Day: 097
Date: Sunday, 30 July 2023
Start: US Route 44 (AT Mile 1507.6)
Finish: Sheffield-Egremont Road (AT Mile 1527.2)
Daily Kilometres: 31.1 (Ascent 4452', Descent 4462')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2552.3
Weather: Mild and sunny.
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs
Lunch: Pop tarts & trail mix
Dinner: Hamburger & fries, ice-cream.
Aches: Dave - a few niggles; Julie - mosquito bites.
Highlight: Walking the Mt Race Ledges on a beautiful clear day with splendid views across Connecticut and Massachusetts was special.
Lowlight: Once again the hiking was slower than anticipated and we ended up hiking much later than hoped.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
Our host of last night, Ben (a retired airline pilot), cooked us scrambled eggs for breakfast before driving us back to the trailhead at 7:00am on a cool clear morning. The storm of last evening had brought a cool change and humidity was low for the first time in weeks. It was wonderful to hike without feeling overheated and being bathed in sweat.
After road-walking a mile or so, we reached the trailhead for the climb up Bear Mountain and found a cooler with soft drinks left there for thru-hikers and helped ourselves to one each - a good omen for the day. Then, as we climbed up the mountain in the forest, we noticed even the mosquitoes were few and far between. The contrast with yesterday was marked and very welcome.
The climb up Bear Mountain evoked memories for Dave of climbing the same mountain about 25 years ago with his then 9 or 10 year old son, Aaron, who sadly passed away almost exactly two years ago. It was poignant to meet a father and his young enthusiastic son climbing the mountain as we made the very steep gnarly descent.
The good views from Bear Mountain, soon after which we crossed the border from Connecticut into Massachusetts, were surpassed by the excellent walk along the Mt Race Ledges (see above) which followed. It really was a special day.
Along with the views went a lot of very slow climbing and ascending on rocky and often wet and slippery trail. Overall, the trail was also very wet, with frequent boggy patches, large puddles and water flowing down the path, the consequence of lots of recent rainfall. (Sadly, we read yesterday that the body of a missing thru-hiker had been found in Vermont, apparently the victim of drowning while trying to ford a creek two weeks ago following heavy rain.)
The climb up Mt Everett was particularly arduous and slow, fortunately offset by more great views, and we realized we would be lucky to reach out goal, Route 7, from where we planned to hitchhike into Great Barrington where we had a motel room booked. We continued on, hoping the hiking would become easier and faster, but it did not happen. The final descent from the mountain ridge was exceptionally slow so when we reached the valley floor we decided to get in touch with a hiker shuttle driver who agreed to pick us up at a minor road crossing, two miles short of Route 7, at 7:15pm. The last couple of miles to the shuttle was through boggy mosquito-infested forest which made us doubly glad of our decision to get the shuttle.
We checked into the motel in Great Barrington around 7:30pm and bought take-out dinner. We will have a sleep-in tomorrow morning then buy supplies for the next few days, before getting shuttled back to the trailhead.
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