Endless Mountains 2026 Stage G

Green Mountain National Forest

0/6 Mandatories

0/6 Optionals 

Coming out of the TA, we turned west and began our hike on a hard packed gravel road. Previously in the race, this section of roadway had been deemed off limits, and the only option to get to its far side was to bushwhack deep into the mountains and marshes of the Green Mountains National Forest. I'm not sure what changed, but we were so thankful to be able to simply put one mindless foot in front of the other on this roadway labeled on the map as Corridor Trail. 

We paused at the first river crossing we came upon to refill our water supply. It was the heat of the day, and we knew we would be sweating on this upcoming trek, so we took at least 10 minutes to drink deeply and fill all our bladders and bottles prior to setting off further down the road. Many other teams were also pausing at the river to do the same. 

We returned to the route and continued on, ping-ponging with a handful of other teams. While walking on a flat surface is easy and faster than a trail, the unvaried steps begin to wear on your feet much faster than uneven terrain. Since this was our last big hike of the race, and we had all just primped and bandaged our tootsies at the TA, we didn't need to stop to tend to our paws. We kept a steady, albite slow, pace on that roadway for a few kilometers before we needed to start paying closer attention for CP possibilities. 

Becky and I had returned to our desire for at least a few checkpoints on this stage. Stage F had been a total wash, and while I don't regret our bypassing of points on that leg, I was not wanting to blindly pass all options from here on out. When we had been looking at options on the map at TA 6, we had set our sights on CP 67 through 71, with the caveat that we wanted to arrive to TA 7 before dark so as to begin the o-courses with some daylight. The pace we were walking at made it obvious within the first hour that we would not have time for all five points. 

Becky suggested we pick one of the first three points to go for and leave the other two untouched. Dan was all for leaving every single point behind but agreed to the plan. CP 68 was out of the running due to its location furthest from our route. 67 looked as though it was directly on a trail, and CP 69 was located closer to Corridor Trail. but up a reentrant and nestled in a saddle. I had thought 69 was the better option, but the appearance of simply following a trail did have its perks, as Becky pointed out. I had to agree, and we set our sights on CP 67. 

While we weren't walking like zombies, we were happy to not have to think too hard for points. We spotted a well-trodden path to our left and Becky and I veered from the road to inspect its direction. After a few minutes of investigating, we realized the direction of travel for earlier teams was coming from the woods and not into the woods, so we deduced the path was made by teams coming from further reaches of the forest where optional points were located. Not our bag, baby. Becky made the comment "Our trail is going to just magically appear in front of us, and we will immediately know it's the right one." Speak it into existence sista!

It worked! Within a few minutes we saw a man-made rock blockade to our left and an obvious trail beyond. I assume it was the national park's attempt to deter ATVs from taking the trail and mangling it up. Becky and I climbed over to confirm it did in fact continue on as a trail before Dan would crawl over the wall. Once we were all on the other side of the blockade, we followed a fresh path of travel forded by leading teams. It was too good to be true. If all we had to do was follow the path of smashed vegetation, we would hit CP 67 without a hitch. Lazy. We were being lazy. 

Not only were we following someone else's route, but we were doing it without confirming much. We didn't keep an eye on our compasses, we weren't pace counting, and we weren't thumbing the map. We were really just human lemmings, marching on without any thought. And it bit us in the butt. About a quarter mile in, Dan had had enough and found a log to sit on to wait for our return. Becky and I continued on, chatting and mindlessly lemming it up. Eventually the smashed vegetation stopped completely. It had faded a few times along the way, but we had been able to spot another bent weed or broken plant just a few feet ahead and kept on. Our luck had run out though. And we weren't even sure where along that "trail" we were. Nothing to do but go back to Dan. Had he been with us, it would have been easier to just shoot north back to Corridor Trail, but we couldn't leave him out in the woods... right? NO! I promise we went back for him.

Returning along the same path proved to be harder than expected, and we ended up following another path that veered southwest from the original trail we had been on. It took us a few minutes before we realized we were in unfamiliar territory. We began to worry we had really goofed and that we weren't going to find our way back to Dan, or the CP, or the road. We were spiraling in our doomsday thinking. We paused, took a compass bearing, and eventually righted ourselves back onto our original route back to Dan. Becky had even had the awesome-boy scout forethought to leave a small twig hanging from a branch to help confirm our whereabouts when we had been heading out from Dan. She squealed when she spotted her beacon of confirmation, and we were able to leave our feelings of doom behind us. 

We reconnected with Dan and continued on the path back to the main road. It was the first CP we had gone for and not been able to punch. It sucked, but we had learned from it. Never-ever-ever be a mindless lemming. By the time we had our feet back on the main road, we realized we were not going to add any points to our standing on that section of the route. I still had hope for the two CPs tucked in the trail systems of Prospect Mountain further along our route. 

The main road turned into a rutted and steep ATV route as we trudged on. We stopped for a snack just after passing Team Over the Hill, who had Dan's teammate from last year, Len. Every time we had passed or come in contact with that team there had been an uncomfortable silence between Len and Dan. Apparently, they hadn't spoken since crossing the finish line last year. I have always enjoyed Len and his quirkiness, so I still made conversation with them whenever we saw them and had planned to do the same when they passed us while we sat and snacked. They never came. I assume we were in the vicinity of CP 69 and they had scaled the reentrant while we stuffed our faces. 

After another kilometer of decent from the elevation of Corridor Trail, we converged with Dunville Hollow Trail and made a hard right to the north toward TA 7 and Prospect Mountain. We assumed we would be gaining a bunch of elevation on this trail but were happy to find that it was a more undulating route with a few uphills but much more downhills than we had thought we would be blessed with. 

We passed a few primitive campsites along this roadway, and I found myself envious of the laughter and laid-back fun those campers were having. We were simply putting one foot in front of the other, ticking off landmarks on our way to a cross-country ski trail called Whistlepig, which would lead us to CP 70. When we came to that intersection Dan easily convinced Backy and me to drop that point and subsequently CP 71 in favor of just straight shooting into the TA. This was becoming yet another entire stage of the race we would "complete" without a single point to show for it. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but it was kinda getting to me that we were dropping so, so, so much of the course. 

We started to discuss the plans for the upcoming o-course at Prospect Mountain Cross Country Ski Resort. There were to be four different orienteering courses to be completed individually by team members. Each completed course would grant teams one mandatory point. The options were dubbed as "Short-Easy, Long-Easy, Short-Hard, and Long-Hard." There was no rule for who did what, but it was expected that each team member would do at least one. Since we had three team members but there were four courses, one of us would have to do two courses. As expected, Dan opted for the Short-Easy. I had been looking forward to this challenge, so I had planned to either do the Long-Hard, or both the Long Easy and Short Hard. We discussed our options as we merged onto Route 9 and made our final ascent to the ski resort that housed TA 7.

Trekking along the roadway I started to notice familiar sights. I became 100% sure I had been on this exact road at some point in my life. I eventually realized I had, in fact, come past here multiple times on my way to Mount Snow in my youth on ski trips with my family. It gave me a blast of happiness to have a glimmer of the real world and familiarity, no matter how fleeting it was. I reveled in the memories of skiing with my dad for just a few minutes until we were on the property of the ski resort. We entered the ski lodge with feelings of unfamiliarity and awe. I couldn't remember the last time we were in an actual building, and it felt foreign. Four full days of racing had made us into feral animals who felt uncomfortable and caged in an enclosed structure. I love how racing changes us, for better or worse.