The forest talks to me. It tells me when its going to rain by a sweet, damp smell. It tells me its going to be hot by a moist sticky feel that wakes me up in the morning. It tells me the day will be clear by that crisp, cool feel in the early morning hours. And, sometimes I swear I hear it whispering actual words to me, but they're just too soft to make them out...I've been out here for too long (thats not a bad thing).
The shelter came alive at 6:30. Everyone was packing up and getting ready to hike. About 10:00 last night the rain started coming down pretty hard. I hear a "drip drip" beside of me; the shelter roof was leaking on Stargazer. We grabbed duct tape and began sticking it over the leaky part of the roof. We must have used 10 yards of duct tape, and the leak never did stop. The rain finally let up and we got to sleep.
The trail shot up to the top of Prospect Mountain. The overlook at the top was awesome. We looked down on a layer of thick clouds in the valley. Every few seconds the clouds would break and we'd get a view of Williamstown. The sun was above us, and shined down on the clouds, giving them a yellow glow. Goat snapped some pictures, but I don't know if they'll capture the brightness and the colors. The trail descended sharply for about 3 miles into Williamstown, Massachusetts. We walked through a residential neighborhood, up a driveway and back into the woods. The A.T. followed a creek for a while then began to climb again. Goat fell behind, I could tell she wasn't feeling good. She said she had no energy and her stomach was upset. We stopped for a little snack and I told her Labada (her cat) stories, that made her feel a little better. We had a boulder scramble up to Eph's Lookout. There was a little thunder in the distance. Goat snapped a picture of me looking tired. As we hiked the thunder got closer. We hiked a couple more miles and crossed into Vermont, our 12th state. We hiked on, the clouds moved in, the rain began. It was actually nice. The rain washed the salty sweat from my body; it made me feel clean. I took my shirt off and let the rain cool me. I got a little chilled so I picked up the pace. We had to go through an overgrown, swampy section, then finished our 18 mile day with a nice flat section to Congdon Shelter.
We arrived a little before 4:00, about an hour sooner than I thought we'd get here. There was a southbounder and another section hiker here already. We grabbed a bunk and cooked some dinner. Goat is not feeling well. She fell asleep very early in the day. We'll go into town tomorrow and let her get a nice nights sleep in a bed.
Peace, love & cat collars...
Hipbone