Team NCBV @ Vermont
By Neeraj Kumar
Destination: Vermont
Characters : Yap Peiling aka PL, Wong Kai Hong aka KH, Wong Tze Ling aka
WTL, Raghuram aka Ram, Chen ZilIang aka Liang, Me aka Neeraj
With over 34 pounds of equipment each, we set off early Thursday morning for the trek to Vermont. My first camping trip and I was so excited, with two experienced hikers in KH and PL with us, I was comforted. You must know that Vermont is THE fall destination in US. After renting our car we set off in the heavy downpour. We rented stoves at Manchester, VT around 5 at a place called "The Mountain Goat". The rain gods suddenly started smiling but Ra wasn’t. The Little Rock Pond trail wasn’t tricky, but with dwindling light and PL’s night blindness it wasn’t turning good. But as we twisted and turned deeper in the jungle it started getting really dark and felt much longer than the 2 something mile it said at the trail head. There were so many times I swear I heard someone behind me, but then the more immediate concern was how to reach the base shelter and get everyone there as it was pouring like no tomorrow. We had to literally shout at every stone we saw to warn others behind. The torch lights aren't helpful if you have ever trekked in a jungle in the dark as it confuses all the other parts of the jungle, so I trusted my eyes to get me through it. We hit the shelter after 2 hours of groping which was an open hut, and the prospect of living in a jungle didn’t excite me then. The first sight of the Little Rock Pond in the little moonlight with trees all around was straight out of a horror movie. The silver sheen was eerie giving me more goose bumps than the rain itself.
Sleep didn’t come as the night was so cold that I was hallucinating raccoons attacking Ram. As we woke up, we set off to Mount Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont, through Route 100, the most scenic drive in Vermont. It felt like heaven with colors like - pink, red, purple, light green, dark green, yellow and so many more. With mist and low clouds it felt like driving through heaven; I sat glued and enchanted at the navigator seat. We reached the Mountains after 3 plus hours of drive, but the whole mountain was covered with clouds, so much so that we could probably see half way to the top. With climbing it nothing less than suicidal, crazy us decided to go to Maine, on WTL’s suggestion. The drive was at least 1000 miles, would take more than 12 hours and was going to be difficult with only two drivers. Why we wanted to go to Maine you may think? To eat LOBSTERS. Yeah, with flight in two days and nothing to do, we decide to go and see Maine and eat its lobsters. Way to go..
Well Maine didn’t prove to be as dull as just us eating lobsters, but that will be told some other day, some other time. Just kidding, check out the SPIN e-letter for the rest of the trip.