AT from North Adams, MA to Salisbury, CT-
Part 2:
Great Barrington, MA to Salisbury, CT
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Day 10, Monday, September 10th, 2007- The day off helped. We did 10.5
good miles and made it to South Egremont, MA. Staying at the
Egremont Inn
tonight. Very old inn, from the 1700's. Had a great steak dinner at The Mill
Restaurant in town. 3 more nights on the trail and we'll be done. It looks
like we'll come in at about 83.5 miles actually hiked. I'm a bit disappointed
in the distance but still proud of what we have accomplished.
Day 11, Tuesday, September 11th, 2007- 6 years ago today. Man, time flies. My heart still goes out to the victims of 9-11. Anyway, short, very rough day. About 4.5 miles. We got a ride from the Egremont Inn to the trailhead. Then it was a 4 mile up to The Hemlocks Lean-To in torrential rains. All our gear is again soaked. Tomorrow it's 9 miles to Brassie Brook Lean-To, then 5 miles to Salisbury, CT on Thursday. Then it's over. Day 12, Wednesday, September 12th, 2007- Interesting day. We stayed with a local named John at the shelter last night. He told us about a 'savecut'. Not a shortcut because it was about a mile longer. But it was very flat and would save us a huge up over Bear Mountain, CT. So we set out to do about 12 miles. We climbed Mount Everett, the second highest peak in MA. Not bad views. The we climbed Race Mountain, MA. Wow! Fantastic 360 degree views of some beautiful MA/CT country. It was fantastic! I hope the pics turn out OK. Passed the border into Connecticut, then we took the Paradise Lane/Undermountain Trails to avoid Bear Mountain. I'm glad we did as this bypass was much easier. However, Tom and I ended up sleeping one shelter apart. The reasons were that the signs said 'Camping Area' and made no mention of a Lean-To. I assumed it was for tenting only and pushed on. I passed 2 more campsites. When I reached the 'Riga Camping Area', I read a small sign that mentioned that there was a shelter there. They need to have large, easy to read signs saying 'shelter' or 'lean-to' or whatever at these areas. Anyway, Tom is one shelter back so we'll hook up in the morning. Last day on the trail tomorrow. Day 13, Thursday, September 13th, 2007- Good last day. Did the 4 mile down to Salisbury and are staying at Maria McCabe's house in Salisbury, CT. Maria is a 78 year old lady that takes in hikers. She was very nice to us. She shuttled us to the laundrymat, then to a pizza parlor, then to the post office, then back to her place. She did the same thing for 2 female north bound section hikers later in the day. What a fantastic lady! So tomorrow, it's back to reality :( Day 14, Friday, September 14th, 2007- Spent the night at Maria McCabe's in Salisbury, CT along with Tom and 2 female northbound section hikers. Very nice ladies from IL. One was a grandmother and one had the same name as a famous author. So we talked with Dianne and Anne for awhile this morning and then they set out around 8:00AM. Maria then drove Tom and I back to Kent, CT. We then left Kent around 9ish and drove Tom's car back to Baltimore, MD where we picked his daughter Lauren up from school around 6:30PM, got to Tom's house at around 7:30PM. I then drove my car back to Bristow, VA and got home around 8:30PM. The hike is over. Below are my thoughts. Epilogue- It seems like the farther north that we go on the Appalachian Trail, the tougher that it gets. This section of trail had not only tough ups and downs but alot of rocks, boulderflow and roots (or ruts, as they call them in New England) that make the trail treacherous in the rain. It will get tougher as we go north. I was also very out of shape when I did this stretch. I need to take the time to train for future long distance hikes as well as prepare myself mentally for what's ahead. Even with all of these 'opportunities', we had a great time and met some very nice people. I have now done 1,535.0 miles of the AT and have only 639.0 to go. So I will come back next year and do the sections that we missed. I will also do less miles a day to make it more enjoyable on upcoming segments. I'm very close to Katahdin. Can't stop now. <<Part 1: North Adams, MA to Great Barrington, MA
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Tom Leonard Lean-To, MABy Tom Stevenson
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