feeling a bit tired and sore but it was nice to get an overnight in the woods! AT Today = 19.0 miles / Grand Total AT = 1707.3 miles / AT Left = 478.0 miles
