Date: 2005-04-19
From: Mt. Wilcox North Shelter

To: MA Rt. 41
Miles today: 17.1

Since I covered 15.6 miles yesterday with a late start and still have great weather, perhaps today will be my first 20+ AT mile day? Deb had told me how nice Hemlocks Shelter was. Of course, this entails 3 rough miles of uphill at the end of the day but with the expanded daylight, I can make it, no?Well, what I didn¢t reckon was two factors: (1) today was hot, at least for hiking with no shade canopy and heat wears me down (I¢m not complaining ¢ better today¢s weather than a cold rain); and (2) the segment from Rt. 23 to Rt. 7 was quite difficult ¢ lots of ups and downs, some too small to be reflected on the elevation profiles but as I noted while hiking the Nantahalas in North Carolina, it registers on the body!Actually, I began slowing down before Rt. 23 in an area named ¢The Ledges¢ ¢ an apt term for the rock structures and views. Very scenic and interesting surrounds in the forest and rocks but not conducive to making good time.And it was more of the same and then some after Rt. 23 along with some wetlands and muck. Somehow in the going I missed the sign for Tom Leonard Shelter, a disappointment in that Northern Harrier has specifically requested me to take a photo there. Many of the small ups and downs required delicate footing; this wasn¢t simply a matter of being in shape. High stepping, navigating along large slanted flat boulders (especially taxing on the downslopes), dealing with the dry leaves reminiscent of my November Pennsylvania hike with Scarf and pure steep descents made for slow going and tired the old body. I fell twice on account of the dry leaves, spraining or breaking my left middle finger and mildly spraining my right wrist.I¢m enjoying this without getting hung up on today¢s mileage or destination. Passing Benedict Pond, getting a glimpse of another pond/lake off to the left, seeing Mt. Everett in the distance across the Housatonic Valley with occasional shots of the Catskills in the distance. One of the small knobs circumnavigated a deep impressive gulch whose snow may not melt until high noon of the summer solstice. But the descent to Homes Road was very slow going and was followed by another ascent.Finally arriving at Rt. 7, I thought about my options. Although it¢s only 3:00, I think I¢ll have difficulty beginning a steep ascent up Mount Bushnell after 9 hours of hiking and traipsing over what is likely rocky terrain to reach Hemlocks. Yes, I can probably make it in daylight but at what price? So I decided to end today at Rt. 41, hitch to the car, and spend the night in a motel in Great Barrington. Tomorrow I¢ll slack pack the remaining stretch. As it is, I¢ll finish the day with 17.1 miles.It was tempting to stealth camp along the 4 12 miles Rt. 7-to-Rt. 41 but I resisted the urge ¢ wasn¢t hard to resist with the prospect of a shower and good dinner tonight! Per the guidebooks, camping is prohibited in this stretch as well the Jug End Road area. The pleasant surprise was needing only 30 seconds of thumb-sticking to secure a ride to the car. So I¢m in the Mountain View Motel in Great Barrington (I stayed there one night in my Connecticut hiking) and looking forward to slackpacking tomorrow.