Date: 2015-07-01
From: Riga Shelter

To: US 7 Sheffield, MA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Well we got rain. We had a small storm hit sometime during the night. It ended fairly quickly, I was excited hoping the tent would be dry by the time i got up. At about 5am the next storm hit. It down poured, thundered and lightening until about 7am. Heck of a storm. When the storm abated I finally peeked out of my tent. I looked over and saw that another hiker's tent (I won't mention who!) was sitting in the middle of a giant pond! Lol! I was thanking my lucky stars that it wasn't my tent. I got everything packed up and I moved on out about 8. I had planned for a 24 mile day. There was no way I was going to make it that far with such a late start. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do. The trail was rough today. With all the rain the entirety of the trail was flooded. Water just gushed down where it could or pooled inches deep everywhere else. It was such a mess. The first part of my morning consisted of Bear Mountian. The climb up wasn't too bad. Rocks are always easier going up. I hit the observation tower and took a few pictures. It looked cool with all the clouds moving about. Then came the hard part. The climb down into Sages Ravine. Listed in the book as steep and rocky. That was putting it mildly. It was probably the most dangerous section I've hit in a long time. Mainly because everything was wet and rivers of water were rushing over the rocks. It took a very long time to get down. At one point I stood for 10 minutes looking down a rock slide trying to figure out how the heck I was going to get down. I slid down on my butt a few times too. Once I got down I walked along the river for a while. Nice but very rocky and very slippery. Eventually I made it to the border of MA and CT. But I had to cross the river first. The only way to do it was to take off my boots and ford across. The water was moving very quickly and it got fairly deep, up over my knees. ThaNk God for my trekking poles, they were the only thing keeping me up!I signed the log book at the border and ate a snack. Next came anot her climb up. Not too bad steepness wise but rocky. The view was amazing and I stopped to eat lunch there. Moment was there as well eating. She decided to push for the 24 miles, I was still undecided. After lunch I walked on some open ledges. Then I went down and back up. The next mountian was called Mt. Everest. It was a hard climb. All rocks, straight up. It was rough and never ending. And of course water was still flowing over everything. Finally I made it to the top. My legs are definitely feeling the strain today. The trail went back down again. By this point my feet were soaked. I tried to avoid giant puddles as much as possible but it didn't matter. There was just too much much water. Luckily, the weathe has been gorgeous all day. Nice and cool with a lovely breeze. And the sun poped in and out!I made it to the next shelter at about 245. I had only gone 10 miles. What a day! Sweet Eyes was there trying to figure out whether to stay or push for the 24. I decided to push on just a bitbfurther. At about 17ish miles was US7 and a woman there opens up her home to hikers. I was all about getting a shower!I moved on, I still had about 8 miles left to go. And it looked fairly easy on the map. Ha, what a lie. The ridgewalk was fairly easy. But the down was crazy. It was all rocks again! I swear I just couldn't escape the rocks today. It took forever to get down. But once I did it was a fairly straight 4 mile hike to the road crossing. ThaNk god. I needed some easy terrain. Although at one point I stepped off a bridge and I slipped on some roots, my ankle turned a way it wasn't suppose to. I cursed out loud, like really loud, when I looked up I noticed a day hiker coming around the corner. Lol! Oops, he asked if I was ok, lol. I finally made it to the road crossing and called Jess to come pick me up. She lives only 10 minutes from the trail. She also had to run to the grocery store so I was able to grab dinner and snacks. Jess is an awesome lady!! Her house is nice. Full tonight so I am tenting in the yard. I don't mind. I had an amazing shower, my laundry is being cleaned as I type. I get breakfast in the morning and a ride back to the trail. It's a great deal for what she's charging. I've been relaxing on the screened in porch all evening (haha suck it mosquitoes, oh wait you can't get me!)Hopefully tomorrow will have better terrain. Haha, yeah right