Day 105 – Barrington’s Big HERO

I got up at 5am this morning to make sure I was on the road by 6am. I slept pretty well, I just needed more…

Great Barrington

We did a pretty quick and easy walk this morning, just 3.5 miles to a road junction where we would stop in Great Barrington. The 3 miles were fairly flat and alternated between some pine trees and open fields.

There were quite a few errors this morning, just like last night too. It looks like we’re finally on the hot, humid, buggy part of the trail. We got to the road junction around 7:15am and there was a cooler of magic on the trail! Shooter and I grabbed a canned coffee drink and quickly ground it up. A little later, Birdie appeared and we walked towards the road with our thumbs outstretched. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long and with five vehicles passing we were taken to Great Barrington! Riley was kind enough to pick us up and drop us off at the grocery store on her way back into town!

At the grocery store we resupplied and then headed to the Great Barrington Bagel Company for breakfast. While we were there, we also took the opportunity to charge our devices a bit. I got an excellent bagel sandwich with bacon, sausage, egg and cheese, along with a decent cinnamon roll. As usual, we took longer than anticipated, but by 10am we had our thumbs out once again to backtrack on the trail. Again, within a few minutes, a nice guy in a blue pickup truck backed us up to get back on the trail. Re-provisioned, fueled up, and with some juice in the power bank, we hit the trail and were moving by 10:30am Our fastest HERO yet!

Hot, wet and buggy

Back on the trail, we followed along the Housatonic River for a flat mile before starting to climb again. The climb was very steep at first and with the humidity high, it didn’t take long until my clothes were completely soaked with sweat again. Halfway down I almost stepped on this guy before he ran out of the way just in time.

I reached a crossroads halfway up the climb and met Pokey, filling the water jugs. As I approached he offered me a Gatorade and a snack, which I gladly accepted and he proceeded to give me information about the next sections of the trail. After chatting with him for 5 minutes and finishing my Gatorade, I continued on my way up once more. This section of the climb wasn’t as bad as the first, however, it was certainly difficult with the humidity and the now added bonus of a cloud of mosquitoes flying around my face. After a couple of miles, I reached the top and then walked up and down along the ridge for many more miles before taking a break of about 10 miles for the day. All this time, the mosquitoes persisted, bothering me greatly and getting into my eyes, nose, ears and mouth… Oh, what a joy…

ice ravine

After a short rest, I reached Ice Gulch, a unique geological feature along the trail. It was a small, narrow canyon that ran along the trail for about 100 meters. I continued walking, winding down the trail and descending next to a small beaver pond with two active beavers working around the pond. They are hardworking creatures!

Other

After that I started my second big climb of the day. It went for several miles and had a couple of decent views, but for the most part I was just sweating bullets with a lot of swarms of mosquitoes and other bugs. While trying to escape the bugs on my next descent, I turned a corner and surprised a medium-sized black bear. He ran away and I was also quite surprised. After a few hundred feet, he turned around and looked at me, but it was difficult to get a good photo of him from a safe distance. He then headed the other way as I continued down the trail.

Still plagued by mosquitoes, I headed to the next water source and filled the tank in preparation for the final miles of the day. I climbed a bit through a pine forest and then quickly descended toward Shaker Camp. Just before we got there, Shooter texted me to let me know that he and Birdie were moving on, so I did the same. I did a mile of easy walking before climbing 500 feet up Tyringham Cobble. The climb was actually easier than I expected and wasn’t too steep for the most part. There aren’t many views from the top though.

Coming down from the last climb of the day

The descent was pretty quick, but when it flattened out I had some boards to ride. They were quite slippery due to some rain today and I slipped on two of them in the evening as I finished my day. Another day, another day walking in the dark…

Statistics for day 105:

23.1 miles

4,541′ ascent, 4,344′ descent

Hidden site to hidden site

11DSLC…

Stove use times: 14

Snakes seen on the trail: 28

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