Ed & Mike-AT Experience: First Week Back on the Trail-Day 1; 14.8 Miles to Hemlocks Shelter

First Week Back on the Trail; Day 1-14.8 Miles to Hemlocks Shelter

I think this time while I am doing my blog I will just post all the information I can remember for a week and then post photos. Last time it was too time consuming to post something for each and every day so we are going to try this out.

On Tuesday, June 23rd we arrived in Massachusetts where Mike's brother in law Jesse picked us up. They were gracious enough to let us stay the night with them. We can't thank ya'll enough for your hospitality this year and two years ago, thank you so much Jesse and Allison!

Day 1 Wednesday June 24th-Hemlocks Shelter 14.8 Miles

Jesse drove us to Connecticut to drop us back off at the trail. Last time we got off the trail in Massachusetts but we had to take a different trail to hit a road so the best place for us to get back on without skipping any miles was in Connecticut. Which means we had to redo about 10 miles but that's no big deal, we also got to see some beautiful views that we ended with last time.

We hiked 14.8 miles on our first day and stayed in the Hemlocks Shelter. It was a beautiful day to start with perfect weather the entire day and night, and only had one other thru hiker sharing the shelter with us. His trail name was August and he said about 4 words to us the entire night. I think he is a little over the trail by now. From what he did tell us, he started about 100 days ago which means he is averaging 20-30 miles a day and seems sick of it. We have already ran into many thru hikers (people doing the entire Appalachian Trail in one go, Georgia to Maine-2,200 miles all at once) who have told us that they are ready to be done and are sick of hiking. That is one reason why I am glad I have broken the trail up into sections, I am still enjoying most of the time I am out there and am not just hiking for an end point but hiking because I enjoy it.

Day 2 Thursday June 25th-Wilcox North Shelter 21.8 Miles

Today we bit off more than we could chew. We hiked to the Wilcox North Shelter which was 21.8 miles. Last time we were out we averaged between 20-25 miles a day so we thought we could do this no problem. We didn't take into consideration that we needed some time to adjust and that we didn't do big mile days like that until we had been hiking for a little while. At the end of this day, we were both in a large amount of pain. I had already gotten a pretty large blister on my heal and both of our feet, knees, ankles and backs were killing us. Mike's back weighs about 25 lbs. or so mine weighs at least 30 lbs. It takes time for you body to adjust to carrying all that weight all the time and we were not ready to hike that long at that point.

Day 3 Friday June 26th-Upper Goose Pond Cabin 14.5 Miles

We started the day out planning on doing another 20+ mile day but those plans went out the window pretty quick after we started hiking and realized how much pain we were in. Instead we had a good 14.5 mile day to one of nicest shelters on the trail, the Upper Goose Pond Cabin. This is a cabin that is 0.5 miles off the Appalachian trail that has a bunk house for hikers and even better, a caretaker that cooks pancakes in the morning for breakfast. She also cooked us coffee which is a real treat. Although we were both still sore from the day before, we knew we would be having pancakes the next day so our spirits were high. That can be one of the more difficult things about the trail, you are hiking, walking all day long for 10-12 hours usually by yourself and alone with your thoughts. This is one of the things I love about being out there, being able to clear your head. However, on those days where every muscle in you body hurts and you are sore every where, it can be a difficult time. Luckily Mike is an extremely upbeat person who loves being on the trail and in the woods.

There were probably 12-15 people who stayed with us at the Upper Goose Pond Cabin including our friend from the first night, August. I am going to try and list all their trail names just so that I can look back and remember these people easier. There was Wolverine, Shredder or Cheese-it, Frizzle, Ferris, U-Haul, an older couple who I didn't get their names and 2 guys and a girl who I also did not get their names. Whenever Mike and I talk about our times on the trail it always begins with "What was that guys name, you know the one with the beard who smelled bad?" Which that is everyone on the trail so it just helps us to list their names.

Day 4 Saturday June 27th-Kay Wood Shelter 18.1 Miles

This was another pretty big day and rain clouds were over our heads all day long. We were lucky enough not to get hit by any though. It did pour down rain but not until we were already in our shelter. This is the night where we meet our friends Austin, Jackie, Travis and Steve. This family of father son and father daughter were on a 4 day hike and we ran into them a few more times along the way. They were very nice and shared many things with us. We will miss their company. We were also joined here by U-Haul. It was a cold night in this shelter, probably getting down into the 40s. The high the next day was only 59 degrees so definitely a little different than in Memphis.

Day 5 Sunday June 28th-Dalton Shamrock Inn 3.0 Miles

The first few days beat us both up and the trail actually goes right through the town of Dalton, Massachusetts. So we decided to stop in at the good ole Shamrock Inn and stay the night. Both of us needed to resupply on food and just needed to rejuvenate so we woke up early and hiked the 3 miles into town and made it there by 10:00 am. After we got into town, Mike went and checked us into our room and hit up a coffee shop while I went to a Methodist church which was a cool experience. The Catholic service was already over for the day so this was my only option. I don't think I have every been to a Methodist service so it was a nice change of pace and the sermon was very cool, it was about the killings in the church in Charleston NC and the preacher was pouring his heart out into the sermon. After the service, many people came up to introduce themselves and the preacher even came up and gave me a hug which is saying something because at this point I hadn't showered in 5 days and I could smell myself so I know everyone else could smell me.

The rest of the day Mike and I relaxed and cleaned ourselves up and got some subs at Angelina's sub shop. We saw our friends Travis, Steve, Austin and Jackie at the sub shop and they were trucking right along. We needed this day of rest to recuperate our bodies and our spirits.

Day 6 Monday June 29th-Mark Noepel 13.9 Miles

Today we woke up and checked out of the motel. But before we left the small town of Dalton we needed to pick up some more food. Luckily for us, there was a Walmart a couple of miles away and buses ran every hour to it. We caught a bus, went to Walmart and the Subway that was in it and resupplied. However, this is when Mike started feeling sick. He began feeling weak and running a fever this day. But Mike is a trooper and didn't want to slow us down so we still left Dalton and started our 13.9 mile hike out. Before we did though we met 6 Strings, a German hiker who also flat out told us he was ready to be done. It was an overcast day and actually rained on us on and off on our way out of town but nothing too bad. It probably didn't help Mike's fever though.

After going up and down a few mountains the trail goes through another town called Cheshire where there is an ice cream hut called Diana's twist. We both got some ice cream and Mike got a mini hot dog. They had hiker logs that went all the way back to 2006 so we were able to go back to 2013 and find a lot of the people we hiked with last time which was a lot of fun to see. When we were finishing our treats, a down pour started so we hid in Diana's hut for a minute while we waited for the rain to slow down. She was a nice woman who was very kind and friendly.

Once the rain slowed down we started hiking again and finally around 7:30 pm or so we made it to the shelter and our friends Travis, Steve, Jackie and Austin were already there and had already made us a nice fire despite all the rain. It was another fun night hanging out with them and the temperature probably only got down to 55 degrees or so, very nice. Unfortunately though, Mike was freezing and burning up all night long. His fever seemed to have gotten worse although he didn't mention it to me until much later.

Day 7 Tuesday June 30th-Williamstown Willow Inn 9.6 Miles

Today we left our friends and climbed the highest mountain in Massachusetts, Mt. Greylock at 3,491 ft. Once we got to the top we could see North Adams and Williamstown. North Adams has Chinese Buffet that is 0.75 miles off the trail where we had both planned on eating lunch. Mike however, started feeling even worse and couldn't stomach eating much. Fortunately there was a motel down the street a few miles away that picked us up. Here we re-grouped and went and got Mike some medicine from the Dollar General. Our plan was to stay here and see how Mike felt in the morning and decide then if we would leave or not.

Day 8 Wednesday July 1st-Zero Day in Williamstown

Well Mike didn't feel much better in the morning so we have decided to stay another day in Williamstown. There isn't much of anything here in this town but there is Williams College which has a library which is where I am now, updating our blog. Hopefully Mike will feel better tomorrow and we can start hiking again and make up some miles. Hope everyone is well back home.

Getting out of the car and about to hit the trail.

This is a video I made, not sure if it will show up or not but it is worth a shot.

Second day blister

Massachusetts and Connecticut both have many beautiful views

Crossing into Massachusetts

There was plenty of water all throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts

Mike the camera man

Checking out our next destination

This is a father and son duo who were very generous to us. They gave us a water filter pack. This other guy is Bob who didn't say hardly anything all night but snored like a beast.

Tent platforms, not very common

Wood at a campsite, some kind soul chopped down a tree and put this all up. This is the first time I had seen someone do that kind of trail magic.

Taking it all in

Looking at how good dinner is going to be.

This is Nancy, the "Caretaker" of the Upper Goose Pond Cabin.

This is the bunk house of the Upper Goose Pond Cabin. This is another rare gem of a shelter on the trail. It's a cabin 1/2 a mile off the trail that has a bunk house and is right on a large pond. A caretaker also stays there and cooks pancakes and coffee in the morning which is a giant treat.

Canoes at the cabin.

Mike "Rocky" really happy about coming back on the trail with me.

Some Tennessee folks day hiking on the trail. We actually ran into them and it was a rental car.

We met some folks who brought this stove that has a USB cord to charge things, pretty nifty.

This is Austin and Jackie, really nice people who were hiking with their dads and we would run into them several times over the next few days. They shared their hot dogs, cooking pan, stove charger, band aids, moleskin and neosporin with us. Good people.

Rocky always in a good mood.

Ice cream stand right on the trail.

I love me some ice cream. This is right before it started down pouring on us.

Same folks we stayed in a shelter with a few days before, Travis, Steve and their grown kids Jackie and Austin. They were good company and we had a fun time passing the time with them,