#Long Trail

[placeswordsdreams]

Continental Divide Trail, near Bozeman, Montana

[roadtripnewengland]

Marker on Long Trail, Eden Mills, Vermont (1935)

[katietrekks]

July 27, 2022

Mount Mansfield Loop Mount Mansfield State Forest 7.89 miles 2,996 ft Elevation Gain

High Point number 9 in the books for me! (WV, MD, NJ, PA, DE, NC, CT, RI and now VT) This is was probably a harder route than Mount Mitchell. The first two miles were ok until we turned a corner where it was straight up for a mile and a half. Once we got up onto the forehead, the ridge walk was simple and scenic. Past the lower lip though was back into some tough terrain getting up to the chin which is the actual high point of the state. The view was spectacular, you could see all the way to Canada! The way down hurts so bad, jumping from rock to rock. The hike was super tough but it was awesome, mainly because I had my sister, Erin to suffer with me. Another high point done, onto the next one!

[casandraspoems]

Trail me (Poem)

To the part of me that climbs mountains

Sleeps in the woods

And walks for 13 hours a day

I don’t understand why you couldn’t stick around

Follow me back to my job, back to Connecticut

When you stayed behind so did my confidence, my pride, and my love for myself

I know where to find you, how to get you back

But what’s the point if you can’t follow me beyond the tree break

[nature-hiking]

Sunset on the mountains - Alpine Haute Route, June 2021

photo by: nature-hiking

[drugstorewizard]

We have 275 miles since tagging Canada!!

Here is my 3 day food carry and a lichen presentation I accidentally was present for in Yosemite

[wanderlandjournal]

alpine passes trail, Switzerland

instagram

Etsy

[tenth-sentence]

They rose up out of the soldiers' songs that we sang, when we marched off to the heath for exercises on the long, long trail a-winding between the red rays of dawn and the black silhouettes of the forest, they were still a strong memory then, a memory that was inside us and came from within us.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" - Erich Maria Remarque

[autotrails]

American Auto Trail-Brandon Mountain Road (Brandon to Robinson VT)

American Auto Trail-Brandon Mountain Road (Brandon to Robinson VT) https://youtu.be/3OOjyYeD7n4 This American auto trail explores the Brandon Mountain Road, crossing the Vermont’s Green Mountains from Brandon to Robinson.

[jandeproductions]

Gilpin Mountain, VT 18FEB2001

Jay enjoying some powder during today’s ski tour on Gilpin Mountain after Jay Peak recently received 2 1/2 feet of new snow For years I’ve driven along Route 242 to get to Jay Peak, often remarking about the intriguing ski terrain that dropped to the road from both sides. This was always on the way to ski the resort of course, and thoughts of exploring those backcountry goodies had to wait. Since…

[fso-ret]

[placeswordsdreams]

Long Trail, Vermont

[lookashiny]

(via https://sectionhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/thumbskeep/2013/01/IMG_1141.jpg)

https://sectionhiker.com/how-to-hike-vermonts-long-trail/

[melvin-dukowski]

The beer of the evening. Not pictured is some of the blackbeary wheat from long trail and the shit pre made Mai Tai I had

[wasyago]

Falls in, i would love to hear about this decked out/failed cave exploration au pls pls pls already i am Bewitched

hehehe [in tango's voice] sighh i suppose...

really im very tempted to just let it sit and not tell anything, because it's so fun seeing people theorize and point out details in the notes. but yeah i guess i shouldn't gatekeep it, its a fun au!

i do want to state in the beginning that it was a one-off thing and i have no plans on continuing it or drawing more for it. if you do tho? feel free! (not asking for fanart by any means, but giving the green light if anyone was wondering)

well

-------

Pet crew were a group of cave explorers. They're no experts by any means but they were no amateurs either! (ignore the fact that they're not wearing any PPE, i didn't want to draw it, ok--) And recently they've been excited about mapping out a new cave system they found, completely unexplored according to their research.

Tango, always a big lover of his plans and spreadsheets, presumably decided to go in alone ahead of time to sketch out at least a rough draft for a map, so they had an idea of what they're going to be dealing with.

But see, this cave is not an ordinary cave, no matter how pristine and untouched it looked. It is one gigantic organism of unknown origin, and a hunrgy one at that, the air inside it is filled with little cells or spores that, when inhaled enough, start taking over the body and corroding it to the cave's will. Killing the host in the process.

So, obviously, after spending some time in the cave by himself, Tango did get some cells in him. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough to give him a headstart on the corruption when the group went in for a proper dive some days later.

The first symptoms of undergoing the change are pretty standard: light fever, weakness, dizziness — easy to mistake for a flu.

Which is exactly what Tango did. Of course, going caving with a flu is not a smart thing to do either, but the group has been planning this trip for so long, delaying it even more because someone was slightly under the weather would've been foolish!

The cave started off with a big drop, requiring a rope to be set up, and then sprawled into a system of tunnels. Tango and Pearl were very excited to find an entrance to some ancient tombs a couple of hours into the dive. There were stairs leading even deeper underground, which turned out to be an entrance to a bigger cave system, with a huge frozen lake in the middle and an entrance to abandoned mines.

Further symptoms include skin turning pale, graying hair, eyes starting to shift color to red. Previous symptoms remain and intensify.

Tango had always been pale, he had blond hair too, and in the dark it was hard to notice the white streaks in them. The pink cheeks were easily passed as a result of being in the cold. Pearl did express some concerns about Tango's well-being when he started to fall back a bit, but he dismissed it as just him getting tired. By that point Pearl seemed to also have some "frost" in her hair.

After the hair have fully turned white, the tips start to switch color to an unnatural blue. Skin eventually loses color completely, turning gray. Fever intensifies as body desperately tries to fight the infection.

At that point it was impossible to deny that something was wrong with Tango. There are no mirrors underground though, so to him it was just his flu getting out of hand. Guilty of hiding his illness, yes, but nothing critical. The blue hair however were not normal, and the other two were freaking out a bit more than Tango would've hoped for.

They had an argument.

Etho snapped and hit Tango to beat some sense into his stupid head.

By that point Pearl was clearly looking bad too, and Etho's own hair were apparently turning white. They were all feeling terrible, physically and mentally. They decided to head home.

As previously stated, the cave is in fact alive and can sense when something that belongs to it is trying to escape. In an effort to stop it, the whole cave system comes to life. Old animal carcasses rise and start walking, small screeching creatures begin patrolling the tombs, the ice melts and the cave blooms in dangerous ways.

When the crew exited the mines into the second level of the cave system, it was apparent that the way back would be a lot harder. By that point Tango was struggling to stand and Etho had to drop his equipment to carry him. But the fever and the dizziness were making it hard to move fast, the changed layout of the cave was difficult to navigate even with their map, and the way to the surface was still very and very long. It was obvious they couldn't make it out....

Unless they were willing to make some sacrifices.

Etho isn't proud of his decision, but leaving Tango was their only option! He and Pearl still had a chance to escape if they moved quickly, but Tango was just too far gone, he couldn't-- Etho couldn't carry him to the exit, he was getting too tired, and if they all stuck together it would get all three of them killed! Was it not better for at least two of them to survive instead of-

They had another argument.

Pearl stubbornly insisted on taking Tango, so Etho had to lie to her and say that they will come back once they scout out the way. Etho couldn't force himself to look at Tango though, if he did he would be met with this knowing look and he just couldn't bear it. Tango cried when they were leaving.

After the body succumbs to the fever it stays dead for a short period of time, while the rest of the changes set in.

It took a miracle for both Etho and Pearl to reach the tombs, but the hard part came after. Etho did everything in his power to convince Pearl to leave with him, he said they will come back later when they're better prepared, he said it was too late to help Tango, he said it was Tango's own fault, he said many bad things, none of which were enough to change Pearl's mind. She turned back and Etho didn't follow her.

He ran through the tombs and the caves alone, losing his eye to a monster he saw all too late. It was painful and it was disorienting, Etho doesn't even remember how he got to the initial drop they went down, he was panicking and only moving forward because of adrenaline and instinct. The ascend was a fever dream, Etho doesn't know how he didn't fall to his death then.

Through the rush of blood in his head, Etho heard the faint sound of Tango's voice. Too cheery for his feverish condition, and much, much closer, a lot closer than the place they left him to die in. He did not hear Pearl. The sound stopped when it was right under him, and he felt a light tug on the rope he was hanging of. And nothing else happened...

Etho emerged from the cave into the cold night, stumbling over his own feet, too tired to run. Their van was parked over by the entrance and Gem was already waiting for him. Him — shaking, bloody and alone.

...

The body reanimates again, now obedient to the cave's will. It is no longer alive but it is not dead either, frozen, stalking through the tunnels in a mindless haze.

[nature-hiking]

Adlerweg trails - Adlerweg, Tirol, Austria, October 2022

photo by: nature-hiking