I have such a good life- with caring friends and family, lots of time in nature, and enough time and resources to live life that allows me to be the best version of myself every day. That was the first thought I had when I woke up on my birthday, and I thanked the universe for this life.

After breakfast, my friend Steve gave me a ride to the Appalachian Tral/Long Trail trailhead just east of Rutland, Vermont. The ride was the perfect birthday gift he gave me, along with keeping my bike in his garage while I hike the trail and hosting me at his home. His family is very welcoming, and I enjoyed bonding with their young children. My love language, the way to show my love or care for someone, is acts of service and quality time. When others do the same for me, I feel lots of love and care, and I feel happy. I thanked and said goodbye to Steve, and hit the trail with a big smile and excitement. Thru-hiking two trails in a year, starting the second one on my birthday! What an epic grand beginning of the new year around the sun! Indeed, I have such a good life.

I was familiar with the trail since the first mile overlaps with the AT. I made it to the AT/LT trail junction, said goodbye to the AT, and followed the LT’s white blaze, which confused me the last time. Both trails have white blazes! I noticed somebody wrote additional signs with Sharpie to make it clearer which is LT and AT at the trail junction.

After a few miles, I was greeted by thimbleberries and blackberries on a trail. I didn’t bring a birthday pie, and I much prefer foraging on wild berries, a perfect gift from Mother Nature. I took my time and feasted on the sweet treat, thinking, I have such a good life!

The first day on the trail was pretty easy compared to White Mountain and Maine. The climb was much more gentle, and the weather was mild and sunny. It was perfect to ease back into thru-hiking again. It had already been two weeks since I finished the AT, and I felt a little awkward hiking, but by the evening, it started to come back to me.

I remember hearing lots of birds in Vermont forest last time. This time, it was so quiet, reminding me of the forest in Maine. I heard a few birds here and there, but it was mostly silent, and I missed hearing birds all day long. I wondered if most of them had migrated south.

It felt like fall had arrived. In the last two weeks, the season has shifted. The sun is lower, and sunshine is soft. It’s much cooler in the morning and evening. It’s dark by 8 pm. The daylight is noticeably shorter. I’m glad that I decided to thru-hike the Long Trail now rather than later.

On the trail, I saw a lot of signs of the fall season. I noticed a lot of mushrooms popping out. There are so many kinds! The further I went north, the more yellow leaves I saw on the ground. In the last two days, I started noticing red maple leaves on the forest floor.

The water is more difficult to find now since it is the driest time of the year. When I went down to get water from a spring near the Skyline Lodge on the evening of day 2, it was a trickle. It took me 20 minutes to fill up 3 1/2 L of water! That was the longest time I spent collecting water this year on the trail. From Skyline Lodge, there were only a few water sources, and I had to be strategic about where to camp the next day if I wanted to camp near the water. Either hiking 14 miles, a short day for me, or 21 miles, a couple of more miles than what I wanted to hike to ease back into hiking. I decided to play by ear and see how I feel at mile 14 the next day.

The next day, it started with fog, and it all cleared by the afternoon. It rained quite a bit the night before. After rain, it was typical to see red efts on the AT until I hit White Mountains. In Maine, I didn’t see any. I forgot about them, and I found one! I was happy to greet and meet them again! To me, red eft is an iconic character of the AT. Here on the LT, they exist, too.

The Long Trail has a similar pattern as the AT: the further north you go, the steeper and more rugged the trail becomes. Every time I came down to a road, typically a gap, the climb out of it to the north became steeper.

By day three, I felt my flow was back, and I enjoyed moving. I was only away from hiking for two weeks, and in such a short time, I went out of sync fast. When I began hiking this time, my right hip was tight. I spent two weeks mostly sedentary, and my hip got tight so quickly, and it took two days to loosen back to normal range of motion. I need to remember to keep walking and doing normal daily chores that require me to squat, lift, and move.

Since I felt my flow back, I was excited to keep going when I made the first 14 miles. I first made it to the top of Mount Abraham, the second 4K peak since Mt. Killington on the AT/LT, and Mount Ellen, the third 4K peak, and ended my day at Stark’s Nest, the Mad River Ski summit hut open for thru-hikers to stay. When I made it to the hut, I expected some hikers staying at the hut, and I was ready to camp alone outside. When I peeked in, nobody was there. The rainwater catchment outside had plenty of water, and I was relieved. Not only did I have the entire hut to myself, but I was able to see a stunning sunset, full moon rise, and the sunrise the next morning. It was so clear that I could see the Presidential Range in White Mountains!

My day 4 highlight was going up to Montclair, then Camel‘s Hump, which is a very popular day hike destination. It was steep, and I was rewarded with an amazing 360-degree view. It was very clear. On the east, there was Lake Champlain, which borders Vermont and New York, and on the west, I saw Mount Washington, Jefferson, and Adams on the Presidential Range where I hiked a month ago. To the north, I could see where the Long Trail is taking me, and in the south, I saw where I came from. I enjoyed the view for a while on the summit, feeling the warm sunshine and a little breeze, and descended down in the soft evening sunlight to the Bamforth Ridge Shelter and set my camp nearby. On the way down, I found the last blueberries for the season, still hanging on the branches. Their leaves are turning red and soon will be covered with frost.

I started having a strange pain in my right knee. On the way down, I hit the knee against a rock, and that was pretty painful, but nothing serious happened from the bump. It was just sore and….. I was tired! I didn’t feel tired until I got food poisoning during the last 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I felt tired the day before, too. Perhaps I am not 100% recovered, or I lost stamina while I was sick. It’s a good reminder that healing enough to pursue endurance activities takes time, especially at my age. Since my body is well-synced with daylight and the sun’s energy, perhaps now my energy level is also getting lower compared to the summertime. For the next 80 miles, I will hike a maximum of 10 hours a day, and honor the change of the season and my body.

Today, I was up early and enjoyed the easy descent to Duxbury Road Trailhead. I crossed Gleason Brook right when it was getting light and found a nice deep pool not too far from the trail. It was warm, and I thought this might be the last dip of the season. I dropped my pack, soaked in the water, and took a deep breath. There is nothing more refreshing and cleansing than taking a dip in the water when thru-hiking.

I hitched a ride into the town of Waterbury with a middle-aged guy from South Carolina. He quit his job when he realized that he didn’t want to wait till 75 years old to travel and spend more time in nature. He set up his truck to be a van-like vehicle so he could sleep in his truck. Besides his real job, he enjoys painting, and I admired his postcard-size oil painting in the vehicle. He told me that he doesn’t have to have much to feel happy and content with his life and wishes that more people would realize to let go of material possessions or unnecessary responsibilities for the sake of social or economic status and live their lives fully.

I agreed. It was almost like hearing me talk through someone else’s voice. Maybe he and I will never meet again, but there we were, making a connection and sharing our values. I felt seen and heard. It all happened in just under 15 minutes.

As I said goodbye and thanked him, I said, “Have a good life!” I know he will. And so do I.

Happy beginning of the new year of my journey around the sun on the Long Trail, the oldest thru-hiking trail in the US! I have such a good life!