Date: 2010-07-03
From: Silver Hill campsite

To: Race Mtn. Vista
Miles today: 26.9

One good thing about being exhausted is that you can sleep even when you¢re worried. My alarm woke me at 4:45am. The mosquitoes are thirst and hungry for their breakfast. I¢ve learned to pack everything from the safety of my bug net. I eat my strawberries and hemp granola with a spoon these days because the grains get stuck in my beard when I use my hands.My stomach is not happy at all about yesterdays mail-drop buffet! Lish sent close to 10lbs of food for 6 days, but I only needed enough for 2 days. I ate cookies and that Blondie thinking, this isn¢t going to harm me, it¢s not town food!Wrong!Someone said that toilet paper was like money. When you start running out of it, it goes faster. It was an absolute crawl to US7 when I started feeling better. Leaves were meant for trees, not butts. The hardest part about hiking is crapping in the woods. Every single meal I ingest undergoes a strict rule of no red sauce, and nothing spicy!It¢s a good thing I left early because this is taking forever! It¢s NOT downhill from Pine Swamp Branch shelter into town. When I arrived at US7, the AT had been ¢Detoured¢. That¢s a first! They¢re repairing the Housatonic bridge to make it more pedestrian friendly. The trail was marked with orange light reflective signs leading west. I walked on the side of the street past Lime Stone race track and lots of horse pastures. The fast moving cars made me so nervous. They move so quickly that I can¢t judge their distance for road crossings. Wasn¢t sure if Rest Stop would take the detour or go over the ¢closed¢ bridge so I rushed back to the trail relocation at Iron Bridge.Luckily I didn¢t have to crap while walking on the highway and I made it to a picnic area with a port-a-john equipped with toilet paper! So excited about that!There is an unbelievable waterfall and an excellent swimming area. Got water and took a break to eat some Oreo¢s and fruit roll ups. Unfortunately the detour didn¢t benefit me by circumnavigating any climbs. I did get to see what I thought might be a Lipizzaner stallion.Rest Stop comes by and tells me he hasn¢t seen Orbit. He thinks she¢s still behind. Last night Rest Stop was giving Orbit crap about dragging all day and sleeping in. I actually thought to myself that she was going to get up early and show him!Prospect Mtn. has the prettiest pines I¢ve seen on the trail. It¢s so shaded from the sun by the dense canopy above that I can¢t even feel the heat from the afternoon sky. It¢s so dark that it seems like 7pm! Incredible! The conifer smell is overpowering!Rest Stop was taking a break at Rand¢s view. I could tell that something was bothering him. He asked, ¢So you¢re blowing out your ass too?¢ He¢d been suffering for two days he told me. I was thinking those two Nathan¢s hot dogs were a horrible idea! I tried encouraging him without making it to obvious. I like doing that, saying something with double meanings. It doesn¢t sound as cheesy when it¢s not clearly meant to be inspirational.There¢s a giant project of rock that sticks up out of the ground nearby for no apparent reason. It¢s called the Giants Thumb.The trail is nice and graded, soft, and cushy with pine needles. Lots of roots but a whole lot better than rocks! By the time I make it to US44 I see Rest Stop and Orbit headed for Salisbury. I was right! She did get up to beat him there. She must really care about what Rest Stop thinks to do that.What an awesome trail from Lion¢s head to Riga lean-to! Took a short break at the spring to rest up for Bear Mtn. Laid on my ridge-rest to give my spine a break from the burden of being upright. Amazing how many people are out today. Lots of perfume and cotton clothes. Blazing hot sun on the way to Bear Mtn. peak. Short trees and brush all around. 2316ft up and this is the highest I¢ve been in quite a long time. Met two ridge-runners who thought I wasn¢t going to stop for the view on top of a rock pile. Decent view of the canopy covered forest and mountains. Seems like Connecticut stopped mangling their natural resources with mountain top removal, cookie cutter suburbia, and cellphone towers! I haven¢t seen many powerline cut downs either. Maybe they put their lines under the ground?Fun climbing down the other side of Bear Mtn. It¢s called, Jug End. It¢s definitely the ¢End¢ of something! My left knee has started popping like bubble wrap with every loaded step down. When I step down with my right leg my knee makes a disconcerting sound. Doesn¢t hurt, but it¢s of concern when your car makes a funny noise but is still running, for now.The forest floor beneath Bear Mtn. was a splendid example of a very healthy environment. There¢s a large amount of moss and fern growth by the cold flowing river. The river runs through moss carpeted boulders. Dark and healthy top soil. Oh YEAH, I took a break alright! At first I was concerned about the significant number of flying objects flickering through the sunbeams shining like rays of light through the canopy above. Lots of winged creatures. As I slowed my pace, expecting an onslaught of blood suckers to my surprise it turned out to be only gnats! Just eye bugs! I sat down on a log that turned out to be soaking wet. My shorts are drenched. I get my pad out and start thinking about how Lish sounded on the phone last night. Wrote in my new journal for the first time.Considered packing out 3 liters of the spring water to Race Mtn. We¢re expecting a fireworks show tonight so we¢re trying to find a vista camp even though they want you to stay at the official shelters and camping areas. I asked the Ridge-runners where they believed the fireworks would be seen from. Thankfully they said Race Mtn. and not Everett Mtn. which is miles away and involves a 500ft climb.Rest Stop catches me chilling by the river at Sages Ravine Campsite. His attitude has improved! He told me that he had his worst day and his best day on the trail today. Interesting. Funny how I can sense peoples mental states just in a few seconds. He doesn¢t mention it, but I hope my little inspirational speech helped. Everyone seems to be carrying more baggage than their backpacks. Rest Stop convinces me to wait to get water at Laurel Ridge campsite. We hike out together and we¢re at the campsite entirely to soon for 1.3 miles. I think Mass. Must have a shorter ruler than PA. Rest Stop made the point that if it¢s shorter here, it¢s going to be redeemed somewhere else. More than likely, we¢ll have to make it up in a swamp where the gringo townies have more intelligence than to wander into.I leave Rest Stop sitting by the spring. I assume he¢s going to wait for Orbit to tell her to get water there. He tells me to find an awesome campsite as I walked away. This is exciting! I can already see the cliffs forming through the pine trees. I pass revegitation zones, but I can¢t see their appeal as campsites. I can do better! Luckily I meet two guys going south who inform me that just ahead are some extremely sharp cliffs with awesome vistas. They tell me it¢s going to get steep and scary! They warn me that if I¢m afraid of heights that it ¢might be difficult¢ My heart has ventricular spasms! Oh Boy! The first almost genuine south bounder that I¢ve encountered confirms the cliffs credibility! The south bounder started from the 2000 mile point. He¢s wearing Trogs knee high glacier gaiters. Rest Stop tells me that it will be a common sight to see SOBO¢ers with high gaiters.I think it¢s pretty steep and spooky on Race Mtn., but I believe I¢ve seen better. Two days out of Pearisburg, VA was the scariest point on the trail for me. Those slanted rocks were more dangerous because if you fell, no trees where there to catch you.There¢s a lake with lots of boats leaving white bubbly wakes in their aftermath. I can see for a hundred miles towards the east. Nice and short mountain ridge-lines with few farm lands scouring the sights. Looking North, I can see where I¢m going and I feel anxiety setting in. Tallest mountain ridge-lines that I¢ve seen in a long time. I find a decent spot with tent options and cowboy camping capabilities. Blueberries begging you to climb closer to the edge of the cliff for a taste of their sweetness.Rest Stop and Orbit arrive and they approve of my choice. We have a good view of Salisbury and Great Barrington. We make bets on where the fireworks will be seen from. There¢s a sporting even on the western side of the mountain and they have more spirit than any non-college team I¢ve ever heard. The normal horde of flies and bugs surround us as we eat dinner. Hard to get comfortable sitting up on the rocks with no back support. I think my posture is becoming worse. It becomes apparent that cowboy camping is out of the question when the mosquitoes start fogging our exposed skin. We¢re waiting for darkness to see the fireworks but my patience with the blood suckers is getting thin. I put my fleece blanket over my legs and put on my jacket. The hood is up and cinched tight to my face and I pull my hands into my sleeves. Rest Stop says, ¢This is the only time it¢s nice to have a beard.¢ As the vampires bounce off the rain shell jacket I think to myself that I¢m going to put up my tent. Rest Stop soon follows suite. Hard getting my tent stakes in. Poor Orbit can¢t hang her hammock, but it doesn¢t seem to bother her. We ask if she¢s awake when the fireworks start, but we get no response. She¢s already asleep. Lots of money going up in smoke tonight. They¢re just not that impressive from 2300ft up!