Date: 2003-07-16
From: Riga Lean To 1,610

To: Housatonic River Campsite 610
Miles today: 18.9

I woke up to rain this morning at 5:30. Not a big deal except I didn't put up my rain fly last night. I had to get up, put on my rainfly, then I went back to sleep. I refused to get up at 5:30, although Sweet Ass thought I did, so he got up because he didn't have his rainfly on either! He realized what I had done and ended up sleeping in the shelter this morning. I didn't get up until 7:00 and it was 8:40 when I hit the trail.Today's hike was an adventure to say the least. I had the giggles today for some reason and would start laughing at the worst moments, like steep downhills. I hiked by myself this morning for about 8 miles. It was a rough 8 miles. We left CT and entered MA today. We were all very excited. First we climbed Bear Mtn. We've already climbed a Bear Mtn. in NY I believe, but this one was easier. However, we went from 2,316 feet down to 1,360 feet in 1.4 miles. The decent was treacherous to say the least. It took me a really long time to go down the rocks. I think this decent is the second hardest I have done on the trail, second only to Dragon's Tooth. We immediately climbed again to 2,430 on Race Mtn. where I found Booble and Sweet Ass taking a break. This is where I found out about Booble's fall. He told me he was looking down at the trail and hit a tree that had fallen across the trail. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I was just short enough that I didn't have to duck but he didn't see it, hit it head on, and it knocked him on his ass. He said he bit his tongue and had to lay there a few minutes. I wish I could have seen it. This is what I laughed about most of the day.Anyway, we ate lunch up there and took off to the next shelter to find water. This involved another climb up Mt. Everett, not to be confused with Mt. Everest even though it felt like it. This was a tough climb from 1,980 feet to 2,602 feet. It kicked my butt. We then went to the shelter where I lost the guys. I didn't like the look of the water source, so I kept going not realizing they actually went to the shelter where a better source was. While they were there, they met a southbounder named Wes Davis from Glasgow, KY. This is 30 miles from my hometown and my sister who is sending my maildrops lives there. I missed him and would have loved to talk to him.I met up with the guys again at the next stream where I got water and I pretty much hiked with them the rest of the day. The terrain was difficult until the last 6 miles which were flat. This was one of my hardest days, I think. Booble fell two more times and Sweet Ass fell once and broke one of his Leki poles. I didn't see any of these falls but was close behind and saw them picking themselves up each time. No one was hurt, so I laughed a lot. I slipped twice but my butt never touched the ground. I don't count that as a fall.We finally reached US7 and walked a short distance to The Corn Cribb Nursery to get ice cream but it was closed already. It was 7:00 by this time and we had walked all day. We walked another mile or so and found a flat spot by the Housatonic River to camp. It is next to a road and a corn field. The guy that owns the land came by on his ATV but didn't seem surprised by us at all. He waved and went on. We were glad to cook during daylight hours for a change. Sweet Ass took a bath in the river which I couldn't believe. We all went to bed pretty soon after dinner because today was a hard day. Massachusetts is not an easy state to get through but it is beautiful so far. We have 667 miles to go. I am very excited and so are my hiking buddies. I feel it getting closer and Katahdin draws me in like a magnet. This is an amazing journey so far. More amazing than I could ever have imagined. My butt is chaffed from my pack rubbing against it, my underwear and clothing are constantly wet from sweat, my fingernails and toenails are alway dirty, even after a shower, my arms and legs are covered in bug bites I refuse to scratch, I have a hiker tan from hell that may never even out, my face is constantly breaking out because I can't clean it properly, and the thought of eating trail mix makes me want to vomit. I have never been happier.Goodnight Oscar.