Speck In The Woods

Day 3: 8/13/17

We once again started our day cleaning wet, muddy tents. I did, however, sleep really well last night. This morning when I put my stinky socks back on, I felt something really cold in one of them. I took it back off quickly to find a fat, juicy slug in it. Yuk. If I were on that survivor realty show “Alone”, I would have roasted him up for breakfast. I decided to stick with cereal and a power bar instead.

We left camp about 8:20 and hiked in the mist and fog for several miles before the fog started to lift. It seems mysterious in the woods when the birds aren’t singing and there’s a thick fog, but I kind of enjoy that for a change. One positive is that it’s comfortable hiking as far as temps go.

We stopped at Congdon shelter for lunch and set our tents out to try to dry them. They didn’t get completely dry, but it helped. We moved on. We came up on Glasenbury firetower and decided to climb it in hopes of getting a good view and we did.

We had planned a 17.5 mile day, but we hiked about 14.5 and stopped at a stealth site to camp. It was nice because we got there in time to get our chores done and enjoy a nice meal before nightfall.

I’m having a great time. I’m enjoying Caitlin’s company and being on the trail again.

Day 2:  8/12/17

We started our day cleaning drenched, muddy tents. It rained all night long and it rained hard. The good thing is that it stopped before time to hike out. We had breakfast and started our day. We met several hikers today. Most of them are AT hikers. We met a guy, Mitchell, and his dog, Hazel, who are doing the Long Trail. Mitchell doesn’t have a trail name yet, so Thumbsucker and I feel obligated to give him one. We’ll see what we come up with.

We had a pretty good trail today. It was wet and muddy in spots, but nothing like in 2015.

We made 13 miles. When we got to the shelter, the shelter was full and all the tent sites were full as well. There was a storm brewing and we were scurrying trying to find somewhere to set up before the storm. We hiked back down the trail about 1/2 mile to a small site in the woods we had seen on the way up. We literally put the last stake in the ground and dove in the tents and the monsoon hit. It was a ferocious storm. There was no time for supper before diving in and the storm continued for quite a while. We had to dart out in the rain to hang food bags once we saw it wasn’t going to stop.

So, no supper for me. Guess I’ll just have to look forward to some cereal and a power bar in the morning.

Day 1: 8/11/17

And, We’re Off

We started our day with breakfast at the hotel. Caitlin called Uber and within 2 minutes we were off to the bus station. We had 3 bus changes to get from Hartford to Williamstown. Our shuttle driver had a 3 pm appt. so we couldn’t be late. But….we were. We got to Williamstown at 2:54. He kindly threw our packs in his trunk, drove about 3 miles down the road to where his appt. was, hopped out and said take the car to the trailhead and leave the keys inside. Wow! We were total strangers and he literally gave us his car. We made our way to the trailhead, donned our packs and were off. We hit the trail at about 3:30 pm. Right off the bat, we came up on trail magic. A cooler of cold water. We didn’t take any because we didn’t need any at the time. But, so nice of someone to leave it there.

We made our way the 3.8 miles to the start of the Long Trail. Caitlin took a spill on a bolder and literally bent her thumb nail backwards–ouch. It immediately turned blue. She was a trooper and toughed it out. She did, however, acquire the trail name “Thumbsucker” from the event. She immediately put her thumb in her mouth when she hurt it and her trail name was born.

When we reached the Long Trail sign, we met a couple young AT NOBOS thru-hiking. Sir Poops A Lot and Stacks. We took turns taking each other’s pics at the sign. We then continued on another 3.2 miles to the Seth Warner Shelter where there are about 15 people. Most are AT hikers. A couple women are just out for the weekend and a young guy already in his tent is hiking the LT.

We set up our tents, cooked our dinners, hung our bear bags and were down for the count about 9:20. Within 10 minutes of turning in, the rains started.

It was a good day. We covered 7 miles on the trail, but we’re really only about 3.2 miles along on the Long Trail.

Stayed in Atlanta last night. Had the girls with us and enjoyed a few hours of visiting with them before heading out. Danny and I dropped them off at school after breakfast and I took Lyft to the airport and Danny headed to work.

I arrived at the airport by 9 am and at 12:15 I’m still sitting here at the C-6 gate waiting for a missing flight attendant to show up from Cleveland before we can start boarding. I don’t mind as long as I don’t miss my connecting flight in Baltimore.

Travel days are the worst for me. I’m trying to practice patience, but I’m not good at sitting still this long. I’m thankful, though, that within a day I can be at my destination. If I think about it, walking to Connecticut took me about 3-1/2 months or so before, so I guess a few hours in the airport and/or bus is not so bad.

My thoughts as I sit here are that, as always, I’ll miss my family and friends; that I’m excited to hike; that I’m excited to visit with my friend, Caitlin; that I hope I have everything that I’ll need; that I hope my backpack makes it to my final destination; that I should be eating because it’s gonna be my last few “good” meals and that I’m already missing my bath and bed. Yep. Haven’t even left yet and I’m already appreciating people and comforts more.

Fast forward to 3:30 and here I am in Baltimore. Made it in time for my connecting flight with a little time to spare.
I love people-watching. Just like me, 90% of everyone else is looking at some sort of electronic device. What did we do before all of this stuff???? We must have been terribly bored. Or, maybe we actually spoke to one another. When people talk to one another in person, its much more interesting listening to their conversations when you can hear both sides of that conversation. Nowadays all we hear are one-sided conversations. Leaves a lot to the imagination I guess.

Let’s fast forward again.

“Welcome to Hartford” they said at 5:30 pm. Yay!!!!! Finally at my destination for the day.

On the agenda for tomorrow is to meet up with Caitlin after she gets in later tonight and we’ll hop the Peter Pan bus in the morning and head to Massachusetts. We have a shuttle driver, Dave, meeting us at the bus stop. He’s bringing us fuel so we don’t have to go to the Outfitter. He’ll drive us to the trailhead and we’ll have a 3.8 mile hike to get to the start of the Long Trail. Hopefully, we’ll have time to get another few miles in before dark. Hoping to get to Seth Warner Shelter area before nightfall. We shall see.

I can’t believe I’m going to eat this much food in 3 weeks. I’ve organized my resupply boxes to be sent to 4 different locations along the trail. One box had to be sent Fed Ex, so it’s already on its way. The remaining 3 boxes will be mailed out tomorrow. It’s always exciting to receive a resupply box when you’re getting low on food. The down side is that your pack weight will once again be much heavier. I guess that’s the price you pay for being able to eat. I’m not very good at foraging. Actually, I’ve never foraged, so I guess you could say I’m not good at all at it. Okay—I’ll be happy with the weight (for a minute or two, then I’ll whine about it again😜).

Tomorrow’s task is to actually get my pack (Olfrie, as I call her — thanks for the name, Karen) packed and ready. It shouldn’t be a big task. I don’t like to pack it too soon or I second guess myself as to whether I included everything I should have and I start going back in and checking.  Once it’s packed, I think all the logistics (with the exception of my return shuttle and flight) will be complete and I’ll be set to go. I’m counting down the days and looking forward to getting in the woods.

Well, the best made plans can change, and that’s exactly what happened.

I’ve been planning for 6 months, along with two other friends, to hike the John Muir Trail which runs from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney. In order to hike this trail you must obtain a permit and while that sounds simple, its not an easy task. Many, many people apply each year and don’t get permitted. A lottery system is used to select who gets in and who doesn’t. And…guess what? My friends and I won the lottery this year and were chosen to hike the JMT.

We’ve been so excited (no–we’ve been ecstatic) about this for 6 months. Well…….2017 was the worst winter in history in the Sierras and on the trail. Wouldn’t you know it—the year we won the lottery Mother Nature has to show her fanny. ❄️🌊💦💨☔️☃️🔥🌫. We anxiously watched and waited. Rivers flooded, lakes remained frozen, trails and resupply places were either buried by 10 feet of snow or flooded. The trail became treacherous and has claimed several lives. We thought for sure that by our start date, August 6, it would have improved enough to be a challenge maybe, but no longer dangerous. But, that’s not the case. We had to make a decision as to whether we would attempt it or not before mailing our food. All information and people closely monitoring the situation advised “DON’T DO IT”. As hard as it was, the three of us agreed that we’d be better off being safe instead of sorry. I know it was the right decision, but I’m very disappointed. We will, though, try again next year.

They always say, “The trail will always be there. It isn’t going anywhere.” However, now I wonder if that’s true. It almost washed away this year. Lol

Okay. Now on to what’s up next.

I’ve decided that since I was prepared for a three week hike, I will hike The Long Trail. This trail runs from the MA/VT border to the Canadian border. It’s 273 miles of rugged terrain. I’ve already hiked the first 100 miles of it before because it coincides with the AT for that 100 miles. I will, however, re-hike that 100 miles in order to make it a thru-hike. It should take me close to 3 weeks. My good friend from New Mexico that I met on the trail in VA back in 2013 will be hiking with me. She’s a good friend, a good hiker, and a good trail buddy.

Our plan is to fly out on August 10 and meet and hit the trail on the 11th and hike till we’re done.

The cell service will be spotty on the trail, but I plan to type in notes each night and post when I have service, so I may be posting several days of delayed posts all on the same day.

I’ll try to do a better job with descriptions and pictures. We’ll see. I always want to write and post but I’m usually so ready for bed at the end of the day that I hurriedly just jot a quick note and turn in.

I would love to have you follow along and send me comments from time to time. It’s always good to hear from home.

Bear with me and excuse any posts or pics that might not make sense. I’m having to re-learn this program. It’s been quite a while. 😬

Speck

Remembering how to post on this site after all this time. Heading back to the woods soon. Come along with me.

I guess the only way to put into words why I did this is that once I started it and knew I COULD do it, I knew I HAD to do it or I would forever regret not following thru with something I started. I didn’t want to be haunted by that. Also, I love the mountains. Something always calls me back to them, so it was kind of a Read More

My finish line.

2189.2 miles hiked–IT IS FINISHED‼️‼️‼️‼️

I can’t believe it’s really done.
The last two days were hard and tiring, but today was one of my favorite of the whole trail. I don’t know if it’s because I knew it was my last and I was pretty relaxed. It was 16.7 miles over The Read More

September 3.

Lloyd, the shuttler, picked me up bright and early this morning and we made the hour long drive into the 100 mile wilderness once again. I got out and hit the trail for an easy 14.9 mile day. More ponds today. There were mud bogs, as usual, but the trail otherwise was dry. It makes such a difference walking on a dry trail. There were rooty and rocky places, but a lot of Read More