Hiking in the Sixties

And I don't mean the decade - I mean the temperatures. Seriously, when we woke up, it was in the 50's, and today when we hiked it never got above 67 degrees. That, combined with the constant breeze, and low humidity made for the most pleasant hiking we've had in a very, very long time.
This morning, we went back to the Northside Diner for breakfast, then checked out, and went to Walmart and sat on the bench out front to wait for the bus. It wasn't long before it picked us up. As we left the parking lot, Swamprat realized he had left his trekking poles back at the bench, and yelled, 'Stop the bus!' He ran out the door, all the way across the parking lot, and back, in his hiking boots. We sure were glad he noticed them missing when he did, because we would have had to ride the bus clear around town again to get them.
We made our next bus transfer and were soon heading for the trail. Along the way, the bus driver and a young woman on the bus gave us a pretty good recount of the damage that Hurricane Irene did to this area last year. This was one of the worst hit areas in the state, with lots of flooding, and many roads and bridges washed out. Apparently, Wilmington was really flooded, with Main Street getting 8 feet of water flowing down it. They also told us where we would be seeing damage on the trail.
The bus dropped us right at the trail head, and right away we crossed a bridge over a pretty clear stream. It was nice to see it flowing so nicely after seeing so many dried up streams over the past month. They sure did need that storm the other night.












We climbed about 1000 feet right away, getting us up on top of the ridge again. Several times we encountered southbounders (also referred to as sobos). We always ask them when they started at Mt. Katahdin, and love hearing their details of the White Mountains and Maine. There have only been about twenty or so since we encountered the first one of the year. Some days we see several, and some days we don't see any. There are far more that hike the trail northbound.




Today, besides the weather being perfect, the trail got more and more beautiful the farther north we got into Vermont. We came to a fire tower on the top of one mountain, and climbed to the top. The tower was built in 1927, and had a sign on it warning that the capacity was only 4 people. There was no glass left in any of the windows, so at the top it was very windy. The view in all directions was just beautiful! And the sky was clear - perfect for pictures!












We ran across a really tiny newt at one point. It was so small, we put an orange peanut M&M next to it to show scale. We saw a red squirrel today also. I wish I had gotten a picture. I had never seen one before. He was a small squirrel - in between the size of a chipmunk and a grey squirrel and just really cute - he looked like a little stuffed animal.




We met a few new nobos today along the way - all of them about our age or slightly older. One was at a really nice shelter that had a great view, just sitting in the sun reading. I was wishing I didn't have anywhere I needed to go. I would just sit there for days. He had found a perfect place to relax with a great view and perfect cool breeze.




The rest of us headed north for a shelter for the night, and when we arrived, that one had a beautiful view as well! We camped right at the edge of the woods.




Tonight we are supposed to have rain again, as well as all day tomorrow. We have been so very lucky with the weather so far, I hope our luck holds out!




- Steady and F100

A Quick Stop in Bennington, VT

We ended up having a substantial thunderstorm with lots of rain last night. We slept warm and dry, though. The tent is still holding up great. The seam in the floor did leak at one spot u see my air mattress, but just barely, so Keith will pick up some seal sealer and do a little maintenance at our next stop, Bennington.
We couldn't really tell what the weather would do, but it wasn't raining when we woke up, so we packed up and hiked on. We only had 4 miles to hike into town, where we needed to resupply food.
The hike started out just fine and as we expected, until the last half-mile, which ended up being the steepest descent yet down endless big black rocks which were arranged like steps. Normally, not a big deal, but this morning everything was wet and slippery,and we were hiking through a thick fog. We went extra slow and were very careful not to slip. We finally reached the bottom and popped out of he woods right at Rt. 9 into Bennington, VT.




Just as we started to make a plan on how to get into town, two young guys pulled up and asked if we had seen two of their friends who were hiking the Long Trail. As a matter of fact, we had seen them at the shelter where we had camped, and they were still on the bunks when we had left. Turns out, one of them was not having a good time, and had called this friend to pick him up. The other boy was going to go on solo hiking the Long Trail to Canada. Since they had a while to wait, they offered to give us a ride to town. Sweet!
We hopped in, and he delivered us to our motel, the Autumn Inn. When we saw it, we weren't too thrilled. We asked to see one of the rooms, and once we saw it, decided to find a better place. We made a few calls, and Keith found a motel that actually had a 2-bedroom efficiency with living room and furnished kitchen!




Once again, now we just had to get there. We walked up the road to the next light with the intention of hitchhiking, but just as we took off our packs, a bus pulled up. Keith ran over and asked if it was the public transportation, and if it went by our motel, and the driver said he could get us there, so we jumped in!
He ended up taking us the the town's bus depot, where we caught a different bus to the motel - and it was all free. Awesome! We met another hiker on the bus who told us when he came off the trail, a bus had just pulled up out on Rt 9 and he had taken it into town. That was great news, because we could just take it back to the trail tomorrow. This town's bus system is awesome! That same hiker was about to start dental school, and had thru-hiked in 2007. He reminded us of just how lucky we were to be doing what we were doing. Thank you for the reminder, Enterprise.
We ended up catching the next bus, which didn't mind taking us right to our motel. The lady at the motel, Barbara, was nice enough to let us in early (11:30) so we could shower and go get a hot lunch at the diner next door. It was yummy! I had what was called a "junk omelette," which had a little bit of everything in it. :)
Later, we divided and conquered. The boys headed to grocery shop, and I headed to the bus stop to go to the nearest laundromat. We also laid out everything on the deck of our place to dry out. This was something we really needed since things were pretty damp from the night before.
After all of the errands were done, we regrouped, repacked all of our food and laundry, and dry stuff (tents, flys, etc.), relaxed a while in front of the TV (did you know the Olympics are about to begin??? Gee - we are out of touch!), then walked down to the nearby Pizza Hut where we pigged out on wings (gluten-free!), salad bar and pizza.
We headed back to the Knotty Pine Motel, and then did a bit of strategic planning for the Whites. They are something that are a real game changer for us. We won't be able to resupply as easily or cover as many miles per day. Also, finding a camping spot is more of a challenge because so much of it is above tree line. We are extremely excited to finally be reaching them though!!!!!

(I wish we had more time to spend here. They have a nice monument dedicated to the Green Mountain Boys (and the view from the top is supposed to be grand), and the Robert Frost Museum is just 3 miles down the road. It was his homestead, and where he wrote many of his most well known works. They also have 4 covered bridges right in town).




- Steady and F100

Vermont and 1600 Miles So Far

I thought I'd show you a picture of the tent platforms, so you could see what I was referring to last night. I took a picture right before we took down our tent. Swamprat had already taken down his. The funny thing was, inside our tent I was able to get strong 3G service, but in his tent, just 30 feet away, he was struggling to get ANY internet service. Here are the tent platforms:




We packed up, and headed for the town of North Adams, MA, where the Friendly's is located. It ended up being about 5 miles away. Lighthouse (James) joined us, and along the way he met a hiker named Hermes who had just finished hiking the Long Trail through Vermont. He joined us also for breakfast.
The Long Trail was this country's first long distance hiking trail, developed between 1910 and 1930. It runs 273 miles from the southern boundary of Vermont up to the Canadian border. We actually will follow it for 105 miles for the first part of the AT in Vermont.
I had my omelette that I'd dreamed of last night. Everyone in the restaurant treated us great. You can tell when people are used to seeing AT hikers, and these folks were fans. The waitress even offered to fill up our water bottles before we left.
When she took Lighthouse's order, she asked, "Would you like pancakes or French toast with that?". He replied, "Well, I'd like pancakes, . . . but I'd also like French toast." We got a big kick out of that. She did end up bringing him both, and he managed to eat it all!
Once we were all happy and full, we hit the trail, anxious to reach Vermont. We only had to hike about 4 miles, and we hit the sign for Vermont and the Long Trail.




We also ran into Einstein, whom we have not seen in months. He was with Jaybird, and two other hikers, Coffee to go, and Mr. Noodles. We have heard of these last two, but not met them before. Jaybird and Einstein had just gotten mohawks, and so they looked very different. Lighthouse had told us that he was going to get one also.
Since this was the southern trail head for the Long Trail, we met some other hikers who were starting that trail. They would be ending up at the Canadian border when they were done.
As we hiked today, it turned out to be very humid again, and we ended up with our clothes being totally soaked with sweat. We hydrated like crazy. Luckily, around lunch, a line of thunderstorms rolled through and cooled things off nicely. It never did rain on us though.
At one point we stopped to filter and sterilize water at a pond that was extremely low. However, there was a stream flowing out of it that looked promising. We had seen enough dry streams that we knew if we came upon water, we had better get some. We have see ponds like this before. It sure looks like they need rain in this part of the country.




We have not seen too much wildlife in the past several days, but today we saw lots of baby turkeys in the woods with the momma turkeys. They were really cute, and they all scattered when we approached. I was wishing my little brother Phil was here, because he does the best turkey call of anyone I know, and I figured he could get them to get together for a group photo.
We hiked on into camp feeling really tired for some reason. Yesterday was a much harder hike than today. But we all feel tired tonight. I think yesterday is probably catching up to us. We will definitely sleep well tonight.
























Steady and F100

599.6 Miles to go, and We Get a Glimpse of Vermont!

As of tonight, we have hiked 1584.6 miles since we left Springer Mountain, Georgia on March 14th. Hard to believe. Today we hit a big milestone - we went under the magic mark of 600 miles left to go til we reach our destination - Mt. Katahdin, Maine. I know it sounds like a lot still to go, but not to us. We know we can hike about a hundred miles per week.

Today we spent the first four miles of the day hiking into another trail town, Cheshire, Massachusetts, but there wasn't much right on the road we traveled through town, and we didn't really want to waste much time because we knew we had the makings of a possibly long day in store. So we hiked straight through Cheshire, stopping once for fresh water from the spigot on the side of a hiker friendly ice cream shop, and once again when we grabbed quick Cokes and snacks at a Shell station.

The street we travelled down had American flags flying from the utility poles, but the wind had wrapped some of them around the flag poles, so Keith and Swamprat used their trekking poles and unwrapped all of the flags as we hiked by. They certainly left Cheshire looking better than how they found it!


From Cheshire, we immediately started an eight mile long climb to the top of Mt. Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts. Luckily, it was mostly a gradual ascent, with nothing too steep, and we made good time. The weather was nice and cool and breezy. We passed some kids who were from a camp in upstate New York at one point. A lot of them were from Great Britain, and were spending their entire summer at camp in America. I can not imagine what that must cost!

We reached the lodge at the Summit, and went inside to relax for a while. We had made much better time than we expected. We had all guessed what time we'd get to the top by. Swamprat had guessed 1:30, I guessed 2:45, and Keith said 4:00. We just really didn't know how we'd handle the eight-mile climb. We ended up getting there around 2:15, so we did great! We had tons of time to relax, eat a bite, and even do some strategic planning about the hikes over the upcoming weeks, and made some reservations.

James showed up and joined us. He and I later climbed up the observation tower and had a great 360-degree view, and caught our first views of the Green Mountains of Vermont, which we will enter tomorrow. We also could see the Adirondacks, the Berkshires, and the Catskills. It was a beautiful view!



About 5:00, we decided we had better get started to camp, which was still almost 4 miles away, and we all headed down the mountain, arriving 2 hours later at Wilbur Clearing Shelter, which has some raised wooden tent platforms, which are really nice. We have not camped on those before.

Keith just gave me the news that after we hike 3 miles in the morning, we will pass a Friendly's Restaurant, and they serve breakfast! I may have trouble sleeping tonight - too excited! I'm going to dream about omelettes! Good night everyone!























- Steady and F100

The Cookie Man and Walking Through Dalton

We started our day with this friendly man giving us homemade cookies on his front porch. He and his wife live just 100 yards off the trail, and our AT Guide said to go by and see the Cookie Lady for homemade cookies, and that we could use their spigot to get fresh water. The couple is Marilyn and Roy, and they've been taking care of thru-hikers for 30 years! When she is not home, Roy is known as the Cookie Man and will also sell you snacks, or you can pay to pick your own blueberries on their blueberry farm.







I had never seen high bush blueberries before.

We hiked through a lot of fir forests today, and it always smells so good - just like Christmas. The weather was also nice and cool again. We eventually made our way to the town of Dalton, Massachusetts, where the trail winds right through the town for about a mile or so. We passed a pub called Jacob's that claimed to be hiker friendly, so we went in and had a late lunch. They were indeed hiker friendly, and we enjoyed hanging out there. We got back on the trail and were in camp at Crystal Mountain tent site by 6:00. We met a young Ridgerunner named Melissa there, and as it got dark, she made a nice fire. Her dad hiked in to camp here also. Melissa is 24, and a college student. She thru-hiked in 2010.

We arrived early to camp yesterday also, and pretty much laid down from 6:00 on, and finally felt like we got recovered from our 20-mile day, so today we are trying the same thing, because tomorrow we have a big day in store - we are climbing Mt. Greylock and want to be rested well.

- Steady and F100

A Fond Farewell, then on the Trail Again

This morning, after we all loaded into Richard and Emilie's van, we ran into McDonalds for breakfast, then headed for the trail. The Geraghtys were heading back to Maine after dropping us off.

It was about 65 this morning, and the high for the day is only 74! It was also misting rain when we started hiking. We hugged them goodbye, and headed into the woods once again. It sure was hard to see them leave. As much as we want to complete the trail, we are all getting homesick and missing our families badly. We are hoping the remainder of the hike goes by fast.

We passed some really beautiful ponds today and stopped at lunch to eat on the shore of Upper Goose Pond. We hiked on and soon crossed a pedestrian bridge over I-20, the Massachusetts Turnpike. We passed several other clear beautiful ponds before arriving at the October Mountain Shelter where we are camped for the night.











- Steady and F100

Keith's Parents Arrive!

We hiked so far yesterday, that we only had 4.4 miles to hike to reach Great Barrington, where we would be spending three nights, and having at least one zero day.  Since we were only hiking 4.4 miles, this day would be a day full of rest, as well.
We had a lot of mosquitos along the way today, and so were glad when we would come out of the woods every once in a while.  At one point, we crossed a cornfield, and there was a monument there commemorating Shay's Rebellion, which happened in 1787. 
When we finally reached the main road into Great Barrington, we found trail magic -  a cooler full of ice cold Cokes that was left for hikers, as well as a cardboard sign that read, "AT Hiker needs ride."  We each had a cold drink, and put the sign to good use, and had a ride within minutes.
As soon as we got cleaned up, I ran out and did laundry, and by the time I got done, Keith's parents arrived at the hotel.  They have come from Maine to stay a few days, and really help us out by bringing all of our supplies that we have been shipping to them, so we can get what we need.  They are also planning on shuttling us so we can do some slackpacking.  We are so thankful that they are here!








Right after lunch, we saw James walking down the road and called him over. He was heading back to the trail in the heat of the day - and it was hot! We called him over and invited him into the AC to cool off. He ended up hanging out with us all day, and going out for supper. We convinced him to stay off the trail one more day since it was so hot. He slept on the pull out couch in Swamprat's room, and we told him we'd give him a ride to the trail in the morning. We all went out for Italian food that night.