Great Barrington, MA 1525.1 to Shaker Campsite 1542.8 (17.7 miles, 517.4 total miles)
I slept very well last night, after a good day of rest. Piñata woke me up just after six like I asked, and we went down to breakfast right when it started at 6:30.
I had another very large plate of food, and everyone else came down and joined us after a little bit. After breakfast, Piñata, Speedgoat, Jedi, Neon, and all tried to hitch for a few minutes, but figured we were too big of a group.
Neon called for a shuttle, in the meantime, me and the girls kept trying to hitch. A very sweet young woman with the cutest pitbull pulled over and gave us a ride to the trail. She said she worked at one of the local dispensaries, of which there are many in the area, and got to bring her dog into work every day.
We met Riveter at the trail head, where she’d gotten a ride with one of the hotel guests to the post office and the trail head. We started hiking, and after .3 I celebrated my 500 mile marker, and asked Piñata take a picture of me.
After that, I let the others go ahead so that I could baby my heel and take my time seeing how my new boots were feeling. The flat walking through fields had my heel hurting, but the incline up to the ridge actually went quite well.
The boots are definitely less breathable than trail runners, but much more supportive and I was surprised at how well I could hike in them. It was an overcast, mild type of day, a very nice day for hiking. It was calling for rain later, but not until about 6 o’clock.
QT and Jedi passed me about an hour in, and Neon another half hour after that. Halfway was taking another zero in town. It sprinkled on and off most of the day, and I caught up with everyone at lunch in a parking lot 8.5 miles in.
After a short break (for me), we hiked on, with me at the end of the line. My MO this week was to hike long days, not fast ones, especially since I was trying to break in new boots. QT and Jedi were celebrating Hike Naked Day, and I saw a couple funny pictures in the group chat, with Jedi’s cowboy hat and QT’s fanny pack strategically placed.
The forest was quiet other than the sprinkling of light rain and mosquitoes buzzing in my ear here and there. There were a couple views to nearby mountains, but nothing crazy like the ridges the other day. I took my time and hiked steadily, my heel feeling better, but my ankles not used to the constriction of boots just yet.
I made good time, around 2.5 miles per hour most of the day, and took a couple ten minute breaks to drink some electrolytes and rest my feet.
Right around 5pm, I turned my phone off airplane mode and saw there was going to be trail magic at 5 in .3 from where I was, which was also .3 before the campsite we were staying at.
We all hung around for about an hour, but found out the trail magic would be at 7pm instead. So we hiked the .3 down to the campsite and got set up.
I ate a quick pre dinner of ramen and tuna, then headed back up to the road with Piñata, Quarter Tank, and Neon. It was a straight up incline, but up top we met Trunks, who had hiked a big portion of the AT this year, and had been doing trail magic all day to give back.
Trunks made us, and another hiker who was there, Spock, hot dogs and had fixings for sandwiches, brownies, chips, fruit, soda, and drinks. I ate second dinner, and we hung out with Trunks for about an hour.
Trunks put on some awesome trail magic, which was extra appreciated because I’m carrying less food than I normally do. It had been a good day, the terrain was easy, I had energy, and my boots and insoles actually felt quite good, and my left heel especially felt better.
I am conserving my energy this week. I realized, like last week, I had an extra day I wasn’t accounting for. It is six long days then basically two zeros. So I’m going to get up early, start hiking early, and not try to keep up with anyone else’s pace during the day. Slow and steady has always been my best way of hiking. It makes me really happy to be an official Cult member, as well. Being the late arrival can be tough,but I’m trying to see it as quality over quantity, and I feel like I’ve found my people out here.