Day 131-The Bad, the Good, and the Awesome

July 27-17.6 miles + .6-Upper Goose Pond to Kay Wood Shelter-AT mile 1569.1

Whew, that was a long day! A grand total of 18.2 miles in 90+ degree heat. I will try to write a coherent post, but I make no promises as I am rather exhausted. 

The trail today was nothing special, except that there was a long section where the ups and downs were small. Unfortunately, the trail was still very rooty, so no great speed records were set. The first 8.8 miles were actually quite up and down. We climbed Becket Mtn first thing. There wasn’t even a view at the top. We did come down to a nice pond that we walked along for awhile. We also crossed the Mass Turnpike/I-90.

Finerty Pond

We ate lunch at October Mtn Shelter, and met some nice kids out day hiking. After lunch was when the major ups and downs were mostly over (except for the end of the day). I was walking along when, BAM! I was down on my knees. Fall number 2 (not bad considering they say most AT thru-hikers fall an average of 15 times...Sure Foot is halfway there). I think what happened was my pole got stuck, then when it pulled loose it tripped me (or something like that). It bent the bottom section of my pole a bit (still usable). There was no blood, just dirty knees. 

I’ve been having problems with a raw spot on my collarbone. I put my pack back on after letting my collarbone get some air. I pulled on my stinky pink shirt where it was caught under the shoulder strap...rip. Oops, now I have a little more ventilation. 

So, the fall and the ripped shirt were the bad things. The food was that I didn’t get hurt. The awesome was 3.8 miles from the end of our day. We came to a road, and there was Casper the Friendly Van, and Rob. Rob is a trail angel who has been doing trail magic for over 20 years. He had sodas (I drank 2), all kinds of snacks (I had 3), and fruit (I took an apple). 



Rob and the snack pile!

It made the last 3.8 miles doable, and since we were back to climbing, that was a very good thing!

We climbed up Warner Hill (okay, it was only a .8 mile climb, but we were tired). There was actually a view at the top!

In the far distance is Mt. Greylock. We go over it either two days from today or three. 

Coming down Warner Hill we walked through this fern land. 

Very tall ferns. 

We made it to the shelter just after 6:00. We did our chores, ate dinner, and now it’s time to call it a night. Goodnight!



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