Day 126

Day 126 – July 11 –  13.5 miles  (+3.0) – Great Barrington to North Wilcox Shelter

On the way out of town Stoat and I stopped by a supermarket to resupply.

After resupplying, we decided to try our luck hitch hiking out of town.

We had been walking with our thumbs out for a long time before a pickup truck pulled over to give us a ride.  The driver told us to hop in the back, and to give him a shout when we wanted him to pull over.

We hopped in the back of the truck and got settled.  By the time he got the truck back up to the speed limit we were already shouting for him to stop.  We had passed the AT…

Apparently we were almost back to the trail when the guy picked us up.  We sat in the back grinning like fools until we watched the AT go by.  By the time the guy pulled over we were farther from the AT then when the guy picked us up.  Oh well, least we didn’t fail at getting a ride…

After getting back on trail we climbed 1000 feet to the top of East Mountain.

About 2.5 miles later we came to the part of the trail known as Ice Gulch.  There have been sightings of snow reported in every month of the year there.

We didn’t see any snow, but the temperature was a lot cooler.  The area was a lot more lush than I was expecting.   I really liked the vibe of the place.  I could have easily set up my hammock right there and hung out for a while.  Another time I guess.

We passed through a small farm section and then came to a pond.

There was a nice breeze coming of the pond, so we stopped and took a break.

Stoat decided to stay a little longer at the lake.  We agreed to meet back up at the shelter.

Not long after leaving the lake I heard a noise off to my left.  When I looked over towards the sound I saw three baby raccoons trying to scurry up a tree.  One of them was so fat that it gave up, and hid behind the tree instead.

I stopped, said hello, and took a picture.

Just after leaving the baby raccoons, I came to a smaller pond.

I stopped there for a minute and soon realized that there were beavers swimming around in it.  I watched as they grabbed branches full of leaves and brought them back to their home.

I guess I was watching them for a while because Stoat caught up to me.

We walked the remaining short distance to the shelter together.

As we walked up the trail to the shelter we could hear shouts of joy.  It was Flashfire and Zeus.  The Tramily was back together.

 

_____________________________________