August 3, 2012

Start: MA 23, Great Barrington, MA

We had a late start this morning (usual for leaving a town). Once we were packed up, we ate lunch at Subway with Miles Supertramp. After lunch, we ran some errands on our way out of town. As we walked up to where US 7 and MA 23 meet (we thought this would be the best place to hitch a ride back to the trail), everyone seemed to want to talk to us about the trail. Earlier in the morning, I had already spoken to a man at the hotel who was asking about the trail. He told me he could see my love for the trail all over my face. Another older man at the hotel asked, "Why would you want to walk that far?" Now as we walked through town, our waitress from last night, a lady walking to the bakery, a landscaper, and a delivery man for Rite Aid all asked us about the trail and wished us well. As we continued down the main street, a car swerved to the side, causing the car behind her to beep at her. She rolled down the window, asked where we were going, and told us to jump in. Unsolicited rides = trail magic! The lady who picked us up, known as Shamrock on the trail, hiked 175 miles of the trail in 2008 and now spends many of her mornings bringing ice cold water to Guilder Pond Picnic Area for hikers. Turns out, we drank her water just the other day! Thank you Shamrock for the water AND the ride! We started at 11:50 and climbed 500 feet. The trail continued with a gradual ascent and of course, some pointless ups and downs. After 3.3 miles, we reached Mt Wilcox South Shelters. We checked out the new shelter and took a short break. When we were leaving the shelter, another hiker was taking a break in the middle of the trail. Trying to step around him caused Brian to fall. When he got up, he had a large scrape on his forearm. While I was concerned and wondering if he was ok, he was more concerned with getting a picture of the new battle wound. Boys! 1.8 miles later we reached Mt Wilcox North Shelter. We took another short break. We planned to do 9.1 miles today, so we were in no rush. A mile after the shelter we reached East Brook and filled up on water. Massachusetts has been pretty dry and we wanted to make sure we had enough water for the remainder of the day and for the start of tomorrow. We had 2.8 miles left with our heavy, water filled packs. We had to descend about 900 feet in a little more than a mile. There was also a 200 foot climb and extra descent thrown in there... That's how the AT rolls. : ) On the way down to the campsite, the forest surrounded us with lush, green ferns and these beautiful tall grasses. The switchbacks traversed through the beautiful green and before we knew it, we had reached the campsite. We are staying at Shakers Campsite and it is a great spot. There are tent platforms, which means no sloped sleeping tonight. Today was a short day, but a great day. Tomorrow, we will hike 10 miles to Upper Goose Pond Cabin. I've read and heard so much about the cabin and how amazing it is so I am very excited!

End: Shakers Campsite, MA

Peace Be The Journey
~Flicka