Date: 2017-07-04
From: Limestone Spring Shelter

To: Race Brook Falls Campsite
Miles today: 15.2

The owls were very talkative this morning, carrying on for about 30min at around 330am. I had breakfast with SlumberTime and Wolfie and then all 3 of us headed back up the steep trail back to the AT. The three of us hiked together for the 4mi to the road, chatting about OneGallon (a guy who I met back at the Grayson Highlands and who hikes almost all year round, wintering in an of grid cabin, and had racked up ~40,000mi of hiking so far and was aiming for 50k by the time he turned 60), my work, and various other hiking-related topics.Just before the road we came upon a blackberry bush and spent a few minutes eating before heading down and meeting up with Jaws. The three of them were getting a ride from this road to a 4th of July party, but they apologized that they couldn't invite me as they were already 10 hikers over the capacity that the host had specified. That kinda sucked, but I understand the reasoning, and so took my leave and walked the 0.8mi into Salsbury, CT.I got breakfast at a local cafe and then did a mini-resupply to top off my supplies to get me to Cheshire, MA. While walking through the store, thinking about my lack of plans, I figured that there had to be other hikers on trail without any plans. I'm a big fan of the saying "The trail provides" (meaning that you can find what you need out here one way or another if you have a good attitude and open mind), but in this case I decided that the trail wasn't providing up to my standards and that sometimes you need to make your own magic. I'm addition to my resupply, into the pack went a 6 pack of beer, a package of hotdogs, and a loaf of buns. Just about to walk back to the trail, I decided to stop and get an ice cream (it's the 4th after all) and emerging from the shop was hailed by a man sitting at one of the tables out front. Sir NapsAlot and I got to talking (he wants to do the AT someday) and he had just gotten done with a 4 day weekend backpacking trip in the area. His car was parked right down the street and he offered me a ride back to the trail, which I gladly accepted. See! The trail provides.The ride was quick, but I was still glad that I didn't have to walk that 0.8mi again. Back on the trail I headed uphill (there's always an uphill after town...) and passed a number of day hikers, out enjoying this beautiful holiday. Not long after the road I passed the 1500mi marker, wooo! That's a long way, but still (thankfully) have a long way to go.I was planning for this to be a short day (as part of my at-least-one-nero-a-week plan for staying healthy) and so my plan was to just go up to Riga shelter, at the top of this hill, which was perfect since Riga had a view (though it had unreliable water, but that could be planned for). According to AWOL there were supposed to be three water sources on the way up to the shelter. I passed one, wanting to wait to fill up so that I'd have to carry it too far, but then not long after came to a view which meant that I was past all of the streams. Well shit. If the shelter didn't have water it looks like I was hiking on. It didn't take too long to reach the shelter, which was 0.2mi off trail, and as I walked to the shelter I crossed the stream which was the water source for the shelter, flowing nicely. Score! The shelter was positioned so that it's occupants had a nice view of a lake and the valley below, and so I dropped pack at the picnic table out front and met Susan and Bridget, two teachers on summer vacation and doing a couple days of hiking. Sidenote: shout-out to them for finding my trail journal and signing the guest book!Having just come up the hill they realized that they had over packed food and offered me TRAIL MAGIC in the form of a cheese stick and any of their snacks that I wanted. Had I been low on food I would've jumped at the deal, but as it were, I was overloaded myself, and so we agreed to trade a hotdog (warmed on my canister stove) for a Snickers and a salmon packet. While we were hanging out, a ridgerunner, stationed at a campsite a little ways north of here, stopped by and chatted. She refused a beer or dog, but CaptainJack accepted one of the beers, which I was happy to not have to lug  out of here.A group of kids showed up, intending to camp for the night, and Susan and Bridget immediately began packing their bags with the intent of high tailing it out of here. They apparently had enough of kids during the school year and had no desire to camp with them, which I thought amusing. Everyone trickled out of camp and left me there and I used the time to journal for about another hour before becoming restless. It was only 3pm which meant that I could do a couple more miles, still have my short day, and camp on top of Bear Mt and hopefully see a bunch of fireworks from the surrounding towns tonight. Plan made.I packed the remaining dogs and beer and headed out, running into Susan and Bridget talking to SirLinear, who I had run into a couple times before. I managed to offload another beer (more weight off my back!) before continuing up the mountain. Of course, as soon as I got close to the summit I ran into a no camping sign, putting a twist into my plan. I headed up anyways, enjoying the blueberries along the way and coming to the summit at the stone tower (which I'd call more of a rock pile) which was just high enough to get panoramic views of the surroundings.Though there were a couple of obvious tent sites at the summit, I obeyed the signs and headed down the mountain, encountering a steep scramble. One occurence doesn't make a pattern, but in VT the north side of all the mountains tends to be steeper and rockier than the other side... perhaps this is the start of that. The scramble wasn't long and soon I emerged back down into the forest and camp upon the caretakers campsite. I headed up and hung out with the caretaker and Arcadia and chatted for a while, both of us trying to decide if we were going up push on and do another couple miles today. I mentioned that I still had some hotdogs and the caretaker offered that I could cook them on her propane grill, which was alot faster and easier than my stove. Arcadia and I both had two, which thankfully finished off my supply.It felt alot later than it was at the campsite, which was tucked down in between a couple mountains, the sun already having long since set here, but Arcadia and I eventually both decided to move on. I wanted to see some fireworks tonight but didn't feel like backtracking to Bear Mt, which the caretaker was planning on doing, so I hit the trail. So much for an easy day...The trail followed a river for a bit and then emerged from between the mountains and then started following the ridge north, paralleling the sheer hill that seperated the mountains from the valley below. I came across a river flowing towards the edge and I headed off trail to follow it and found where it began it's cascade down the rocky ridge and was treated to a view of the mountains casting their ever-elongating shadows on the land below.Back on trail and climbing up, I followed the cliff closely for 0.6mi which allowed a continuous view to the east and the opportunity to eat as many blueberries as my stomach could fit from the plentiful bushes taking advantage of the sunny rocks to grow. The blueberries continued all the way to the peak of Race Mt, where I decided that I'd watch the sunset and any fireworks that might be visible. The sunset was spectacular, the receding light illuminating the spotty clouds like the slowly cooling embers of a campfire as the sun disappeared behind a mountain range to the west (possibly the catskills?). At 9pm sharp the show began, fireworks popping silently across the landscape below me. More and more locations joined in the show as the night deepened, countless silent explosions of color dotting the horizon, some so far away and so numerous as to appear to be a blinking light. I had watched fireworks from multiple towns from the top of Annapolis rocks (in MD) a couple of years ago, but never before had I realized the extent to which Americans like blowing stuff up. The show went on for some time and for most of it I didn't know which way to look... north, south, east, and west all trying to outdo the other. By the end of the show the moon had taken the sun's place, high in the sky, and was illuminating the landscape intensely enough to cause the trees to cast shadows. I used it as my light part way down the mountain, until the trees became too dense to allow it's light through.My campsite wasn't far, only a mile or so down from the peak and it wasn't long until I had arrived and had found a (semi) flat spot for the night.A group of kids were also staying at this site tonight and was just getting a campfire started as I was bedding down. They were having a good time... a very good time... a time so good that it was audible through my ear plugs, but I didn't feel like trying to quiet them down and so just ignored it and soon enough was fast asleep.