Day 45
Tuesday, 8/1/00
Bascom Lodge to Dalton, MA
17 miles
Slept great last night…
I’m writing this 3 days later so I don’t remember too much. But, it rained… some of the day.
Made it to Cheshire before noon. Picked up mail, pushed on to Dalton. Stayed at “The Inn at the Village Square”. Cost me $60. Did laundry.
Watched a lot of TV. Ate rice to save money. Boring town…
This was one of the few times (maybe the only) I stayed in a hotel for the night. I’m not entirely sure why I did this night, but it sure doesn’t sound like it was an interesting town.
Day 46
Wednesday, 8/2/00
Dalton, MA to Upper Goose Pond Cabin
20.6 miles
Don’t remember much about this day either…
Crossed I-90… Cabin I planned on staying in was full of 25 people. Around this point, I started crossing paths with the main group of north-bounders. There were a couple weeks when I would see tons of them (20+, which is way more people than I usually saw) throughout the day.
I got passed by a fellow South-bounder for the first time today. His name was “Beat Feet”. I was filtering water as he passed. Cool guy, we hiked together for a while. Beat Feet and I hiked together for several days. He was one of the few people I met who could hike my pace. At one point we got a bit competitive and started pushing each other to do longer days. However, it wouldn’t last…
Day 47
Thursday, 8/3/00
Upper Goose Pond Cabin to Tom Leonard Shelter
21.1 miles
Woke up early. The caretaker made pancakes! What a treat… It’s been a while since I’ve had some real breakfast!
Hiked with Beat Feet all day. We were going to do 33 so we were haulin’ some serious ass! He’s the only person who can keep up with me so far@
Got to the shelter about 2:00. Decided to stop. Good thing too. Rained real hard at about 4:00.
Stayed with some other northbounders. They said we’d have a hard day tomorrow… We’ll see.
Saw over 30 north-bounders today!!!
Day 48
Friday, 8/4/00
Tom Leonard Shelter to Riga Mountain Shelter
24.4 miles
Hiked with Beat Feet again. Stopped at a fruit stand around 8:30. Had some good stuff… went through 6 miles of swamp that were supposed to be bug-infested (according to the north-bounders) but they weren’t too bad at all (especially compared to the Maine woods…).
Climb up Jug-End was pretty easy. Some great views! Took some breaks just for fun. Climb up Everett was nothing! The north-bounders said it would be hell. What a bunch of sissies! (One advantage of going south bound is that you get the hardest, most remote, buggiest terrain out of the way from the get-go, so everything after that seems relatively easy. On the contrary, the north-bounders are just getting into New England, where the terrain is a lot different and the trail routing is a bit less forgiving. That’s not to say there’s no hard stuff down south, but the nature of the trail is much different.) Nice ridge-walking today. Finally some sun!!!
The climb out of Sage’s Ravine was steep and rocky, but not too long. I enjoyed it! Easy hike to get here… felt great all day!
Plan to hike with Beat Feet tomorrow too…
I’m in Connecticut now! Decided to go by “Corndog” from now on… (as I think I mentioned earlier, this was the only trail name ever given to me. I thought it was stupid, so I didn’t adopt it right away, but by the time I got to CT, I guess I decided it was better than no trail name.)
Day 49
Saturday, 8/5/00
Riga Mountain Shelter to Pine Swamp Shelter
19.8 miles
Cold last night and in early morning. Was gone by 6:15. Hiking with Beat Feet again.
Hauled ass again… Passed Sleepy, Porkchop, and Jackass before 9:00. They were still in camp… (These were the 3 guys I’d spent a night with back in Maine who dubbed me “Corndog”. They’d gotten ahead of me when I took time off to heal my leg, and I was now catching up to them again.)
Weather was perfect all day. Starting to warm up. We were on a short road walk and it hit 90 degrees!
Easy hiking all day. Got here at 1:15. I have a mail-drop in Kent, CT, so there’s no point in rushing there for a Sunday. I’m doing 17 tomorrow, which is just past Kent. Then I’ll backtrack Monday and pick up my mail. Costs $78 to stay in town!
Beat Feet went ahead. I’ll catch back up to him eventually…
Less than a day behind Peaches & Chickadee now…
Connecticut is pretty nice… lots of bugs (mostly mosquitoes) though! Alone at the shelter at 6:15pm…
Day 50
Sunday, 8/6/00
Pine Swamp Lean-to to Mt. Algo Lean-to
17.3 miles
Slept in until 6:00 (Slept in! Ha! Kind of drives home the fact that you get used to the schedule of sun up to sun down more than the usual 8-5 sort of day). Left a little after 7:00. Bugs were insane last night! I was the only person there. Why did they put a shelter next to a swamp?!
Easy ups and downs in the morning. Met a guy named Robert Louis Stevenson right before Cornwall Bridge. The name rings a bell, but I don’t know why (Of course I now realize who the original Robert Louis Stevenson is, but I have no idea why this guy had the same name or if he was a relative or what. Kinda bizarre…) He gave me some really good fresh fruit. Cool guy whoever he was…
Went to the town of Cornwall Bridge. Walked the 0.9 miles off trail to get there. Bought some ice cream and Oreos. Yummy! There was some bike tour going through. One guy was riding a DeRosa. Sweet bike!
Got a ride back to the trail. (I often hitchhiked from the trail into town when I got the chance, but I usually made it to town before I got a ride, unless it was a long way into town. Had an interesting hitch-hiking experience in Georgia that you’ll get to hear about.) Easy ups and downs till I met the Housatonic River again. Hiked along it (wicked flat) for a bout 5 or 6 miles. Cruising! Came a a “bitch” of a climb (according to a sissy north-bounder) that wasn’t bad at all. Kinda steep though.
Passed the road to Kent and went on another 0.3 miles up to this shelter. I have to go back down tomorrow to get my mail. I hope I can get a hitch. The people seem kind of snobby here though.
Seymour (now Fluffhead) & Shaker showed up. They are also south-bounders. They had gone to NYC for a few days…
After tomorrow, I ought to catch back up with Beat Feet and maybe some other Southies I know from Maine…
Hope to buy a pack-cover in Kent. It was great today but now it’s raining. Argh! Hope to check my email too…
Day 51
Monday, 8/7/00
Mt. Algo Lean-to to Wiley Shelter
12.7 miles
Woke up pretty early and left about 7:15. Hiked the 0.3 miles NORTH to the road that led into Kent. Walked 1 mile into town. Called home, went to P.O., went to outfitter. Bought a pack-cover and new tips for my poles. The other ones snapped off a while ago…
Stopped at a bakery and bought some day-old croissants. Yummy! My pack felt heavy, so I sent back my rain coat, vest, and bivy shelter. Getting too warm for a vest and I never used the other things… (You may find it odd that I sent back a raincoat. However, by this time of year and this part of the country, I was out of the high mountains for a while, and it was warm enough that wearing a rain coat in the rain just made me sweaty. So, during rainstorms, I’d just leave it off and let my clothes get a good rinse.) Also sent back an Esbit stove that I got for free and never used. (An Esbit stove burns solid fuel tablets. They are quite light and efficient, but Esbit tablets aren’t all that easy to come by, even in outdoor stores. At this point, I was still using a white-gas MSR Whisperlite Stove. I don’t think I ever actually used the Esbit stove once I finished either, though I hung onto it. I just gave it to Chrissy’s cousin Austin, who is just getting into backpacking himself.) Walked back to the trail…
Started hiking again around 12:00. Hot and very humid!! Was sweat-soaked in no time. Caught Fluffhead & Shaker (Are those names from a Phish song or something?) then Peaches & Chickadee, all south-bounders. Crossed into New York!
Got disoriented at some point and ended up going backwards (on the trail, not walking backwards!) for about half a mile! Woops…
Easy hiking… They have water pumps at many places in NY (You know, the kind with a long handle you have to prime and eventually suck water up with.) Kind of nifty I guess. Lots of mosquitoes too! I’m starting to worry about that West Nile virus! I sure get bit a lot…
Writing by candle light, which I bought today (the candle that is).
It’s 8:30. Peaches & Chickadee have been here since about 5:30. I got here an hour before that. Fluffhead & Shaker haven’t shown up yet, probably won’t.
I plan to do 25.8 tomorrow, should be no problem.
Day 52
Tuesday, 8/8/00
Wiley Shelther to RPH Shelter/Cabin
25.8 miles
Woke up early and gone by 6:30. Spooked 2 wild turkeys around 7:30. Lots of deerflies today! I killed 29 of them on my head. I pulled them out of course. (For you non-New Englanders, deer flies look kind of like house flies, but they feed on blood. Their bite isn’t as painful as a horse fly, but it’s far worse than black flies. They’re quick, so the strategy I developed to kill them was to go ahead and let them land, and once they’d gotten down towards my scalp, I’d whack them. Kinda gross to pull dead flies out of one’s hair, but better than getting eaten alive. Besides, a few bug legs in my hair was nothing to worry about at this point. Thru-hiking certainly isn’t for clean-o-philes.)
Easy hiking… some really nice pasture hiking. Passed a few north-bounders. Must be through the big group by now…
Not a lot to say. Sleepy was here, but went on.
This place is really nice! It’s in some guy’s backyard. We ordered pizza and sodas. Been a while since I’ve had pizza!
Peaches & Chickadee are here now too. I like hikin’ with them.
Probably do 26 or so tomorrow…
Day 53
Wednesday, 8/9/00
RPH Shelter/Cabin to Graymoor Friary
18.8 miles
Well, I wussed out today. I was going to go to Bear Mountain and sleep on a picnic table, but I heard we got a free meal here, so I stayed.
This is a Franciscan Monestary that has a shelter on their softball field. They have a little complex on top where we ate. Nice place. Took a cold shower too! Refreshing after 3 really hot and humid days. It has been over 95 lately!
Pretty easy again today. Lots of blueberries and raspberries! Got here at 2:15. Peaches & Chickadee got here about 3:30. Several north-bounders here too.
Met some guy at a road crossing that took me to his house and gave me some cold drinks. Nice guy!
All the north-bounders are couples, so are Peaches & Chickadee. Makes me kind of lonely.
I’ll cross the Hudson River tomorrow!
1 comment:
25+ miles/day, day after day after day. that's some serious hiking.
Keep it coming, it's good reading.
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