A dawn standoff with a mouse in a cabin loft, a valley filled with fog at sunrise, and a pumpkin maple donut from a coffee roaster housed around a retro travel trailer — that's a pretty good summary of a late-September day on the Appalachian Trail in central Vermont.
The hiker behind this trail journal is working through Vermont in short, van-supported section hikes rather than one continuous thru-hike. The trip started at The Lookout, a cabin perched high enough to offer a front-row sunrise over fog-filled valleys — a luxury on a trail where campsites with clear eastern horizons are rare. It came with company, though: a territorial rodent in the sleeping loft that had to be shooed out with a well-aimed shoe before anyone could get back to sleep.
Instead of walking the AT back to the trailhead, the hiker took a local's tip from the FarOut app and road-walked a connecting path toward Route 12. Six miles of quiet country road past autumn-decorated homesteads — including one with half a dozen curious young goats bleating hello — led to Abracadabra Coffee Co. The shop's unusual setup has a small vintage travel trailer parked inside an open-plan space, with roasting and baking happening out back. Black filtered coffee plus that pumpkin maple donut made it a quintessential Vermont fall morning, and second breakfast before 10am is exactly the kind of thing long-distance hikers consider a win.
From there the day became a logistics puzzle. A short drive to the River Road trailhead near Killington set up an out-and-back over Quimby Mountain, with a view of Killington Peak opening up where power lines cut the ridge. The trail drops to Stony Brook via a fixed ladder bolted to a steep boulder — a helpful piece of trail infrastructure for anyone heading south — and passes a memorial to Robert Kerker, a hiker who died nearby in 2023 while attempting to complete the AT. The hiker pushed past Thundering Falls and Kent Pond to Route 100 for a few bonus miles, finishing the day at 23.7 miles total (about 48,000 steps) before heading into Rutland for cheap food and a route re-plan.
The revised plan swaps in the Sherburne Pass Trail alternate between Pico Peak and Route 4, which crosses ski trails and offers camping with views. It also builds in an early Saturday finish — partly to dodge forecast rain, partly to catch a replay of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Even multi-day hikers have their priorities.
For anyone eyeing Vermont's stretch of the AT, this is a useful snapshot: water sources here run cold and clear, towns like Rutland and Killington make van- or car-supported section hikes easy, and detours — even plain road walks — can deliver the best coffee and wildlife encounters of the trip. You don't need a six-month trek to get a taste of it.
Story via The Trek.
