After waking up at 6, I packed up camp and brewed my coffee. I was still ironing out how to cook efficiently and pack my bag- it took me nearly two hours to get out of camp. In the morning sunlight I realized that Goddard Shelter was quite a nice shelter.
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| Goddard Shelter |
Once packed, I started up the mountain. It wasn't far to go, and in the morning breeze it was much cooler hiking. Within an hour I reached the top. While it was forested, there was a surprise- an enclosed fire tower reaching above the treeline.
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| Glastonbury Mountain Fire Tower |
After looking around, I climbed the stairs all the way up. The metal was rickety, and tower felt shaky, but solid. After winding around the frame three or four times around, I reached the top- a wooden platform with glass windows offering 360 degree views around. It was breathtaking!
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| Glastonbury View |
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| Glastonbury View |
It was, by far, the best view I'd seen so far. Views all the way around, and you could see Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, as well as the White Mountains distant in New Hampshire. The pine forests stretched out into the distance, then up the next set of peaks. It was hard to tell that anyone lived anywhere near the mountain, as the valleys were nearly hidden over the precipice of trees.
After taking in the view from each direction, I set out to climb down. For some reason, going back down the stairs was even more terrifying than coming up, but I inched my way down.
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| The Way Down |
The path down the north side of Glastonbury was easy and smooth. I knew that I has planned a shorter day today, and I felt better about the hiking. After only 3 hours, I had made it to Kid Gore Shelter- my spot for lunch. Many of the carvings and graffiti in Kid Gore reached the more... esoteric.
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| Kid Gore Tags |
After a while eating lunch, a northbounder- Joker- reached the shelter as well. He told me he was an AT hiker who had gotten sick on his first run through- and this was his first day back on the trail. He was from Colorado and in his 40s- and feeling the pain of hiking again. I continued on north to the next trail, and told him I'd see him there.
The trail continued to be mild after a slight climb from Kid Gore. It crossed past a small clearing, and then a beaver dam- and despite the mild trail, the struggle from the last two days started to catch up.
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| Trail Clearing |
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| Beaver Pond |
At nearly 3 PM, I reached the Story Spring Shelter, and caught up to Elizabeth. I told her we needed to find a trail name for her- "Elizabeth" was too bland. We agreed to work on it, but she said she wanted to continue hiking to a campsite near a river. I unpacked early, and decided to sleep in the shelter.
A collection of other hikers slowly started to arrive, including a northbound LT hiker named DJ and a northbound AT hiker named Bean. Another AT northbounder named Old Scout arrived as well- a 75 year old man planning on thru hiking the trail. I made some mac and cheese on my camping stove, and we chatted. I learned a good amount of "hiker lingo:"
Someone hiking north was a "Northbounder" - or NOBO for short. A southbounder was a SOBO. Bean and Old Scout were hiking an AT "Flip-Flop", which was starting in Harper's Ferry, hiking to Maine, and then going back to Harper's Ferry and hike down to Georgia. This allowed a slightly better timeframe to hike the AT, since a 5-6 month hike became fairly weather-restrictive. Even crazier were the people who would "Yo-Yo" a hike, which was to hike it northbound, turn around, and hike it south. We were all thru-hikers, people who would hike the trail in one shot. People who would hike a long trail in multiple sections were "section hikers", and day hikers were affectionately called "tourists".
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| Mud |
While learning all this, I watched DJ- he told me it stood for Dirty Jesus, which he generally resembled- make what he called an "oatmeal bomb", two packets of oatmeal and two pockets of hot chocolate powder cold hydrated in a water bottle. He explained it was like a protein shake. DJ was a wildman- he said he was planning to hike the entire trail in 14 days, compared to my 24. He said he had left his car down in Williamstown, but not before driving up to the Canadian border and finding someone who agreed to keep his bicycle in their garage- he was planning on picking it up at the end of the trail, and biking the 200 miles back down to his car. I told him it sounded like he was insane, and gave him advice on how to bike back down south.
He made a small campfire while I bandaged the blisters on my feet. On advice from Bean, I used duct-tape- she said it worked better than any other medical equipment.
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| Bandages |
We told stories late into the night, and I headed to sleep in the shelter. I'd only gone 8.9 miles that day- which means I had completed 33.3 miles on the trail so far. I had quite a bit longer to go.
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