Date: 2015-07-09
From: Great Barrington 

To: Tom Leonard Shelter 
Miles today: 10.0

We got a late start out of Great Barrington so it was a 10 mile day. I am laying in the shelter with about 8 other hikers, me being the only female, as it is hiker midnight at 8:30pm. Thru-hikers go to bed as soon as it gets dark and are usually early to rise except for me apparently when I have a zero day. It is absolutely pouring down rain this evening. I'm glad I got to the shelter early enough to get a spot. I try not to tent on the rain unless I don't have a choice just because of the extra weight of carrying a wet tent. It is very relaxing to me to listen to the sound of rain as I sleep but stressful now because if slippery and dangerous trails to climb.I must say that I really enjoyed the trail today with the exception of the annoying biting mosquitoes that would not leave me alone despite 100% deet and swatting at them constantly. I am now wearing a head net to help lessen the bites on my face. IT affects my vision and feels a little suffocating so it comes on and off. When it is off these relentless buggers dive bomb into the corners of my eyes, ears and nose. I have even swallowed a couple of them. Some are even unlucky enough to get squashed in my hair. Back to why this would have been a perfect hiking day without the bug annoyance. For the most part the trail was a pine packed carpet. This is why I'm calling this A Walk in the Woods because none on my hike has been that way except for a couple days. For the first day since entering New York there hasn't been huge downhill rock climbs that I worry I may not make over. There were the obligatory AT rocks of course but not the kind that slow my pace down to a crawl. The trail still had the regular ups and downs that leave me panting, but the rocks were manageable for me today. Such a happy camper I am today.Upon walking an easy 3.5 miles from where we left the trail we came upon more trail magic from Red Panda, family & Friends. It was perfect as I needed more water. I found organic lemonade which I poured into one of my bottles. It tasted delicious and was a rare treat for me. I also sprayed some of their bug spray on me, got a couple baggies, filled up my hand sanitizer bottle, took one ibuprofen for my knee since it seems to have forgotten how to work properly since being off from a day. Thank you so much for your generosity. The cooler was full of so many items hikers would need. I am definite going to pay all this forward one day.We hiked along the Housitanic River some more which goes through 3 or 4 states. I was sad to find out it is polluted with pcp and you should not swim in it or drink it. I have often wanted to swim in it, but the timing wasn't right. Today was the day I thought I would run into Fozzie but it didn't happen. I hope he didn't pass Me when I got to Great Barrington.My sore toes have gotten better since I switched to Infiniti toe socks. They are very thin and I have extra room in the toe box. My sores and bruises are going away. So far I am happy with this. My other socks were just too thin I think.We hiked through some cornfields today and even went by a farmhouse that was raising sheep. You don't see that often, and of course they were very cute. Thus is also fun because it is so different. The trail continued with great terrain even when it went over big stretches of rocks. We made it to shelter and managed to gather our water and cook dinner before the heavy rains started. The rain is steady. Hopefully it will be gone when I awake and the trail will be perectlly dry, and while I'm at it, I may as well wish for the mosquitoes to be done and to never reappear.