Last we heard from our hikers they had found lodging on a porch in Great Barrington. The owner of a bookstore, which is situated on the first floor of an old house with a front porch, graciously allowed them to camp out overnight. (They also wanted to add that before finding accommodations they went to McDonald's in GreatBarrington.)
The next morning they began walking back along U.S. 7 to their stopping point along the AT. They stopped at Dunkin' Donuts in Greater Barrington and wound up getting three sandwiches for free. They eventually got a short ride back to the trail. Back on the trail, they wound up hiking 27 muddy, rainy miles up to Upper Goosepond Cabin by 7:30 pm. There is more mud on the trail than in previous areas. They found 17/18 thru-hikers in the nice cabin shelter which exists through the help of the local ATC club and hiker donations. Blueberry pancakes were served for breakfast at Upper Goosepond. Sounded delicious, and since they don't have to worry about calories, they probably enjoyed them to their hearts' content.
Today the morning was nice but it started pouring for 30 minutes, including lightning and thunder. There was not as much concern as they are at a lower elevation than usual. Today they received three instances of trail magic: Along I-90, the Massachusetts Turnpike, theY saw a little wooden box filled with Pepsi and cookies. The second instance of trail magic was a plastic bag with apples. Finally, right before their last stop for the evening, they got gingerale.
They met 4 southbound thru-hiker siblings....ranging in age from about 19 to 26 from Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.
Jack and Chris have been warned by other thru-hikers that they will lose another 10 pounds over the New Hampshire mountains. (They have each lost at least 20 pounds since they began the hike back in May.)
I will not post the same night's shelter out of safety precautions, at least until our hikers are well out of range.
If all goes as planned, they will probably be in Vermont in about a day. At the Vermont/Massachusetts border they will officially be 592.2 miles from Mt. Katahdin, and 1,584 miles from Springer Mountain, GA. I continue to be amazed at the capacity of hikers to walk the AT.
Monday, July 27, 2009
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