Sorry for the long absence, but I'll try to make up for it. Since the last post, I finished VT (hiked its 140 miles in 7 days) and MA (the 90 miles in 4.5). I've now hiked to the small town of Falls Village in CT which is close to the 700 mile mark. That means that I only have 1480 miles to go and am almost 1/3 of the way there! And Massachusetts was a blur! Not because I was traveling at the time bending speed of 3 MPH throughout the state, but because I accidentally left my glasses in ohMEGA's car when she dropped me off and I couldn't really see very well. Night hiking by headlamp never seemed so much of an adventure until then.
Going through VT gave me a first hand look at the damage Irene left behind. While most of the trail was in ok shape, many of the areas and roads in low lying areas received heavy flooding damage. The trail's only damage was near rivers, and the worst was an area that had some of the trail washed out and a new path needed to be bushwhacked, but not too hard. In my opinion, the National Forest badly mismanaged the situation by drastically closing all of the trail for two weeks as they assessed damage. Most of the trail was in "wilderness" areas, and they should have allowed thru-hikers to continue and warn others to only enter at their own risk. Instead they barred the GMC, the club that maintains the section, and everyone else, until they did their own assessments. This is silly, because the GMC is way more familiar with the section, and could have been much more efficient. Oh well.
I also got a great deal of rain in VT. I never could really dry out and it didn't help that VT is known as a muddy state, and the soil was saturated already so when it rained, I faced standing or running water. Apparently rain is a motivator for me to hike hard, because the day it rained all day with only an hour respite, I hiked 28 miles, my most yet. That day though, the "trail" was literally standing water puddles or impromptu streams for 5 miles of that. It was rough, but I really felt as if I earned the privilege to sleep in the lean-to.
I also found VT to be very empty. It was a bit lonely and I ran into very few fellow hikers, and only 1 section hiker the entire week. I was telling my new friend Medicare Pastor what the condition of the trail was as a scout, but aside from that, didn't really talk to any other hikers. I'm hoping it's not a taste of what's yet to come.
MA was a good state to hike in. I got some mud, and started with rain, but the rest of the week was dry and sunny and very nice. I did run into my first cold though, with a few nights dipping down to upper 20s/lower 30s. It was harder to get up in the morning, but did warm up and wasn't too bad.
I got some good trail magic during the time there. The first day for lunch, I was at the top of Mt. Greylock and was about to order a burger when the cook pops out and asks if I want to work for it. I said sure, and helped her carry a few heavy trash bags to the dumpster, and 5 minutes later saved myself $8 and had a yummy meal. That was cool. I also had several hikers that I was able to chat with and meet some cool day hikers and weekenders. I was going to walk to grab a quick lunch on Thursday because I was a tad low on food, and without asking for a ride, a nice couple pulled over and picked me up. They were maintainers Mother Nature and Sourwood, and turned out that Sourwood was from Georgia and went to GT! They were really kind, and made my day despite having just walked through a giant mud puddle. Later in the day, some day hikers were really kind and packed out my awkward shaped trash. That night I enjoyed chatting with a new section hiker Paul. He was good company, and had just started getting hooked.
OhMEGA was able to come pick me up and I was able to take a break and get properly cleaned up. Since she doesn't have classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we're planning on getting back on the trail and hike together some. It's always nicer to have good company!
A few of the other highlights since last time were walking by the site of Shays Rebellion, seeing three snakes all trying to warm up in the sun within 10 feet of each other, and starting a new state! Still working on catching up to friends, but still making progress. Just have to keep an eye out for ticks carrying Lyme disease, and avoid pesky hunters and I'll be alright. Happy trails!
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