Date: 2005-08-05
From: Mt Williams

To: Consultation Peak
Miles today: 15.1

Up before 6 and gone by 7. It was a cool morning with a nice breeze. I could not have picked a better spot. The bugs were out in force however, aren't they always? I came upon four other thru-hikers this day Socks, Cup of Joe, Break a leg and Long Haul.    Just about four miles north I came upon MA-2. I remember driving on this road many times when I would travel to New York from where I was stationed in Massachusetts (Fort Devens). This was one of my alternate routes beside going by the way of the Mass Turnpike. I headed to the right towards North Adams to get some lunch and supplies before I headed in to Vermont. I was back on the trail after a long 3 hour break. I recall stopping at a concrete dam (abandoned), once back on the trail, along the Sherman Brook and took a stream bath. Soon after I was standing at the Vermont border and stopped to read the sign that told of the fact that this was the southern terminus of the Long trail. The Long trail or LT runs the length of Vermont.   Here I met four LT hikers, Carolyn, Dan, Dog and Jason. Jason was starting that day from MA-2 in his attempt to hike the LT. He was also a former thru hiker who completed the trail a few years ago. We hiked together for quite some time and became friends. We also hiked the rest of the day together and ended up at 7:30 on the summit of Consultation Peak (2840 feet).         When we got to our camp site the topic of urination came up. Jason was about to urinate and I asked him if he had to go please do so on the trail just back about 25 yards. He asked why and I explained what I did in an area where I knew there were bear around (and today there were). The bear sign in the area was fresh (bear defecation, over turned rocks and logs and even a few tree's with claw marks where the bear climbed the trees) I would normally do the following. I would urinate on the trail where I came from. After supper I normally had to "go" again so I would do so up the trail just past where I set up for the night. The reason why is that the bear would use the trail at night because it was easier to travel on. When the bear got to the spot covered in urine, they normally would go around the camp because of the smell. Also after cleaning the dishes I would dump the waste water off in to the woods in a particular spot, if I had to urinate before bed I would go on the spot where I dumped that water (also that was where I would brush my teeth and spit out the tooth paste). This would mast the smell of food and such. Jason laughed at it all but did as I requested. The next morning he told me that something, in his words, "Huge" walked up the trail that night and turned around where he urinated. It made a believer out of him. I cannot say if this will work every time however, it does make you feel a little more comfortable. Of course we used or bear bags and hung them from our bear ropes.   Here we were in Vermont, eleven states were done and only three to go. Vermont all in all was beautiful. There were lots of tree tunnels to contend with and there were times where you would feel a little closed in but still, it was gorgeous. There was less then 600 miles to go on the AT. I remember back when I hit the 600 miles done mark. It was with Tal, Buffet and Goat. It seemed like a life time ago.