Northville Placid Trail Day 5: Miles 83-105

The Neighbors.

The sleeping situation was not ideal that night. I don’t know why, or even how, but the guy on my left (in front of me) kept getting closer and closer all night. This was primarily a problem for three reasons. 1: the continuous burping-vomiting point… IN YOUR DREAM. 2: Farts. 3: What I can only describe as «powerful breathing.» He breathed through his nose and then blew out air as if he were trying to blow out a distant candle. These three points occurred throughout the night, all at increasingly distant intervals. I also developed a twisted blister on the inside of my big toe, which rubbed against my index toe.

Escaping!

The motivation to escape the shed greatly influenced hiking. This was the first morning below zero. I especially had a hard time keeping my fingers warm, so I spent a lot of time without using my hiking poles. This wasn’t the best for the foot either. The sun helped a lot, but the wind made it difficult. I took another wrong turn even though I was expecting one… Right after Lake Durant there was a section of boardwalks that were all terrible. There are a couple midway through that are firm and look good, and they make you expect the rest to be good too, but it’s a trap. Don’t trust any of them to stay in place.

I liked this course near Lake Durant.

Area of ​​heaviest foliage

A real view of real mountains!

Another unclear twist in Blue Mt. Wilderness

Tirrell Pond is a great place

Tirrell Pond is clean pt. 2

Tirrell Pond is clean, part 3.

The arrival to Blue Ridge begins with a prairie area.

The rise

The Blue Mountain Wild Forest area was quite neat! Beautiful views of lakes and mountains. The climb to the highest point of the trail surprised me somewhat by how difficult it was. I think the hardest part was that the trail mainly followed what appeared to be a dry creek. The rocks made the step slow with the foot. The descent was especially unpleasant for the foot. When I got to the top I was looking for a north facing overlook, so by the time I realized I never looked south again, I was too far away to see the overlook. I didn’t have the mindset to go back and redo miles. On the way down, I ran into a hiker doing a PB&J and asked him about the hike to Long Lake, since there were different trails in the guidebook, Alltrails, and the Nat Geo map. The guide had no shortcuts, Nat Geo had a shortcut and alltrails showed 3 options. He said to follow Nat Geo and that there would be a shortcut on an undeveloped road. There was! If I remember correctly, it saved me about a mile. I was hoping to get into town around 3:30, but I arrived at 1:30! 17 miles before 2 felt pretty good!

Old dirt road approaching the road!

Old dirt road approaching the road! point 2

Long Lake Food Review

What a blessing to be in a restaurant! Brookside Hops and Hoagies was a great place to hang out. Good hoagies and good beers! I had a connection, so I called Abby and did some “homework” for our refinance… Between the general store and the gas station I was able to fully stock up for the remaining two days. He brought down Doritos, honey buns, beers, maple cookies and other brand-name snacks. I had a delicious apple fritter from the gas station and then went to Wild ADK Whisk and smashed an entire pizza. The pizza was amazing, there was only outdoor seating so I stood and talked to Andy (the owner) while I ate. I left around 4:30, and on my walk down the road, Andy stops by to let his dogs out, and I convinced him to drive me about 1.5 miles to the trailhead! This saved me almost an hour, which was huge because I still didn’t get to Kelly Point until after dark…

Epic views from hitchhiking with Andy!

Night walk

I guess I go slower with a full stomach and a full backpack. From Long Lake to Kelly Point took me a lot longer than it should have. Long Lake was incredibly beautiful and not completely dark, but definitely after dark. It’s a good thing there were two sheds there, in one there was a guy and his pity, and they had a big fire going. Today was a good day 🙂

Long Lake – side views

The sun sets earlier than I expected

The trees continue to cover the entire trail.

The twilight accentuates the red (it is difficult to distinguish it in this photo)

I made it to Kelly Point! Praise God, I got there with some light left.

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