July 22, 2005 | Day 117 | Miles: 19.9 | Total Miles: 1494.5
End: Laurel Ridge Campsite, Tent
Danielle:
Warm and humid with evening rain/lightening/thunderstorm
We are just better at the big climbs than all the little bumps we've been dealing with the past few days. Today we had three big climbs and we did awesome. The terrain was nice, with lots of pines, and a very New England feeling. We went up and over the highest point in CT today--Bear Mountain. Nice rocky ledges and views out over the green hills and valley below. Then down into Sages Ravine where the trail wandered along the river, with pools and small waterfalls. Very pretty. And then, ta da! Into Massachusetts! Wow. Very cool. We're currently camped a few miles over the border. It was a long day today, but we did really well, although with getting in late Ryan did end up out in the pouring rain finishing cooking our dinner as a huge rain/lightening/thunderstorm rolled through. Poor guy. Then we were huddled up in the tent, eating as the rain poured down. Things are a bit soggy, but not too bad...
Ah yes, I did get stung by a hornet/wasp thing at the campsite before the rain. One of the tenting areas had a nest and as I was walking by, boom! I was stung in the finger. Ouch, that hurt! Stupid insects! Luckily it didn't swell up too much, but still... 1 sting for me; 2 for Ryan. Yikes.
But other than that one incident, an overall very good day :-)
Ryan:
sunny, hot, evening deluge
at miles - 19.9
big day for team snowplug! actually, it was a great day...long, but great. ct really showed me something today, and i'm even considering letting the at corridor be part of new england. maybe. but, all that doesn't matter because we are definitely in new england now after crossing the border into massachusetts late this afternoon. ct went out with a bang with a couple great climbs over lion's head (just about every state has one of those) and bear mountain (same here). bear mountain is the highest peak in ct, and was a great climb...decent views, too. then we crossed the border and followed sawmill brook for a mile or two, which was really pretty. the scenery is getting better everyday. it's starting to feel like home. the plants, even the rocks...it just looks like the mountains and trails we're used to and love so much. ah, new england. can't beat it. then it poured. lots of thunder, and a complete soaker...actually, since we're in mass...it rained wicked hahd, guy. the good thing was our tent was all set up and our stuff stayed dry. the bad news was that i was in the middle of cooking dinner. (you didn't know that i did the cooking out here, did you?) since i didn't think it was a good idea to try to move the stove mid boil. so, i waited it out as long as i could while the rained intensified and danielle said either "oh boy" or "oh no" each time from inside the dry tent. into great barrington tomorrow and possibly a night in a bed, but we're certain if that's a possibility. if not, we're looking at 19...oh yeah, bring it on! (as you can tell my back is feeling better, and my knees have recovered from the pa rocks. pa sucks.) by the way, we walked to massachusetts from georgia...holy crap.
today's song - luckiest man alive, finn brothers
July 23, 2005 | Day 118 | Miles: 14.5 | Total Miles: 1509.0
End: campsite along ridge past Great Barrington, MA, Tent
Danielle:
Sunny and nice with a cool breeze
What a beautiful day! After the rain last night and some early morning clouds, the skies cleared out to bright blue skies, cool and breezy. We went over Race Mt., where we walked along the rocky ledges, enjoying the views and the breeze. Then lunch on Jug End Summit, where we sat on the rocks, dried our stuff in the sun, enjoyed the wind and the blueberries--yum! Lovely. We got a ride into Great Barrington in the early afternoon for laundry, food and phone calls, but no place to stay-everything was booked up for the Tanglewood Music Festival, and the couple the outfitter said took in hikers for the night wasn't home--so off we trotted arund 7:30pm. I was not so happy about the prospect, and Ryan's back had been feeling stiff all day, so he wasn't either, but there was nothing else to do... we ended up finding a spot a few miles out of town at dusk, and set up in a record 15 minutes before we dove into the tent to escape the ravenous mosquitos. In fact, I can hear them buzzing outside the tent as I write--crazy! I don't think we've ever seen as many as we did tonight. They were everywhere!
Ryan:
sunny, warm
an interesting day today. basically, we hiked 12.5...slowly, then went into great barrington to resupply and do laundry. we had hoped to stay but no luck there. so, after eating a very tasty dinner of greek salad and pizza, we got back on the trail at about 7:30. now, we're hiding in the tent at a random spot we plunked down at from the ravenous mosquitos. i have never seen so many mosquitos in my life. they're wicked bad, guy. speaking of bad, my bad felt like crud today. not as bad as last week, but not good either. i wish i knew how to work it out. the shoulder problem that flared up at the beginning of the trip...i can stretch that out as i hike. this one i can't really figure out. hopefully, it will be better tomorrow. if not, i may have to look for some illegal narcotics. in other news, it's amazing how much better new england is. we had some beautiful climbs today. some open ledges with great views. our lunch spot was the best yet, jug end. a great view with tons of blueberries. looking forward to more of the same as the days go on. important milestone today - 1500 miles. we're getting there! oh yeah, send vicodin.
today's song - kentucky woman, neil diamond (the big y supermarket plays great tunes.)
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