Day 46: Bicycling Across America – Rutland, VT

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A hippie cow

The “less hills” Google Maps route is still guiding me north. Normally, I like hills, but when you’re carrying a bunch of gear, your perspective definitely changes. “Less Hills” sounded pretty good so here I was heading further north toward Rutland VT. Hopefully, this wasn’t going to be a big mistake with me going up 10% grades on bumpy “less hills” dirt roads.

We take cafes far too much for granted in the northeast. This is in Saratoga Springs.
A short but pretty excursion on a paved bicycle trail
There were several beautiful rivers that the route crossed over
Crossing into Vermont at Poultney

I passed into Vermont at Poultney. It was nice to finally be in New England again.

During the day, it just got hotter and hotter and more and more muggy until I finally sweated my way into Rutland accompanied by dark ominous clouds and thunder claps. I pulled into the hostel just as the raindrops were starting to fall.

Hiker Hostel / Yellow Deli in Rutland. It’s just like I remember from 2014.

I’m staying at the Hiker Hostel / Yellow Deli in Rutland. I also stayed here 10 years ago when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail and it’s run by some of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. I did notice that the thru hikers here smell the same as they did as when I was hiking. Fortunately, I somehow lucked into having my own bunk room. I’ll need a good night’s sleep to tackle the mountains tomorrow.