Date: 2018-07-13
From: Riga Shelter

To: Glen Brook Shelter 
Miles today: 9.7

After a long day and a late night, by the time we looked out the tent the sun had already risen. So, we kind of rolled over and went back to bed. When we did get up we packed up and went over to the shelter to have our breakfast, it was a beautiful spot looking out down into the valley. We had breakfast with Loon Seeker, a hiker from Maine who is finishing up the trail. Today we are excited because we are going to be entering Massachusetts and leaving Connecticut behind.We started right out with the climb up Bear Mountain which is the highest peak in Connecticut. On top is a huge cairn that you can climb up on top of and get a panoramic view. Soon after we headed down into Sages Ravine. At the start of the ravine is the actual Massachusetts/Connecticut border, even though the sign is located a mile or so away. Once we got down into the Ravine the water looked so inviting Mary soaked her feet and we both tried to clean a little of the grime off ourselves. When we reached the sign we stopped to take pictures even though it wasn¢t the actual Massachusetts/Connecticut border. Then, we set off  starting the climb up Race Mountain. Once up on top you cross a series of ledges that run along the ridge with wonderful views all along. As a bonus there are lots of blueberries you can pick.On the way down Race we met two hikers that I call official southbounders, meaning they started from Katahdin and were heading all the way to Georgia. I'm sure there have been others that have passed us and we just haven't seen them.Mount Everett wasn't as bad as I remember going over, but we were pretty tired and hot by the time we got to the bottom. You come out at a little State Park and some kind souls had left some jugs of ice water there. We were grateful to have some cold water to drink and also to fill up our water bottles. We wanted to swim in Guilder pond, but when I looked at it it looked kind of swampy so we decided against it. As we were starting for the shelter we met a couple coming up from the pond, they said you have to go down for a swim. As we talked to them we realized the guy had thru hiked last year and had been told that he should go for a swim there, and when he did he was pleasantly surprised. He told us to follow the path down to a large rock and he said you won't regret it. We decided to take his advice and took the path down to the rock. At first we were little unsure, but we were so warm and sticky that we quickly just stripped down hopped in and it felt really good. I was certainly glad we met the guy and he convinced us to go in as the campsite was only a half mile ahead so we didn't even really work up a sweat. We arrived in camp still feeling pretty good from the swim and quickly set up on a tent platform. As we set up we realized it was starting to cool down a little. There's another Outward Bound type group camping here tonight, so it's pretty busy around the campsites. As we came in we saw Vermont setup right under a no camping sign. Later on we saw the two hikers that had been showering (outside back in CT) come in. Turns out these two hikers are Ed and Elaine, no trail names yet. They are  from England and are about our age and are thru hiking the trail. They seem really fun and we had a good time talking to them, but then they also had to go set up their camp. Tomorrow should be a short day because we're going into Sheffield to resupply and will be staying at Jess's, a hostel in town. Originally we planned on going into Great Barrington, but after calling around to the hotels we decided we couldn't afford it as most were well over $200 for just a night.