Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 41 – Glastenbury mountain
5th September 2023
Lye Brook Wilderness (545.1) - Glastenbury Mountain (569)
Daily miles: 23.9
Total miles: 575.9
It was a nice night. Very warm. I went topless (no rain fly) and it was nice to be able to look up at the trees. There was, what I think was, an owl came into camp and hooted 3 times. Each time it felt like it was in a different place.
In the morning there were a few drips coming from the trees but thankfully all my stuff was dry - damp as always, but dry enough.
I packed up and I was second out of camp behind Lemonhope. First goal was the 8 miles to Stratton mountain. It was exceptionally humid again today and I was sweating so much straight away. I dipped my bandanna into the water and tied it around my head in a futile attempt to keep cool. The 8 miles passed unremarkably. Plenty of up to get to the top, and a bunch of rocks and patches of mud and lots of roots to slow me down. I just put my head down and got on with it.
More bog boards
A lovely bridge
Crossing the river
Love the light through the trees
The trail is full of rocks and rots
I was getting a lot of pain again in my right foot so I relaced my shoe again. It helped a bit.
At the top there were a couple of long trail hikers and a dog and I sat there for a while, went up the tower to look at the views and came back down and ate some snacks. Toe, May Queen and Cal arrived and I stayed a while longer to chat to them. I probably had a 45 minute break in the end which is really long for me. I hiked on and they went up to the top of the tower.
The first fire tower
360 views
Looking through the windows
Views for days
Views on every side
Broken window
No glass
Trees and lakes
Looking down from the top of the fire tower
Mat Queen, Toe and Cal
It was more and more humid and I saw a bunch of hikers on the way down Stratton mountain - which I flew down, fastest hiking yet probably! At the bottom there was a parking lot and a little walk up the road to get back on the trail. I got to a brook where I poured water over my head to try and cool down and got some more water - mindful to drink enough today because all of the fluid in my body was falling out of my face.
Some of the hikers we saw were the NOBOs we saw in town yesterday we did say to them “every day we wonder when we are going to see the last NOBO, and maybe you’re it!”.
There was an area of really crunchy leaves underfoot – another sign that autumn is on the way, along with some more changes in the colour of the leaves.
I hiked on to Story Spring shelter which was right on trail and Lemonhope was there. I wouldn’t have stopped but I sat for a moment which was nice. Had a nice chat for about 10 minutes with some Long-trailers.
I hiked on with Lemonhope. We chatted for the next 4.5 miles about all sorts of random stuff. He definitely could have gone a lot faster but I think he slowed his pace for me. It was still exceptionally humid. We stopped at a river to fill up water and drink a load because of the whole losing fluid out of my face thing. Also filled up extra to take up to the top of Glastenbury Mountain where we planned to camp.
Pouring water over my head to try and keep cool
4 miles to go. I lead the way. I was pushing it a bit to go faster so I didn’t hold up Lemonhope, which made me sweat so much. After about 2 miles I stopped to pee. It was late afternoon and I had only peed once before around 11am. It was overdue. It also let Lemonhope go ahead so I wasn’t being pressured from behind.
Through the forest
The next 2 miles were a struggle. The last 7 miles had been tougher than expected actually. Very rocky and a bid muddy. The mud was nowhere near as bad as it could have been but the rocks were a challenge.
I was going so slowly! I kept seeing little glimpses of Lemonhope up ahead so I knew it wasn’t too far behind. I got to the top around 6:50pm. It would have been such a great sunset but sadly the fire tower had been deemed unsafe and the bottom stairs had been taken away.
Glastenbury mountain fire tower where in 2018 we got a great sunset
It’s been condemned
Cal arrived literally 2 minutes after me, he must have been right behind me for a while. We all sat and ate and chatted. A short while later May Queen arrived and there was talk of going on to the shelter but honestly I was done here.
Cal and May Queen didn’t have enough water so they went back down the trail to a little stream we had walked past. I remember being annoyed that I had carried a whole extra litre up here and there was water right near the top.
Lemonhope and I pitched our tents and I ate a handful of crisps for dinner.
Camp
When they came back they had Toe with them and it was just after 8 and dark. Cal was a bit pissed off because the trip to water was further than remembered, so it was a mile round trip for them.
We all have sore feet. Today was a challenging day. My legs and feet are throbbing.
