I awoke to the strange sound of something, probably a porcupine, gnawing on the outside of the shelter. Apparently, chewing up wood is a thing with porcupines.
It was still dark but I was pretty sure I wasn’t going back to sleep again. With the light of my headlamp I packed up, ate breakfast, and got on the trail before 6am. I used the headlamp as supplemental light to see the trail better until the sun was fully up about 20 minutes later.
I followed the rocky ridge line for a few miles and it was nice to catch glimpses of the sun as it was rising. I was also enjoying the relative peaceful hiking without mosquitos. But the first ones started to appear before 8am. They continued to be a problem all morning, but I was glad for the towelettes I had received yesterday. The DEET really kept them from biting.
The ridge descended to meet the road toward Great Barrington. At the road I met three other SOBO hikers, called Steps, Bandit, and a third whose name I didn’t catch. They said they had completely run out of bug repellent on the trail. They were all wearing rain jackets to help but were beset with clouds of mosquitoes. I stood there, having recently applied bug repellent, and was fine, other than just having a few hovering around me. The three had just arrived to the road and were about to head into Great Barrington for more bug repellent. They were also a bit dirty and miserable looking, I thought. The touristy Great Barrington, in the middle of Labor Day weekend, was going to love this…
And Bandit was hiking barefoot, so he looked even more downtrodden than the other two. I have heard that some people hiked the AT barefoot, but had never seen one before. I had noticed over the past couple days occasional bare footprints in the mud. As I saw these I did wonder what the appeal was of forgoing any foot protection. But Bandit was young and everyone should be able to hike their own way. So I wished them luck and continued on.
Later, I found myself walking on long sections of sharp, gravelly rocks and wondering how long it would take a barefoot hiker to walk the same path. Maybe he carries some type of shoes in his backpack?
After passing a series of farm fields, the trail then crossed a long, low, boggy area between mountains. At the edge of one field there was a marker commemorating the last battle of Shay’s Rebellion.
And I passed a few oak trees that were perhaps the largest I have ever seen. You can just see my hiking poles leaning on the tree trunk.
But a short while later I started climbing again toward the last few mountains of Massachusetts. On the way up I passed a group of sheep grazing in the grass. They were a little nervous to see me so close to the fence but let me get a picture.
As soon as I climbed a bit more the bugs almost disappeared, which after the past few days, seemed too good to be true. I met a NOBO hiker on the way and asked about the bugs up ahead. She said there hardly were any. I warned her about the upcoming sections—to get the bug repellent handy.
A short while later the trail crossed a parking area for a lake and picnic area. At the far end an older gentlemen was sitting at a picnic table and asked if I was thru hiking. When I said yes he asked if I’d like some trail magic. I told him I would love some. I asked his name and he said “Butterfly Bob.” He gave me a really good Clif Bar and some bottled water. I sat for a while and talked with him. He said he loved to hike but never had the chance to hike most of the AT. He was a Navy Seabee then left the service in the 70s. He worked as a carpenter and painter but is now retired. He didn’t even know what trail magic was until last year but comes out now about once a week to offer snacks to hikers. He was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and is in treatment, so can’t hike very far any more, though he still does some walking on trails every week. He said trail magic is his way of continuing to hike. “And,” he said with a smile, “nobody ever turns down trail magic.”
After leaving Butterfly Bob I crossed a couple mountain tops then descended to a gorge and river at the Massachusetts-Connecticut border.
Then the trail went back up over two more steep climbs then down again before I reached Riga Shelter. Being a holiday weekend there were a lot of campers already there. I went a bit further beyond the site and found a hammock spot nearby. Connecticut, like Massachusetts, only allows camping at their designated sites. But given the shelter location was overloaded, I figured there weren’t many other choices this late in the day. And with a hammock, you don’t have to clear plants, sticks, rocks, etc from the ground so it is fairly low impact.
And here are a few other interesting things I passed on the trail today.
