Date: 2008-06-25
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Glen Brook Lean-to, MA
Miles today: 14.3

So yesterday I sent my entry off with half the day still to go. It was a fantastic day, I ended up eating fried chicken, then Vanessa's son made me a steak and corn on the cob, then I bought some sushi and bananas and Ben n Jerry's and for breakfast this morning, I bought an individual quiche. I think I've done an adequate job of repleneishing my body's caloric defecit..don't you? The market here ROCKS with great food.A bit more on Vanessa though. I don't think I've ever encountered someone quite like her before. I mean, here is this woman, she works a lot, opens her house to hikers, cooks for them when she can, laughs with you, and is so REAL about herself, life, and has this incredible energy about her that makes you feel like you've lived here all your life. Her son has the same energy by the way. It was EXACTLY what I needed, and I don't know if I made that point clear enough to her, but I tried. I don't think she realizes the impact her hospitality had on me at this moment in my journey, but when it's all said and done, and I've got my picture standing on Katahdin...I'll tell her again when I send her that pic.I got my stuff packed up yesterday and got everything dried out again...but it doesn't look great for staying dry this week. The cool woman @ the coffee house told me she's never seen the weather quite like this before here in CT.So on to today. I didn't stress about waking up at the butt crack of dawn, and I am working on re-learning how to jst relax and enjoy myself again instead of being so uptight about consistent mileage. I'll get there eventually you know?I left around 8:30 a.m. and started walking to the trailhead, which was .4 away. I hadn't mentioned there was another hiker who was ill that was staying @ Vanessa's. His real name is Fred, and he's tried to do this trail in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008. The first 2 yrs he started over @ Springer, but not the past 3 times. He was only out for 2 days this year when a chronic illness with his pancreas hit him. We talked about how you become fixated on finishing this trail. I think he decided to go home due to being ill. I just reminded him the trail was always here.Today was exactly the kind of day I needed. Incredible weather, sunny high around 80, breezy, and NO storms. There was a lot of climbing today, but I just relaxed and amazingly they came and went.First was up to the Lion's Head. It was steep, but the view at top was spectacular. The cool thing was also that there were like 15 dragonflies buzzing all around me up there. Very cool.I moved on and ended up a bit later @ a nice stream, so I stopped and ate some of the oreo's Persistent mailed to me. mmmmmm....While I was there, 3 older day hikers stopped, Juliette, Ruth, and Jerry. They were WONDERFUL to talk to and I think they felt tthe connection as much as I did. It was great. They told me of a magical section of trail coming up.So I moved on and they were right. All of the mountain laurel was in bloom, so for as far as the eye could see, it was tiny white and pink flowers. It reached over you so at times you were in a tunnel of sorts, and the lightly sweet fragrance was incredible.I enjoyed this most of the way up to Bear Mt., which was a challenging climb, but not horrible. At the top, some man named Owen Travis, a mason, built this impressive rock shelf of sorts in 1885, that you can climb up and get the view of a lifetime. I sat there all by myself, soaking up the warm sun and breeze, ate lunch and just looked out for miles and miles. It is the highest point in CT @ 2345 ft.This was climb #2, and what you descend into after this mountain was so beautiful. Pine forest with a great stream with waterfalls. Just stunning, and you get to hike nex to the water for a long time. There's a campsite I want to come back to called Sage's Ravine. And then, shortly after and right before starting climb #3, I HIKED INTO MASSACHUSETTES!! 10 DOWN 4 TO GO!!Right before the stateline is this incredible little waterfall and pool of water where the river flows. 2 day hikers were sitting there enjoying a beer, and it was a perfect place to be. I'm taking Karen here some day.So climb #3 was Racecourse Mtn. It was steep in spots, but was a longer climb. It was amazing when I got close to the top because the trail was literally on the edge of the mountain and the view was something. Birds were hovering in the air and it was quite a reward for the climb.At the top I met family, Charlotte, her husband and youg son who had come from the other direction. Vey nice people, and Charlotte was very interested in my experiences out here like all of the coincidences, if I'd become more spiritual, etc. It was really cool talking to her, and she recommended a book to me, "Autobiography of a Yogi."I'll admit, I thought I was on Mt. Everret, but that's othing new. So now, 2,602 ft high Mt. Everett was next, at the end of the day of course. The trail went straight up this thing and the climb was exhausting. I actually had to stop once because I felt like I was going to throw-up. Not sure what that's about. I did get to the top and took a long break. There wasn't much of a view, but 2 thru-hikers named Tupperware (PA) and Heart (PA) showed up and they were beat too. We all sat there and talked about the difference in northern and southern culture, college, and all sorts of stuff. Really nice guys and rare in that thru-hikers normally don't sit and chat like that..they're all business usually.So I knew I had about 1 more mile to go...down. It again was the magical pine forest that I love so much. There are 2 shelters within .1, one is old and the other new. There's also a great stream crossing the trail, so I got my water and hiked to Glen Brook Lean-to, or the blue blaze leading to it. There are tons of perfect spots for hanging, so I set up and then met a section hiker woman from Maine, named Joe. She was nice and we chatted a bit.Then I walked up the blue blaze a bit and met 2 guys tenting. they're out for a few days too. I cooked dinner and used the bear box (Joe said she saw 3 bear today).So it's 68 degrees @ 8:42 p.m. and I'm beat. Today was a nice day, beautiful views, flowers, people, camping spot, streams...just a nice nice introduction to Massachsettes.~Certain