"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as the sun light flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
-John Muir
Start: Falls Village, CT
Finish: Sages Ravine Campsite, MA
Today: 15.1 mi
Total: 316.7 mi
We started the day at a hotel in Great Barrington, MA only to take a taxi back to Falls Village, CT so we can hike to Great Barrington, MA by tomorrow night. Sounds dumb, huh? We had skipped ahead to MA for the cheaper hotels while Flicka's hamburger toes healed. Since we didn't want to skip this 30 mile section we had to backtrack to move ahead.
The day began with fantastic views of the Housatonic river and were soothed by the sound of it's crystal blue water spilling over the falls. Everything about the day felt positive. The ground was soft, the air cool and the birds sang away.
We covered the first 8 miles in just under 3 hours and sat down for lunch on a park bench in front of an old folks community and across from a cemetery (unfortunate location!). Since I sent home my cook stove to reduce weight it was a peanut butter sandwich for me. Flicka had all sorts of food packed away. She ate an everything bagel, followed with some pretzels and then she broke out some Swedish fish! What else does she have in that food bag, a turkey dinner? Mary Poppins on a park bench!
There was a spot you could get water in the cemetery but we had enough to get to the next shelter. Didn't want to drink ground water that tasted like Aunt Edna anyway! We finished our lunch and put fresh socks on our feet. Walking by the cemetery, Flicka mentioned she saw a bunch of hikers go in but none came out. "Must be zombies" in there she joked. I told her there was nothing to worry about unless we heard "Thriller" come on in the background.
After the cemetery the trail turned back into the woods where we met an older gentleman. After exchanging hiker pleasantries (where'd you start, how many miles you doing today, how're your feet doing?), he went on a rant about how terrible the trail is, how you've got to be nuts to be doing this, and how sick he is of beef jerky. Flicka asked what his trail name was. "Grumpy Old Man," he said, confirming our thought.
We caught up to Miles Supertramp, a thru hiker friend we hadn't seen since Delaware Water Gap. We shared stories about the trail for almost an hour. My favorite was when a very drunk hiker got up in the night to pee at a tree. Showers are great and hikers love them but the girl who woke up to that shower wasn't pleased. The other hikers with her later agreed her new trail name was Golden Shower.
We took our time and checked out some amazing views from Bear Mountain, CT. Hunter green forests broken by wheat fields spotted with lakes surrounded us. Just after Bear Mountain we entered our 6th state, Massachusetts! Soon after that we arrived at Sages Ravine campsite for the night.
-DADDY LONG LEGS
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