July 26 Mile 1543              Upper Goose Pond Cabin-Best hiker hostel ever!

Sleeping here at the North Wilcox Shelter was one of the worst sleeping  experiences ever. We couldn't get comfortable in our summer sleeping bags. They were like straight jackets and I couldn't seem to ever get to sleep. Maybe it was a hangover from the 5 hour energy drink? We got up as soon as the sun did, packed up and left to find water. Not good planning on our part. I learned last time out not to take my home kitchen faucet for granted.

When we finally found water up the trail the rain started again. We had been rained on each day, but one since we started. Didn't have that much rain in all of 2010 it seems. I told Cisco, I feel like we are in the "Hunger Games" and there is some Trailmaster out there watching and laughing at us as they send heat, humidity, treacherous rock uphills, downhills, mosquitos, gnats, a big blister, and never ending rain. "yeah, he said, but nobody is trying to kill us." Ok, but let's hope the hunters stay on their side of the white blaze.

Today my Sweety is sending us our winter sleeping bags. We are concerned about colder nights as we go as we gain elevation. So she sent the bags to the Tyringham MA, PO , a tiny place. We had to come off the trail about 1/2 mile to get there and any time you leave the trail it's a trial.

Nobody likes walking unnecessary miles. But this was important. So we come into town, a crossroads really, and unfortunately this is a place with no amenities for us- no stores, no restaurants. Just a PO and a sign.

The PO lady was very nice, luckily we got there before 12:30, cause that's when they close until 4:00!

Didn't know this was some part of Italy. As we unpack our shipping box out front of the P. O. people are driving by to pick up mail. One says to us seeing our distinctive dress, " be careful, a big storm is coming with tornado winds, i'm going home to tie down my furniture. " another lady walks by and says, " you'll be ok, you can hike up to the Upper Goose Creek Cabin , its only 7 miles away." thanks , we say.

So the sign: on the P.O. it said: "Hikers: Come across the street to the Cobble View B&B for snacks and cold drinks". Now that sounds refreshing and we know it's not free, and that's fine.
 So we go across the street to the B&B - a two story house - and we see this woman working in the yard. Cisco politely asks, "is this your place." She looks up  annoyed and says "yea".  Cisco then says "do you have any drinks or snacks, as advertised on the sign?"
Very annoyed she agrees she has a few things. Well, we say, we would like to buy them. " All I have is an orange and a Sprite, I'm out of snacks," ok we say, fine we'll take a couple of orange drinks- a buck each.  So, then I get bold, cause i really hate road walking and ask, " as it's so warm and its a ways back to the trail, do you know anyone who could give us a ride. I would be glad to compensate them." (  this is a common thing so close to the trail) She answered as  she looked down and shook her head , "there's nobody here who can do that and i don't have the time. " And it's then Cisco realizes this is the same woman who outside the PO a few minutes before told us "you can make the cabin 7 miles away." Now she could have used her entrepreneurial spirit and  said, "there is a storm coming, you can stay at my B&B, the charge is XXX, and you can continue on tomorrow." Instead,  it's more like, "I really don't care for you hikers (you can buy my soft drinks) now go on down the road through a storm to a cabin 7 miles away. " She had no interest in dealing with us hikers. So why have the sign welcoming us to your place!  We have seen so many wonderful people out here but, but the Cobble View B&B isn't among them. So we shook the dust off our feet to Tyringham and hiked out.The hike was grueling trying to get to the Upper Goose Pond Cabin from Tyringham.  Oh yeah, and did I mention bugs? Finally after a day of 16 miles, not all trail miles but road miles and side trail miles, we finally made it to the cabin.

 

I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my life. Two years ago hiking 16 miles was tough, but not debilitating. This year, out of training, it was a killer! I knew that I could not keep up this pace. Even Cisco was pretty beat.
Well, we beat the storm anyway, and what did we behold but the Big Rock Candy Mountain of Hiker Heaven. This place was the best hiker rest stop of the entire AT!
And Free! All indoors, plenty of bunk space with mattresses, a lake, canoes, fresh coffee and PANCAKES!  in the morning provided by the caretaker. And you can stay as long as you want! What a country! Just as we got settled in the rain began to fall. We ate, chatted with the other very fortunate hikers and were very happy to go to bed. Best hiker place ever.

July 25 Mile 1529

Left Great Barrington, paying Pravin the motel manager$10 to give us a ride back to the trail. But at 4.5 miles away it was definitely worth it. Back hiking at 8:30 am, which is pretty good after a night in town. Hiked along the Housatonic River, again, and then went up and over East Mountain, never could figure out exactly where the mountain top was. Another low ridge we hike up to here in Mass and Ct, not really distinctive from anything we have seen from Ga to here. Mostly we are hiking through piedmont type forests and it looks alot like Fernbank Forest back home, but with more hills! But every now and then it turns into a hemlock grove and that is wonderful-lots of soft fir needles 

Beaver Pond

on the ground and a great aroma. Saw my first true beaver pond today. A very large pond, more like a lake actually, with a beaver lodge in the middle. And lots of beaver gnawed trees and stumps around. Today the weather was the best we have had since our return to the trail. Sunny, dry, and about 70 most of the day. But the Mosquitos and gnats are just awful. They dog our every step. We cannot even stop to rest. They are in your eyes and ears, biting whenever they can. We stopped for lunch at a very beautiful shelter-  Tom Leonard shelter, set in all of these huge rock ledges and with view of the valley below. The end of the day, with more ups and downs and rocks to climb, we were pushing hard to do 13.5 miles, which is alot for me so soon out. At lunch I drank a "5 hour energy drink" and it really seemed to motivate me. My hiking was much improved. By about 6:30 we were finally getting near the Mt Wilcox North Shelter where we were planning to spend our first night in one of their 3 sided shelters. As it was so hot, I had sucked my Platypus water system  dry and had about 2 cups of water in my water bottle. Same for Cisco. All shelters are built near water sources, but Mass is having a drought this year. We were greeted at the entrance to the shelter with a hand written sign:"no water". The little stream at the shelter dry as dirt. Maybe water at another location 1/2 mile away? We decided to stay put, ate tuna and pita bread and went to bed. Go find water tomorrow. :(

July 24 Mile 1516

Got up at sunrise and left Laurel Ridge campsite at 7:30am. It rained almost continuously throughout the night, but we were dry and cozy in our tents. Lightning and thunder.

Spent the morning hiking up Mt Everett and it was very tough. A 700 foot rise in .7 of a mile and here they have you go straight up!

Literally! And most of it is on solid rock, so we are now officially boulder hiking. Last time out a fellow hiker called it a "foot puzzle" where the heck do you put your feet? Imagine climbing Stone Mountain on the steep side. No switchbacks here. On top of Everett was an old fire tower foundation. I read that back in the 1940's, when the first thru hiker Earl Schafer went through, the mountains were loaded with manned fire towers, with people living in the tower or in a little house at the base.

They would invite him in and serve him dinner. No dinner here now.

We could see a storm off in the distance and figured the nice breeze was blowing up a storm and didn't want to be the highest thing when the lightning started. So off we went to get down the mountain. Things were fine until halfway down the sky opened up and the rain poured. We were in the steep downward rocks at the time trying to keep our balance and Cisco yelled at me "don't run!" But I was slipping on the rocks and couldn't help myself. Luckily no harm done . We got our pack covers on and slogged through the rain . You have to protect your pack. Did not wear our rain jackets. Too warm for that, just got wet. Once the rain stopped we started to dry out, making it down to the lowlands and Route 7. On the way we passed an historical marker for Shays Rebellion 1787. I'll let you google it. Lots of history on the trail. This is definitely a walking tour of America.

It was windy on top so we got all our wet things out to dry from the night before. Our gear dries very quickly, which is very good thing.  

Spent the night in town- Great Barrington Mass. Nice town and a good day's hike.

                                           On the Mountain top!

                                                     Shay's Rebellion!

July 23 Mile 1503

Today I finally got out of Connecticut where I have been stuck for almost 2 years! Hooray! Into Massachusetts! Pretty right off. 

But first, we slept in as we always do in Town-until about 6:30, ate in a cafe that wasn't so great, actually I wasn't very hungry as Cisco and I were more focused on how we could get some winter gear up here. Even though the days are quite warm, the evenings go down into the low 60s and it will get colder as we go north. Our summer sleeping bags are not rated for anything below 60. So, we called my Sweety. "Help!" and she is doing the time honored hiker helper thing, send us stuff to the PO up the Trail, General Delivery.

Didn't leave town til 10am and it was raining this morning. Stopped by the time we started. Muggy and warm. Hiked only about 9.5 miles today. But had some of the nicest views and sights in the last 500 miles. Climbed the highest we had been since Virginia, up to around 2500 feet. Had a fantastic view at Lions Head,

Then climbed a really difficult mountain, Bear Mtn, that was straight up and then worse, straight down for about 1 mile. A really tough one. Cisco says this is what New England has to offer: boulder hiking! They say that when you get up here you have done 80% of the distance and only 20% of the effort. The rest of our section hikes will be very interesting.

Came into Mass and it was very pretty. Went through a gorge for a mile or so called Sages Ravine. Cisco said this was one of his favorite places in Mass. He has dreamed about it and looked forward to his return. It has a fantastic creek flowing fast over incredible rock formations. The trail runs through rocks just above the creek. It is spectacular! Unfortunately as we got there, the sky was darkening and we began to hear the thunder... We could tell rain was on the way and we had 2+ miles to go to get to our campsite. We had to scoot through and I could tell Cisco was very disappointed we couldn't linger or go for a dip in the crystal clear water that made huge pools below the massive rocks. I told him that at least he had been here twice and most people have never seen the place. I promised him a return trip. I certainly want to see it again!

So we hiked on trying to outrun the coming storm, but we lost the race. A huge downpour hit us. Pack covers out and rain jackets on. This is why you don't wear cotton out here. Cotton kills, they say. Cisco said he heard you can get hyperthermia at 60 degrees if you are wet. Don't want to go that way. Slogged on to our campsite at Laurel Ridge. Rain stopped, had hot tea and a dinner of mashed potatoes and chicken chunks . Very good! And today, very little aches and pains! Yippee!

Up and Down Bear Mtn, CT!

                                                    Entering Massachhusetts!

Housatonic Falls

July 22 Mile 1493

Whew! I'm beat! We went about 13.5 miles today. I'm sure I overdid it. My leg muscles are very sore, so much that going down steps is pretty uncomfortable. And at the end of the hiking day the downhills were tough! Preferred the uphills today. Didn't mean to do so much in the first three days, but we wanted to get to Salisbury Ct by tonite. Need to do a little resupply in the morning.

A very nice hiking day even with my aches. The best part was the morning. We got off at 7 am and Cisco said, "You asked me about what makes a good poem, would you like to know?" Cisco was a English Lit major and is starting grad school in creative writing and poetry next month. Hence this is a great time to spend together before he heads back to school. So I said of course, and for the next 4 hours, while we hiked a pleasant trail, (some trails are for talking, some for focusing and struggling, and some are for merely surviving! ) a long stretch flat by the Housatonic River as well as some gentle woodsy trails through low hills, Cisco told me the history of poetry from the ancients up until today's most recent bloggers. It was wonderful. No college professor could be better. And then he told me his dreams and aspirations with writing. What a treat, I told him " I wish your mother was here as well to hear all that you are saying. I have to remember this to tell her! " So we come out here for a hike, but it can turn out to be much more than that. For all of us, when do we get 4 uninterrupted hours with someone we care about to hear their thoughts? I wish Cisco's older brother could have been here as well so we could have had a similar discussion! There are so many distractions in the modern world. It will probably be the highlight of this trip, and it put me higher than any mountain.

So after we talked, we came by a hydro electric plant and they had a water spigot for us. Good thing cause most of the creeks are dried up. Supposed to be a real problem as we go further. Then hiked up by the Housatonic Falls. Prettiest falls we have seen since TN and NC. After that we hiked up and down the mountains in NW Conn. Not many views, but when they come, it's beautiful up here. Sure have a lot of trees blocking the view.  Not strenuous hiking at all today,  very pretty as we were in a lot of hemlocks with their needles covering the forest floor. Ate our lunch by a spring, and with all that made it to town by 4:30. 

Staying in a home that the owner rents rooms to hikers. Very nice and Cisco and I are sharing a room with a thru hiker, named "Too late for Dinner" very nice guy.  Ate delivery pizza, ok, but I haven't reached the ravenous appetite I had as a former thru hiker. That probably won't come for just a two week visit. 

Cisco is as kind as ever to his old Pops as I go huffing and puffing up the trail like I did at our beginning in GA in 2010. I'm way out of shape. He just glides along...no problems. By the time all my parts work, we'll be done. But I think I am losing some weight. Very hot  hiking with a pack. But great news this time: No blisters! And feet feeling good. Now if I can just get my sore legs muscles back to normal.

Always hope for good... Tomorrow!

July 21 Mile 1480

Up at sunrise! 5:30 AM. Cisco made the coffee as always. Ate my old camping breakfast: Honey nut Cheerios with dehydrated milk! Delicious! Packed up our stuff and were hiking at 7AM. A record for me . My goal on this hike is to get out of bed at sunrise so we can get going. I'll see how well I can do.
The rain of yesterday just left some morning fog hanging on the mountain tops. The mountains are small here about 1200-1500 feet. But don't let that fool ya, they are tough ! They want you to get to the top fast, I guess they don't believe in switchbacks here. Makes for hard up hill climbing, and we were going up and down all day. And of course, lots of rocks. I was hoping to get back into this gently. Like 8 mile days for a while. But we would like to make Salisbury CT by Sunday night, and that means a 12 mile day today and a 13 mile day Sunday. So much for doing it slowly. Did the 12 today and am pretty tired and sore. Hope the knees recoup for tomorrow. They were pretty sore by late afternoon. 
Have seen very few thru hikers. The few we saw weren't in to talking and they blew by me pretty quickly.
Two thru hikers we did meet yesterday when we eating lunch in Kent, I made a bit of a hiking faux pas. I have forgotten my trail etiquette. When hikers meet they exchange trail names and where they are  from. They never shake hands. I guess cause you never know where the hands have  been. So what did me, just from civilization, do when we met? Of course, extend my hand at introduction. The hiker had a startled look and I immediately realized my error. When  we were out here last, after 4 months of hiking, doing a 12 mile day was nothing at all. On my return it takes it  all out of me.
The forest and mountains we have hiked through since yesterday are not very special. The scenery is very similiar to what we have seen in so many other places on the Trail. And very few views from the mountain tops. Lots of trees though.We decided the Georgia mountains are much prettier. Every now and then we get a whiff of wonderful fir tree smell. Nice.  While it was only about 70 degrees today it was very hot hiking. I decided last time the best hiking temp is 55 degrees and sunny. At least it's not 90, as it was a few days ago.
Spending the night at Mt. Sharon Camping area. At this time we are the only ones here. Strange for a Saturday night. There is little water around as most creeks have dried up. Luckily a southbound hiker clued us in so we got water at a creek some miles back and they carried a couple of liters up the mountain , so we are good for tonite and tomorrow morning.
Long day, time for sleep.

July 20 Mile 1468

Back to the Trail! After 2 years and staying away from bug bites Pops and Cisco are continuing the adventure. We had a very good first day back. Left Atl at 8 am, landed at White Plains NY at 10:30, had a car service drive us back to Kent Ct, where we got off in 2010, had lunch, bought fuel (can't take that on the plane) hitched a ride to the AT, and we were hiking at 1:30, with a 7.5 mile goal by evening. One thing about the mileage if you're looking at the Blog numbers. The AT clubs add miles every year. Moving the trail. What was mile 1456 in Kent in 2010 is now mile 1461. So we jumped ahead 5 miles while resting at home.!

Boy, the pack was heavy, food, water, etc, but one thing I told Cisco, that's the heaviest it will be- as we are eating and drinking as we go.  Thought this would be an easy day, don't know why I thought that.  Hoped

that the AT gods would be nice after the way they treated me before. 

First, we had rain, pouring at the airport, luckily it slowed down by the time we starting hiking. So mostly, just humid all day, but not hot, about 70. Lots of ups and downs and rocks right off. Not too much of an elevation climb, maybe 600 feet up and down awhile. We thought, this isn't bad. Then we ran into a hiker going the other way. "Watch out for the Ledges as you go down the mountain." What? Ledges? What's that? This is Conn, this is gentle country. Oh Man! The Ledges were a killer. You go straight down, trying to reach the next rock step with your foot or pole. We thought it would never end and I thought my knees would give out. We decided this was one if the toughest descents we have seen to this point. Conn is not going to give you a break. After that we came down to the Housatonic River and hiked flat for a few miles and found a pretty deserted campsite. This is Friday night and we thought it would be crowded. Put up tents, ate our Mountain House Spaghetti and now in bed at 8:30. Dark already. Time for a good night's sleep.

Hope any pains are gone tomorrow!

Great first day back!   Back to the Trail near Kent, CT, and bug bite free!

Heading back to the Trail where I got off in Kent CT, due to bug bite! Coming back healed up and with plenty of bug spray... and Cisco! Watch this space!