With the logistical issues I faced, I decided to get off the Trail for now.
I got a ride from the Motel outside of Manchester, VT to Rutland early in the morning and took the Ethan Allen Express to NYC and another commuter train home. A long day.
So this year I’ve hiked 313.9 miles so far. 1,663.7 done with 520.6 to go.
I’ve got some good opportunities later in the summer and early fall to do NH and the rest of VT, which would leave only about 250 left for next year.
Thanks for all the support on this blog, since there was certainly no one on the Trail this year.

Today was a very long with a very long uphill in the beginning. Jim and I left for the trailhead at 5:30am. Jim hiked in for the first 3 miles. Started at 1300 feet elevation and hiked to Glastenbury Mt. at 3597 feet. This was similar to the Greylock climb, but felt more like a climb in the Southern Appalachians. The Trail was wet because of the heavy rains in recent days. But the hiking turned out to be the irrelevant part of the day.
About 1:00 pm after seeing very few people ( other than day hikers ) I ran into 2 young women hiking the Long Trail northbound. The Long Trail and the AT are simultaneous from the MA border to just north of Rutland where the LT continues north to Canada and the AT turns right to Hanover, NH.
So I started hiking with them and we talked as we hiked. One woman was wearing Crocs with her hiking boots dangling from her pack. Turns out she had blisters on both heels and 8 of her toes. She was carrying a 40 plus lb. pack. The other woman was head to a gravel road north of the Story Spring shelter to meet her Mother’s boyfriend to pick her up after 6 days ( 40 miles ) on the Trail. This was apparently prearranged since she didn’t have a cell phone. Anyway, I knew ( since Jim and I looked at this as a potential way off the Trail ) that the road to the West was closed. So I told her all this and we agreed to get to the shelter and call the guy and see what was going on. We get to the shelter and no cell signal. So I decide to accompany her to the road, because if the road is closed, it is a huge problem, since this is the only road crossing for 40 miles. To make a long story short, the guy was there, the road was open to the East. Now I had a problem of what to do. They drove me to a motel outside of Manchester Center where I had intended to hike to tomorrow. It was over an hour drive to get here. So now I’m contemplating the next move.
The only good thing about the day was that the netting thing that I bought saved me from the black flies. Without it I couldn’t have made it.
Pictures are of Green Mountains and a goose and dog ( one of the women’s ) at the start of Alders Brook.

Spent day off trail with Jim and Robin. Jim drove me up to Manchester Center to Eastern Mountain Sport to look for new Trailrunners as my Vasques are falling apart after 800 miles. But no luck since size 14 are not stocked by anyone. But did get a new bandana ( I have a habit of losing bandanas ), a hat with netting in anticipation of the black flies, and some pro bars ( 370 calories/bar).
We had a great time reminiscing on the the last 50 years.

Many milestones today. Finished MA. 11 states down, 3 to go, albeit big states, especially ME. Closing in on only 500 miles to go.
Started extremely early at 5:30am so I could get to Bennington to meet JV.
JV and I go back 50 years to high school to our MH days. Jim still holds the our high school record for the 1/2 mile at 1:51. He ran ahead of Frank Shorter on the best high school cross country team of all time. The dual meet record shows only one non-perfect score. And that was against the Williams Frosh.
The day started out rainy with a forecast of heavy rain all day. The climb out of N. Adams, although long, was not as bad as I expected. Reached 3,000 feet above Ed’s Spring which was unnamed in my guide. It stopped raining at 8:00am. Then the bugs came out. I used Deet for only the third time on the Trail. Deet is nasty stuff, not recommended for longevity, but sometimes necessary. The trail was mucky and extremely wet in places. The Trail once again feels remote. No noise from cars. Streams remind me of Maine with rushing water and rock bottoms. Did not see a soul all day until Jim was coming up the trail a couple of hundred yards from Route 9.
After I got to JV’s, the heavens opened up with a major torrent. With a 100% chance of heavy rain tomorrow, am going to take a zero at Jim’s and go to an outfitter in Manchester tomorrow. I need new Trailrunners as my current ones have over 800 miles and are falling apart. Also need to do some logistics for the next 40 miles in the Trail. I am definitely into wilderness again as there are no road crossings for 40 miles.
The pictures are of:
The Trail in VT at 3,000 feet with no leaf out.
A typical high pond with beaver activity.
And a trail sign 1.7 miles from Rt 9, which got chopped by my expert photography.

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A very confusing day. I took a shuttle from Dalton with the intent of hiking from the top of Mt. Greylock back to Dalton. As it turned out, the roads up to the top of Mt. Greylock were closed. So anyway with some quick work, I hiked up on Notch Road on the north side of the Mountain, and hiked back. A very long day, but should be able to make Bennington, VT to hook up with JV tomorrow.
It did not rain today, and was much warmer with bugs an issue at times.
Rocky on the north side of Greylock, but along descent into Cheshire to the South. Then up to the Cobbles and down to Dalton.
Ran into only two hikers all day. Normally tons of people would have been on Greylock, but no car access.
At the end of the day, ran into two young guys hiking from the NY-CT border to Katahdin. They were carrying 65 lbs. packs with 3 weeks worth of food. They were averaging 7 miles per day.
I missed getting good pictures from the Cobbles back toward Greylock. I didn’t think I was at the summit and by the time I knew I was past it, I didn’t want to turn around and go back.
First picture is if farmland descent into Cheshire. The other is the outlet of Gore Pond.

Lobsterman

Had a very short day. Decided to stay in Dalton. The Trail goes right thru town. 31 degrees this morning. Very sunny and not too many bugs, even after it warmed up. Trail is still quite mucky but the rocks are not slippery.

Got to the top of Warner Hill with great view of Mt. Greylock, highest peak in MA which the AT goes over. On top, in the middle of nowhere, was a guy with a metal detector. Just like you see people at the beach using to find treasures. I have no idea what he was looking for, nor did I ask.

Have done my laundry and am ready to go tomorrow, hopefully over Mt. Greylock which will put me a few miles from VT. Have now hiked 1600 miles from GA and 200 miles on this trek.
Under 600 to go.
Picture is a distant view of Mt. Greylock. I wonder how many views like this I’ve missed because of all the rain?

I misspoke yesterday. People are trying to do the AT for $2/mile, not $2/day. The sun was out most of the day. It did rain early this morning before I was on the Trail, so it’s rained everyday except my zero day.
It was cool at the start at 44 degrees, with an uphill climb out of Tyringham. I saw only three people today: three older women day hiking walking a dog.
Tomorrow, being Saturday, will probably bring out day hikers.
The ups and downs are getting easier, so I must be getting my Trail legs. However, I’m doing too many miles per day. This is mainly do to the way the jump off points set up.
Crossed over I-90 ( the Mass Pike ), I’ve covered close to 1600 miles ( includes miles from Maine last August ).
Still waiting for one of my local classmates to pick up my offer for hiking.
Pictures are of AT crossing Mass Pike, Upper Goose Pond ( highest body of water in MA ), desiccated lake ( one of many in this area ).

The weatherman was wrong. It rained again. There were times when the wind picked up and it looked like it was going to clear. But no.
It was not a hard hike today. Long, but not hard. For some reason the rocks disappeared for most of the day.
Ran into a few hikers. Two separate guys were thru hiking to Maine. One had made it to Pawling, NY from Springer, got sick, and is picking up where he left off last year. The other guy was attempting his fifth completion of the Trail. Earlier I ran into a young woman and an older guy out on a one week hike. She had thru-hiked in 2006 and was about to graduate from Cornell Law School. While I was talking to them, a group came by with two leaders. They were dressed very chicly with designer day packs and were looking at flowers. I asked one of the leaders where they were from. Canyon Ranch was the reply. The two people I was talking to didn’t know what that was. I told them it was a spa & resort where you pay $800/day. I was quickly corrected by the leader that it was $1,500/day. Some people are trying to hike the AT for $2/day.
The first picture is a panoramic view from “the Ledges”.
The second is a beaver home.
The third is what the trail looks like without rocks.

Lobsterman

Hiked southbound from Great Barrington, MA to Salisbury, CT.
10 states down, 4 to go. New goal is Hanover, NH by the 24th of May and then plan more miles later in Summer.
Today was no different than the previous days weather wise. Started very early at 6am with fog and threatening rain which it did very quickly after 6.
The beginning of the hike was quite easy. But when I started to ascend the Jump, then Mt. Bushnell, then Mt. Everett, then Bear Mt. ( the highest peak in CT ), I knew I had bit off more than I could chew. For five hours I didn’t average more than 1 1/4 miles per hour. It was extremely rocky and Mt Everett was a mess and Bear Mt. Just plain hard with hand to hand climbing, while throwing my trekking poles up to the next flat spot above. The descents were bad because of the wet.
In the opposite direction ( S to N ) the descents might have been impossible.
From the WV border with MD I don ‘t believe there is are any elevations over 2,000 feet. Today we were over 2,000ft many times. The Trail around Mt Everett was extremely eroded. I did notice a sign which said it was on National Park Land. If this is true, it would explain the Trail condition. National Parks are part of the Interior Dep’t, which is notoriously slow on Trail relocation. Even though the Trail is maintained by private clubs, if it is on National Park land it still takes ten years for the club to get approval for a relo. The Smokies are a good example of this, where the Trail is extremely eroded and needs to be moved. But no one bothers. The National Forest lands on the other hand are administered by the Dep’t of Agriculture and does not have the same red tape.
Stopped raining by noon. Made things much better and once past Bear Mt made decent time. Didn’t run into anyone until the last 3 miles.: two women with two dogs, another single woman, and ACHILLES headed North.
He couldn’t be more than 20. Left Springer in late Feb. I had been following him on trailjournals.com since Feb. I noticed that he had no trekking poles and that his face looked like it had been through a meat grinder. He said he had fallen Agnew days ago, broke his poles, and had the resulting injuries. He gave me some advice on how to hike through the Whites, so I will filter that.
Even though weather was not good, it was a pretty hike with waterfalls at Sage Ravines and some huge Hemlock trees. The views would have been great if . . .
Pictures today should be self- explanatory. No rain in the forecast tomorrow.

Another dreary day on the trail. Drizzle in the morning and then rain in the afternoon. Cool 50 degrees. The main thing in the rain is to have the pack cover on because the pack is not waterproof and even though the stuff inside is in waterproof sacks, the pack will become waterlogged and be heavier and not dry out in one’s lifetime.
I also usually hike in just my hooded rain top and not the rain pants, unless it’s extremely cold. One just gets wet, puts dry clothes on at night, and Redon the wet clothes in the morning.
Started very slowly this morning with a late start at 7:35am. I was moseying along when I noticed another huge black bear. My IPhone was on and I took a picture but he was too far away. The CIA or the FBI might be able to enhance the photo, but home base could not seeing anything on an enlarged IMac. But it was a thrill to see another bear and I have figured out why I ‘m seeing them. I ‘m the only one out here whereas in the two prior years there were always people ahead of me who probably spooked them. Now I am the Spooker.
Coincidentally later in the hike I was hiking along the Housatonic on what looked like a nature trail ( #s on posts ) and I saw a sign that said BEARS IN AREA: PARENTS SHOULD KEEP SMALL CHILDREN CLOSE. I assume that medium, large, and extra large children can be on their own.
At one point today I came out of the woods to cross RT 7 where it forms a Y with RT 112. Unfortunate I went right. I was unsure so I asked this guy who was raking leaves in front of his house whether I was going the right way. He said he thought so. Turns out I went a mile in the wrong direction. And the trail actually went behind this guy ‘s house.
Saw only two people on the Trail today: a couple from Worcester, MA hiking from Great Barrington, MA to Kent, CT at 7 or 8 miles per day.
Two pictures: One of Lime Rock Racetrack, which is where Paul Newman used to race: the other is of a Falls which is unnamed in my book.