Date: 2005-07-28
From: Race Mountain

To: East Mountain (Mile 1512)
Miles today: 15.8

Up and gone by 7:05 this morning. Last night was a little cold towards the morning hours. It made me think of getting a mail drop together when I went home this coming weekend.    Yes I decided to go home again for my last weekend off with the family. When I returned to the trail I planned on not taking and more days off (going to my home that is) until I was done with the hike. I was walking away from the easy commute for anyone to come and pick me up. First of all instead of going home, I offered my wife a weekend in Great Barrington. Once she seen the cost of a nights stay there she said no way, come home instead. Because of last nights reminder of things to come, I planned on placing my cold weather gear in a box and bouncing it forward. I definitely wanted the equipment before I entered the Whites in New Hampshire. I decided that I would send everything I might need to Hanover, NH. Once there I would remove what I thought I would need and return everything else home. That plan worked out perfectly, the only thing I would recommend to improve on that type of plan is to add some packing tape to the mail drop (that way you would not have to pay for it once you were there, doing so is expensive). I was lucky because a hiker left a roll of tape in the hiker box at the Post Office in Hanover (to cool).   I stopped near the top of MT Everett (2602 feet) and took a couple of photos, one facing towards the open field from yesterday and the other facing the Catskill Mountain Range (my home). Some hikers confused the Catskills with the Adirondack Mountains. We were a little to far south for them just yet. The Catskills are actually not Mountains at all. They are in fact the bed of a Glacier River that is slowly eroding away. The highest peak in Slide Mountain just over 4000 feet. A nice area to hike and there is a trail called the Long Path that runs through them and very close to my home. Not enough hiker traffic for a Hostel however. Perhaps in the future.   At the Hemlocks Lean-to I read again that Dandylion was only 1/2 a day ahead of me (once again I did not catch him). For that I am sorry I did not continue on however, the trip home was worth every minute of it. My boy's last summer home before he heads off to college.   Today I passed the 1500 mile mark. I was just shy of 3/4 of the way completed. I soon ran into Nomad once again. I met him back down the trail somewhere. We decided to hike together for a while. We stopped at the Shay Rebellion stone and took pictures (in the log as well as others this day) We decided that we were both going to go to Great Barrington together. He needed to resupply and I needed to call home for the final details for my link up. The plan was to meet my wife at the Post Office in Tyringham, MA at 6 PM the next day (just over 20 miles away from Great Barrington). Post Offices make a great link up point because most everyone knows where it is. Plus if you are in a bigger town and can not find it, just look for the American Flag (they fly one top of all Post Offices).   Nomad and I had no problem hitching to town. As we were going in I noticed the Troll Family were coming out of town. They got a ride from Gordon and Sue (two trail Angels) who were giving rides all the way up the trail until they ran out of road (black top road that is). Gordon told me that he always seems to get a flat once he leaves a hard road. I can not blame that there (thanks for the Trail Magic you two from all of us). A quick call, two quick meals (yes two of them) and I was heading back to the trail (with some Ben and Jerry's ice cream in my hand). I had to walk the 2.8 miles back however, by the time I got there the B&J's was just right to eat.   At 6:30, just about a half mile from Homes Road, I saw my last Black Bear on the trail. He was number 20 and he was HUGE. I am not a judge of Bear size but I do know this. That Bear was the biggest I seen on the trail. I was walking one way and he was walking the other (perhaps 25 yards to my right).   Two ways to judge bear size, one is the snout (small snout means a young lighter bear), the other way is the distance from it's belly to the ground. A heavy bear shows its weight when there is hardly any room left to grow. This big old bruin's belly was darn near dragging on the ground. There is another way to judge if you can do it but, it isn't that accurate of a way to judge a bear's weight. Find a reference point where the bear walked by, something like a knot hole in a tree perhaps. Then go stand next to it. A higher back also adds to the weight of the bear. The only thing there is that a young bear may be as tall on the back as an older bear. At least this way will give you something to talk about later, "he was three feet of the ground" for example. The bear I saw that day gets bigger every time I tell the story. I think it is up to 600 pounds by now, just kidding, I would say he was 400 pounds if he was an ounce (and that is an under estimation). He got my hair to stand on edge, that is for sure.   I stopped just shy of the "Tom Leonard Shelter" for the evening, a vista on East Mountain (mile 1512). It was another cool night solidifying my plan to send insulated stuff forward. I even decided to throw my light weight silks (insulated underwear) in to my back pack when I got home. Yes it was a little early however, I was about to go in to a section of trail where the mountains were getting a little taller (so that means colder). I also had to wear earplugs once again last night. Those buzzing little blood hunters were again out in force and the noise was enough to disturb a man's sleep.