Date: 2004-05-07
From: 1 mi. north Glen Brook Leanto

To: Tom Leonard Leanto
Miles today: 13.3

The wind finally quieted down so I could get a little sleep. When I awoke it was another glorious day. I finished walking the ridgeline to Jug End, then headed down into the valley. I met Ghost on his way up. He started in Dalton, MA, and is doing a Cool Breeze Hike, hiking down to Roanoke, then coming back to Dalton to hike to Katahdin, then back to Roanoke to finish the hike south. Crazy logistics, but I guess the weather must be good ¢ cool breezes.Once down off the ridge, there was a lot of walking around fields and through the woods. At one road crossing, there was a monument to the last battle, on February 27, 1787, of Shay¢s Rebellion, a revolt by farmers over high taxes. This revolt led the federalists to create a strong central government with the power to levy taxes and maintain an army. Seems like a pretty significant event in our history that is memorialized in a pretty obscure place.As the trail approached Rt. 7, it went through lowlands and marshes, and at one point the beavers had apparently been at work, because there were no boardwalks and you had to slog through water that almost topped my boots in places. There was no way around it and if I had been wearing my low boots my feet would have been very wet. But my good old leather Garmont boots with Goretex liner saved the day and I was dry.I finally made it to Rt. 7 and made a stop at the Corn Crib, a roadside nursery with cold drinks. After downing a Squeeze Cola and Snapple Lemonade, an old woman approached me and asked if I was going skiing. We chatted, and in her broken English she reminisced about hiking in the mountains of her native Italy and using ropes to get to the highest cliffs. Neat Lady! A guy I also talked with there said there were frost warnings for tonight so be prepared.From there it was an exhausting climb up East Mt. It was on this ascent that I devised my rest system, akin to the rests in a music piece. A quarter rest is a stop to lean on your poles. A half rest involves sitting on a rock or log with you pack on but taking the weight off your back. A whole rest is taking off your pack and sitting down. And the apostrophe, or quick breath, is what you¢re doing all the time. I used all of these on the way up East Mt. Once on top there were some nice views from the ledges looking back toward Race Mt., Mr. Everett and Jug End, but I noticed I was walking in the opposite direction that I was on those mountains. The trail finally rounded the mountain toward the shelter. I really struggled the last two miles until finally the shelter appeared below me as I topped a small ridge. What a beautiful sight, set among the boulders. I was ready to rest.This was another well protected site. It was still windy and suddenly there was a huge crash as a very large tree came down very close by. I was in the shelter and thought it was going to come through the roof, but it didn¢t. That¢s one reason I always look for dead trees before pitching my tent.I read the register entry by OT. He sounded exhausted after 23 days and over 500 miles without a break. He felt he was losing his reserves and would have to take a day off in Gorham, NH, after the Whites. I hope he makes it that far.Anyway, after today I¢ve done over 1500 miles on the AT. That feels pretty good.