Miles: 1683.1 | An early start and near-empty food bags turn the 16-mile push into Rutland into pure hunger-driven momentum. With only a few hundred calories left between snacks, podcasts and sheer willpower carry the miles. A brief regroup at a rock cairn, improvised on-the-go water filtering, and a foggy overlook of the Rutland airport mark the final stretch. By early afternoon, a ride from day hikers delivers a much-needed town stop at the Yellow Deli, where showers, loaner clothes, laundry, and a filling communal dinner restore bodies and spirits before a Walmart resupply.
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.
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.
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.
After a delicious and filling dinner in the Deli we walked over to WalMart to resupply.