Date: 2014-09-02
From: Wilbur Clearing Shelter

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

It's suppose to start raining by 1pm today but it looks and feels like it could rain any minute. The trail took me through a residential neighborhood in North Adams for about 0.5 miles. Then it crossed over the Hoosic River and some rail road tracks on one of those raised caged walkways you see going over the highways. From then on, I was climbing for 4 miles.    As soon as I got some elevation, I called my brother, George, to let him know I'll be in VT today. He wants to bring my Dad (who lives in VT) to a place where the AT crosses a road so my Dad can hike a short distance with me. Turns out, he wants to try to do that in Hanover,NH and then my brother will hike with me to the finish line at Franconia Notch. Our conversation on the phone was short because I don't seem to be able to hold as good a charge on my phone as I use to.   Just after the top of a no name hill was a sign for the MA/VT boarder! Woohoo...another state done. The AT and Vermont's Long Trail join together for the next 105 miles. I called Misty real quick to thank her for the lame song of the day. Savannah chose Disney's When You Wish Upon a Star. What fun to look forward to a song they've chosen to encourage me on my way!! I have such a sweet daughter! And grand kids. And son-in-law.    I no sooner got off the phone with her and the rain started. So I put my pack cover on and took a potty break in case it starts to down pour. It never got too bad and it's so hot and I'm all wet from sweating that I didn't bother putting on rain gear. I'm only 3 miles from the shelter where I'll spend the night so I can dry off and warm up when I get there.    Since it's going to rain and I'll probably be the only one here for the night, I set up my tent in the shelter to stay dry and protected from Mosquitos. I really don't like stopping so early but the next camping area is 7.1 miles away and I'm trying to give my knees a break so they'll carry me to NH! I kept myself busy doing the usual stuff. They have a bear box here but it's locked up because people were using it for their trash. I was so bumbed because now I'll have to throw a rope to hang my food in a tree. It's a skill I have yet to perfect. It took several tries but I've got all day so no problem. As soon as everything was set up, it started to rain so I sat in my tent to do my journaling. There's no cell reception here so I won't be making any calls. I just hope the rain cools things off and is gone by tomorrow as the weather man has predicted.    Two guys from Germany showed up. They hiked SOBO from the shelter I'll be going to tomorrow. One is named Soul Mate after the name he got on a Coke bottle and the other guy's name is WAFH which means Wesser (his last name) Away From Home. It's nice to have someone spending the night but they're speaking German unless they're talking to me. They plan to hike SOBO until Great Barrington, MA then they'll hike for 3 weeks in Virginia.    A group of 6 Princeton Freshmen and 2 leaders showed up. They're doing an orientation/ team building trip. What a lot of food they're cooking! Hopefully they'll be done before hikers midnight.