Meal Mode passes by my tarp while I'm underneath packing and I wish her "Happy Trails," and she reciprocates. Fifteen minutes later I am also on the trail.
Leaving the shelter I have a 250 foot climb up to Mount Prospect Ledge, which is reported to offer a view of the Taconic Range to the west, which forms the border with New York. I just get the barest peek of the town In the valley below, but the fog is still pretty thick this morning.
The trail sharply descends from here, losing 2,000 feet for the next two miles to the town of North Adams. Near the bottom, I cross a stream which is more like a couple of shallow pools, and stop to filter water. It takes me a little while but I filter enough for the next few hours. While I am filtering, Righty walks through and we chat before she moves on. I'm still filtering when Lefty walks by and we talk as well. They are so nice! I really hope I get a chance to meet up with them again.
Of course, right after I finish taking all that time filtering the water, the trail emerges onto a residential street in North Adams. I follow the white blazes with a few hikers in front of me and several more behind. A couple blocks further, near a school, I see many hikers congregating around a bunch of coolers in front of an Appalachian Trail kuosk. Only one thing draws the attention of this many hikers at once; Trail Magic!
Several coolers are lined up In a row. One is labeled with toiletries, two more with snacks, and the last is loaded with ice cold water. A woman who stocks the coolers Is chatting with the hikers. She says this is the biggest group she has seen at one time yet this year and asks for a group photo. It looks like I'm in the bubble now!
I'm the only hiker that continues on the trail; everyone else Is peeling off to go to eat or to get a hotel room and get cleaned up and Nero for the day.
I call home while I hike through town and chat with my mom and dad who are doing very well. Mom pulls up the Inreach map link for my location so they can see where I am while we talk.
Once I reach the other side of town the trail starts to ascend and I look down to see a 1600 on the side of the trail! Only 594 miles to go! I send a picture to our family group chat marking the accomplishment. I say goodbye to my parents so I can save my breath for the arduous climb up the mountain.
The trail follows a gorgeous stream for the next couple of miles as I gain elevation. I stop about halfway up at a spring where the water is literally bubbling up from the ground; crystal clear and ice cold. Even though I should have enough water to get me to the top, I can't help but stop and filter some water for an ice cold drink.
The trail then goes up very sharply. My heart rate keeps jumping up and I'm sweating like crazy. I stop to take one of many breaks on a rock. A man passes and tells me his name is Flounder. He is from Israel and says he's glad to see he's not the only one needing to take a break. I tell him I'm recovering from being sick and it's taking me quite some time. He says that he too is taking lots of breaks because he is also been sick. We continue leapfrogging each other a couple more times.
The last ascent to the ridge is a rock scramble called The Rock Garden, which is absolutely not a garden, but ginormous boulders sitting in the hot sun. I am running low on water again; I can't believe I drank 3 liters already - I haven't even gone 8 miles! It is nearing 90° at this point. Who would have thought Vermont would be this hot?
At the top of the rock scramble I am rewarded with beautiful view of the mountain I crested yesterday and hiked down this morning. I don't need much reason to stop and take more breaks, so I am delighted to find lots and lots of blueberries which I stop to pick frequently.
Two more hikers pass me over the next mile and a half. One of them is positively bouncing down the trail. I see her a short time later posing in front of a sign welcoming hikers to Vermont and the Long Trail, which shares the same path for the next 105 miles. She just started the Long Trail today, thus the bubbly demeanor.
I stop and take a picture in front of the sign and continue on to where a spring trickles across the trail a half mile later. Flounder is there filtering water and a south bounder comes up to fill her water and chugs ferociously, not coming up for air. I mention that the FarOut comments state there's another stream a little further up, but she says she did not cross one. As she chugs another liter of water without stopping for breath. I drop my pack and prepare to filter water, which is going to take some time with this little trickle. Just then the other hiker shouts from further up the trail that there is more water. The poor girl must have been out of her mind with thirst and walked straight over the stream.
Next to the stream, a large tarp is strung through the trees like a canopy. There are jugs of water on a large rock and a sign saying to help ourselves courtesy of the Long Trail Crew. I take off my pack again and help myself to several cups of water mixed with electrolytes. I take an unusually long break and spread out my Tyvek sheet on the ground in front of a rock Where I lay down and elevate my legs. I'm noticing weird muscle spasms in both of my calves and my left arm. I guess I need more electrolytes. I'm worried I'm not going to have enoug water or electrolytes in this heat.
After a good 45-minute break I decide to move on. I shoulder my pack and a mile later I come across a trail crew working on a side trail. They are dressed in long sleeves and coveralls with hard hats and heavy boots. They're swinging long adzes and shovels and winching huge rocks with winch straps and trees. It looks like insanely hard work in this heat and I realize I'm a little bit of a buttercup today I need to suck it up.
I am melting as I climb another 1,000 feet to a nameless peak with no view, fighting through a tangle of underbrush blocking the trail. I was intending to pass the next shelter 3 miles away and head to the one and another four miles from there, but I realize that's just not possible with the way I'm feeling. I'm dragging really hard and I really don't want to screw myself up for tomorrow. I have a sneaking suspicion that my sweating and electrolyte issues are related to my recent illness and it's probably going to take a little while to fix itself.
The Seth Warner shelter is on the other side of the mountain, but there is no water at the shelter area which poses a significant problem for me tonight. The next water source is only 0.3 miles away from the shelter at a beaver bog. The FarOut comments state that there is a nice campsite next to the beaver pond that is good for hammocks.
I get to the beaver pond at 5:00 p.m. and load up on water and as promised a lovely little campsite sits on a hill next to the pond. It's early to be setting up camp by my usual standards, but the heat is whooping my booty, and I have zero energy.
While I sit up camp the herd of young people that were at the shelter last night walks by. They apparently went in town and then came back on the trail. A lovely young lady named Jupiter stops to chat and she gushes about how beautiful the campsite is.
While I sit here, surrounded by this beauty, I am reminded of why I am subjecting myself to such torture. I decide I am not going to like Vermont very much if the trail conditions are this horrible the rest of the way, but I am going to try and offset this by camping in the most beautiful places I can find.
I finish setting up and sit in my hammock to eat my dinner looking out at the dragonflies dancing over the water. The only thing that would make this absolutely perfect would be if a moose were to walk out into the pond.
By 7:30 I am ready for bed.
Today's Stats: 13 miles, 3,494 feet gain
Trail Stats: 1,609 miles, 313K feet gain
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