Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 43 – A birthday burger treat
7th September 2023
New Seth Warner Shelter (588.3) - Wilbur Clearing Shelter (600.8)
Daily miles: 12.5
Total miles: 607.7
Early morning cuddle puddle
It was hot last night. Most people were restless. I did that thing where I couldn’t work out which direction I was facing, but I had fewer problems than Toe who likes to do 360s in her sleep.
Shelter life
I turned 41 today. In the morning there was a chorus of Happy Birthdays for me, which was nice. I set off around 7am. I was the first person to leave camp and the idea was that because I hike the slowest I would walk the 5.5 miles to the Vermont / Massachusetts border and wait for the others and we would then walk into town together.
Breakfast in the dirt
New Seth Warner shelter is almost finished, but not quite
Twix for breakfast of course, it was my birthday after all.
Favourite breakfast
Being the first out of camp may have been a bit of a mistake because I had to clear all the spider webs and I got a couple of big webs to the face. And the sweat was really bad. It was 20°C / 68°F in the shelter this morning.
The hike was a bit up and down. Very sweaty. Very buggy. I stopped to dip my bandanna in the water.
Power lines
Lovely morning light through the forest
I arrived to the Vermont border, took a couple of pictures and then the long trailers who we saw a few days ago arrived and they were absolutely dripping with sweat because they had gone Full Send to get there and basically ran up the trail.
Shortly after everyone else arrived and we were a big bubble of SOBOs. It was awesome and we got a great group picture.
Welcome to Vermont
Dirty SOBOs featuring our new Long Trail finisher friends
SOBO bubble
Welcome to Massachusetts! 4th state
Lemonhope mentioned he needed to pick up a trekking pole and one of the long-trailers gave him one of his. Excellent example of how the trail provides!
Then it was time to get to town. Everyone wanted to get moving because of the bugs and we hiker trained it. Firstly it was Toe followed by me then Cal and soon Lemonhope and May Queen caught up, so we were hiking in a line of 5. Downhill I have no problem keeping up which is a nice change from the uphill struggle.
Following Toe in the hiker train
I fell over on the way down and got saved from tumbling all the way down the side of the hill by a bush
Crunchy was a ways behind but we did catch up to his friends – Food Drop and Floss – who had been saying they haven’t seen any SOBOs so it was probably quite overwhelming for 5 of us to descend on them all at once. They aren’t going to town so we may never see them again.
We descended quickly and then came out onto the road through someone’s driveway, then down the street and over the railway bridge to the next road - which is how the AT will be a lot from here, much more urban in some parts. We hitched in 2 groups. The guy that picked up Toe and Cal had room for one more so I got to go because - it’s ma birthday! It was a guy who had been hiking on the long trail and Toe had met and spoken to him before. Then the other 2 got a ride from Sir Stops A-Lot, a trail angel.
Road walking
Bridge with creepy child hand prints
Toe and Cal doing all the work because it’s the old woman’s birthday
Trail angel, Sir Stops A-Lot
It was hotter than hot in Williamstown and we went to find somewhere to eat. We all decided on the Purple Pub where we got burgers. I think this is my first burger of the trail and it was a good one. Avo, cheddar, bacon and pickled onions, and a ginger ale. The gang picked up my tab for my birthday which was very nice of them.
Birthday burger
We initially though we should sit outside because we all smell so bad but the girl said to come inside and we were more than happy because - air conditioning. Apparently this is unusual for this time of year and it’s a heatwave. It’s about 32°C / 90°F.
We then decided to go and get ice cream but there was nowhere to sit inside or in the shade so we went across the road to a froyo place which was also a book shop. It was also full of university students. I think it was also staffed by uni students because the woman behind the counter did not give a stuff about anything. We were able to spread ourselves out and plug in electronics and only one person ordered froyo. It was super expensive.
So we hung out in there for a while. I phoned my parents and everyone did admin on their phones.
We saw some people bring in ice creams from the other place over the road so Cal and I went to get ice cream and Cal treated me! Two treats in one day! I got a huge tub, a mix of cheesecake and chocolate, and we took it back to the froyo place and ate it there!
Birthday ice cream
We saw Crunchy and he said he had a terrible time trying to hitch in and had to wait for ages. He wasn’t looking forward to hitching back and I told him to come and hitch with us but he wasn’t keen.
Eventually we had to leave the air conditioning and hitch back to trail. We split up again but a couple of college girls stopped and said we could all squeeze in, so Toe and I got in the boot (trunk). We saw Crunchy walking along the road but we didn’t have room for him.
Hitching back to the trail
Students squeezing us into their car
Toe and I are in the boot (trunk)
Pretty sure this isn’t legal but what’s done is done
We walked about 0.2 before we passed a school where there were a bunch of coolers with sodas in there with fresh ice so they were nice and cold. So we stopped and sat on the grass for about half an hour. We hadn’t made it far!
Coolers outside a school for AT hikers
Who needs Dr Pepper when you can have Dr Thunder
Eventually the bugs got too annoying and Toe and I hiked out. A bit on the road and then back into the forest and the first bit of the climb up to Mt Greylock.
Toe got ahead of me because she hikes quicker uphill than I do. But she stopped to sit in the creek. She said she just felt too gross and it was making her unhappy. The others caught up to us. Cal dipped his hair in the creek in a futile attempt to cool down.
It was very very hot today
Lemonhope and May Queen hiked on. I followed. I was fully expecting to be overtaken but I made it up to a lookout just before Toe arrived. The sun was starting to set and it was giving this nice orange glow through the forest. I was exceptionally sweaty again.
Sunset next to the approaching storm
Trying to keep cool with a wet bandana
Watching the sunset
I walked down to the shelter with Toe, 0.3 off trail but an easy walk. It was nice to see a picnic table right outside the shelter. It’s an older shelter and the picture on Far Out makes it look worse than in turned out to be.
We arrived there before dark and it was due to rain this evening so we all got into the shelter, apart from Crunchy who decided to pitch his tent.
I didn’t really eat dinner because I was full from all the town food. As it got dark we watched the lightening show through the trees. Loads and loads of lightening. It was spectacular. Right now it’s 9pm and the wind has arrived. It’s blowing a hoolie and it’s blowing right into the shelter. I’m actually a bit concerned that we might get wet if it rains!
I’ve had a great day. Friends are definitely more important than miles.
