Making Miles & Beautiful Weather

This morning I got up around 4:30AM and made my hot mocha. Then began getting packed up and ready to roll. The day started with a couple small climbs, but nothing too crazy.

The trail does a brief road walk around a closed portion of actual trail.

After I got up to the top of that first climb though, there was a real knee crusher or a descent. The rocky steps were just wide enough that you really felt it. And there were alot of leaves covering the trail. I don’t recall there being alot of leaves recently south of here. I had to watch my footing so that I wouldn’t slip on the leaves that covered the rocks.

Starting the day with some stairs!

There were a couple hours of terrain that was a bit more rocky. Then the trail dropped down onto a dirt road and followed that for a while. I remembered these next 3-4 miles as being nice and easy. The trail just goes along the river and is relatively flat. As I walked I came upon a guy and his dog out for a walk. The dog was behind the guy and noticed me first. I wound up walking alongside it for a bit before I caught up to the dogs owner. Then I passed by and continued along.

I loved this flat section down by the river.

A silly sign nailed onto a downed tree.

Once that delightful flat section ceased, the trail began climbing again. It looks like there is actually a ton of elevation gain today. There are also some limitations on our camping options. In Connecticut you have to camp at shelters and designated sites. That’s because of all of the private property I imagine. There is a shelter 31 miles into the day. But it is neatly half a mile off the trail. The next shelter after that is about 37 miles into the day. It’s just off the trail though which makes it seem like a much better option.

Things are blooming once more!

Thankfully I had an early start this morning so there was plenty of time for either option.  Even if I wound up going 37 miles for the day I think I would still arrive at camp before 7PM. Which sounds great to me! Then that would leave only about 18 miles to get to the road into Great Barrington tomorrow afternoon.

Later on in the day I walked by another river, with some cool foot bridges along it.

Once the climbing began again it kept up for a long time. The trail would take me up one long climb, and then drop me back down. Then not long after that another climb would begin. That went on for about 6 miles or so. After that the trail dropped down to a road and brought you up one more steep climb. The miles that followed mostly entailed the trail weaving up and down on shorter hills. Which made for some pretty easy hiking.

700 miles till Katahdin!

In the afternoon I wound up running into a super nice lady who watched the videos! Her name was something like “Won’t Get Out The Way Will”, which I thought was really funny. She was so nice and I talked to her for a bit. Then continued along the rolling climbs. After a while the trail leveled out. Then descended down to the next road. I knew from there I would get to enjoy another handful of “flat” miles! Which is always a delight.

A little road walk before getting back onto dirt trail.

This section of the trail goes past a couple small towns. There is a delicious restaurant right off the trail. Then a few miles later there is a small town that has a restaurant and a gas station store. I remember that when I was here in 2023 the guy I was with was sick. We were slowly making our way along the trail because he was absolutely dying. I think he either had noro or giardia. I know they are very different. But he was wildly sick for 24-36 hours. Then had lingering stomach issues for the rest of the trail. That’s the only reason that giardia seems like a good fit.

I can’t believe I’m 1,500 miles in already along the AT.

Because he was so sick we wound up going into that small town. A local business let you tent in the grass behind the building. I remember Sweet Pea laid on the ground and fell asleep for the entire rest of the day. Then the next day he was way better. But this time around I didn’t stop by any of those spots. I have plenty of food so I just kept moving.

The trail crosses over a large bridge across this river.

Before 2PM I had gone about 22 miles for the day. Which felt great and meant it would definitely be an early night. I had about 15 miles left which should only take 5 hours if the terrain stayed the way that it had been. After enjoying the flat trail for as long as it lasted, the climbing began again. The trail goes right past a massive waterfall. That was really cool to see again. Previously it was practically overflowing it was so full. This time the river wasn’t raging the same, and the water fall was much more tame.

The beautiful waterfall near Falls Village.

Somewhere around here I caught up to Punisher who I hadn’t seen since the shelter. I was just doing my own thing all day and enjoying the fantastic weather. I had even drank a ton of water all day and stopped off to fill up here and there. Past the waterfall the trail continued to climb for a couple miles. It was really steep at times too. But then the would level back out and begin to roll again. I knew that there wasn’t a ton of elevation gain remaining for the day. There were a couple more climbs, but nothing longer than a mile or so. Right before the shelter I would have to go up Lion’s Head, such I remembered a bit.

The tree ate this sign!

Toward the end of the day I decided to stop off one more time to grab water. And a wild event took place. When I was taking my backpack off it ripped the pendant of my necklace. It happened so quickly but I could see it fly off out of the corner of my eye. And of course it landed into an area with tons of rocks and leaves. It basically disappeared immediately. I was in shock honestly. Typically I don’t care much about material things. But I’ve worn that pendant every day for the last 10 years. It’s from a member of my family who isn’t alive anymore. And in the blink of an eye it disappeared into thin air. I rummaged through the leaves for a while. Hoping that by some stroke of luck I might be able to see it. But it was a lost cause.

The iconic thumb rock.

If anyone is local to the area and has a medal detector, leave a comment below. I lost it at mile 1508.6 on the other side of the small foot bridge over the stream. I put my pack down by the rock steps and it tore off right by there. I know it’s probably gone forever. But a girl can hope I guess. It hardly has any gold or medal on the necklace. But there is some. In my wildest dreams someone will find it there and it will make its way back to me. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that it is likely gone forever. That’s something I touch and look at every single day. I never take it off.

I skirted along the edge of this field for a little while toward the end of the day.

I was a little bit sad when I left that stop. I just kept wishing that I hadn’t grabbed water there. If I had just kept going then that might not have happened. The necklace would snag on my chest strap, but it never tore off. I would usually feel it and unhook it from the strap. But this time it was apparently hooked on there good and just didn’t give.

The sun was just starting to set as I got up onto Lion’s Head.

There was only another mile or so to go from there. I made my way up to Lion’s Head and then got some great views. It was around 6:30PM so the sky was just starting to get bright. It was the perfect timing to be up there. Then the trail descended a bit toward the Riga Shelter. The shelter was just off the trail and by a water source too.

I got to see the sunset a bit before descending to the shelter.

Right before the spur trail I saw a few people ahead. So I hustled a bit just to be sure I got to the shelter first. In case the whole group was planning on staying inside. Sometimes that had to be done! After a 37 mile day I really don’t want to be setting up a tent.

When I got to the shelter Punisher was set up inside. There was another guy in there too who is out doing a section hike. And there were a couple of women at the picnic table who were tenting behind the shelter. I got set up inside and sat down to eat some snacks. I ate 4 sandwiches today which is killer! That’s probably around 3,500 calories of just sandwich. I’m so glad that I packed those out.

For the rest of the night I just stretched, snacked, and got some writing and video work done. There was service in the shelter too! Which meant I could get everything done this evening. Then I rolled over and called it a night. It looks like we’ll get a great sunrise here in the morning, if we’re still in the shelter.

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