Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 44 – The day of great suffering
8th September 2023
Wilbur Clearing Shelter (600.8) - Levardis (621.3)
Daily miles: 20.5
Total miles: 628.2
We stayed up late watching the storm. I couldn’t not watch, it was amazing. Late, and while it was raining, someone came and asked if we could make room in the shelter. Of course we could so we all shuffled up.
It took a while to get to sleep and we were so packed in together it was a little cosy. Cal got the raw end of the deal and he had me and Toe on either side of him and we twisted in at our feet end so he didn’t have much room at all.
There was chat of getting up early and getting the Greylock for sunrise but when the alarm went off at 4am no one moved. We had all gone to sleep too late.
I left the camp first around 6:45am and there was the best sign of trail so far. Maine that way. Georgia this way. Clear and simple!
The perfect sign to make sure you’re going the right way
I started sweating immediately. My top didn’t dry overnight anyway so I had to put on a damp, sticky and very stinky top. As the sweat and body heat activated the stink I was repulsed by my own smell.
There were some muddy patches after the rain but it could have been a lot worse. It wasn’t really a problem at all. About half way Lemonhope caught up and over took as I was complaining about the sweat stinging my eyes.
Muddy puddles after the rain
I struggled my way up to Greylock and got to the memorial which was so familiar from last time. We went up inside it - I didn’t remember doing that last time but I can’t be sure. There is a lodge at the top so I was straight to the bathroom to use the loo and then I had a soda. I think the craving has kicked it.
May Queen didn’t stop but the others arrived and got coffee and I ended up being up there for an hour which is way longer than I had intended to stay.
The memorial monument at the top of Mt Greylock
Inside the monument
Views from inside the monument
Looking down onto the lodge
Boscom Lodge
Lovely delicious soda
How retro
The lady at the Lodge said the winds last night were 60 miles an hour, and there were roads blocked because of fallen trees, and there were giant hailstones.
I hiked out with Toe and we walked most of the 8 miles down to the road together. I only got ahead for the last mile when she stopped to pee. It was ok downhill so it was easy and we had some nice chats. There were a couple of fields before a short road walk off trail to get to a gas station where May Queen was.
Hiking with Toe
Cloudy but very hot
Through the fields
The road walk was short but hotter than I would have liked and stepping into the air-conditioned gas station was delightfully cool. The lady in there was really nice and said we can fill out bottles with water at the soda machine. The urge to fill it with one of those frozen slushy drinks was strong but I resisted.
The salvation of the gas station
There was a Dunkin’ Donuts in there so I had my first ever experience of that. I had a maple bacon, egg and cheese croissant and some hash brown bites and a very strong flavoured mango drink. It was fast food. Cheap, and not great quality, but it really hit the spot at it was 12:30 and all I’d eaten was a Luna bar.
My first ever Dunkin’ experience
May Queen hiked out shortly after we arrived (she wasn’t having the best of days and today will forever be referred to as The Day of Great Suffering) and Cal and Lemonhope came in a bit later. I hiked out of the gas station after being there for about half an hour. There was another bit of a road walk, past the ice cream shop that I ran to in 2018. Didn’t stop for ice cream this time but did stop to speak to the SOBOs we met yesterday - the girl is having problems with her shins so it really is unlikely we will ever see them again now.
Fields of corn
Road walking
Ice cream shop
I tried to push myself up the climb but the heat was really something else now and the humidity, if possible, has ramped up a notch too. My thermometer said 33°C /91°F.
HOT HOT HOT
I got almost to the top of the climb when Toe overtook me. I was determined to not be the last to the next town and there was a very high chance that Cal and Lemonhope would catch up and overtake me too. So I walked as fast as I could - easier now it had flattened out a bit.
I caught up to Toe with about 3 miles to town and walked with her and then about a mile later Cal caught up and we hiker trained it to town., chatting as we went which made the time go quicker. We did the 8 miles in just over 3 hours which I was very pleased with. We came out of the forest, where the bugs had been horrific, and walked down the road to the recreation centre which offers showers for hikers… some say free, some say for a donation, some say for $5.
At 4:20pm, with the centre in eyesight, we saw a flash of lightening and heard a rumble of thunder and it just started to pour down as we crossed the road to the rec centre. We got towels, picked from a basket of toiletries and got directions to the showers. They said it was donation based but no fixed charge.
The showers were great. Me, Toe and May Queen were in there for quite some time. Over the last couple of days I had squashed a few caterpillars on my neck which was really gross so it was nice to scrub the guts off my neck. I also noticed that I had so many bug bites (or it could have been irritation from the saltiness of my sweat in the shorts which happened last time) – either way, my legs were covered in red dots and a wash was the most welcome thing that day.
Recreation centre showers
Bites and irritation
None of us could bare to put on our wet and stinky hiker clothes so we all had to put out warm clothes on instead. Not ideal in the heat but it was better than being naked. We sat outside and looked up motels. It was raining hard and we didn’t want to set up our tents at this trail angels house like we had planned. But all the affordable ones were fully booked and all the other ones were too far away.
Looking out at the pouring rain
We text a different trail angel but they replied to say they had just gone out of town on vacation. So I came up with a plan. Walk to Tom’s house – who is the trail angel we already planned to camp in his garden and I had read in the comments on Far Out that he let people stay on his porch – then the others had a friend coming to visit who they knew from the PCT - FOF. We could then get FOF to take us to Walmart to resupply and get food and see if we could find somewhere to do laundry.
So we walked to Tom’s house which is right on trail so we were still getting more miles in. Stopped at a gas station on the way because I was so thirsty and we all got drinks for the road; my second soda of the day.
Soda number 2 (ginger ale is the new addiction)
Road sodas
Tom was so nice. He had everything set up for hikers. He said the rain was supposed to stop so we could set up our tents later. We asked him about laundry and he said he charges $5 for a load (which is cheaper than the laundrette) so we gave him $10 because there was 5 of us and we bundled our laundry together.
Tom put tarpaulins up to keep out the rain
May Queen had managed to drop one of her hiking shoes on the way so she had to go back and look for that (which she found lying on the sidewalk) then FOF arrived and we all went off to Walmart. It was raining hard again.
We squeezed 4 of us in the back seat and firstly went to Chipotle for a delicious burrito – which was a great choice as there was burrito place right opposite the rec centre, and earlier I was trying to convince people to go and hang out in there so I could eat a burrito and I had been thinking about it ever since.
Chipotle burrito
Then to Walmart to resupply. I just stick to what I have been eating. Pringles. Brownie bites. Twix. Mars. Welches fruit snacks. Gummy sweets… and I got some croissants for the mornings. I still had a couple of bars left over. I also got my third soda of the day and drank it before leaving the store.
The bright lights of Walmart
My resupply
Soda number 3
Back at Tom’s place there were now a bunch of NOBOs. Thankfully they said they were thinking about flipping up and doing Katahdin because they are really late for NOBOs. One of them was a bit odd saying that people who do big miles don’t enjoy themselves and they were the only ones out there having fun. Weird vibes.
Anyway FOF waited for us all to sort out our resupply and took all of our trash away because it was unfair to leave it all with Tom, so that was really nice and a great bit of trail magic today. Everyone has too much food as we made a plan for the next few days after we resupplied and we only have 2 full days and then about 6 miles to the next town, so we all probably have too much food for the first town and not enough for the town after that! We might get this right one day!
Sorting our resupply on the porch with trail angle FOF
Tom gives us our laundry – dry and folded amazingly – and I played mother and dished it all out. Then it was time to get the tents set up, lie down and go to sleep. The thunder and lightning was back and it was drizzling again so we had to pitch in the rain. I am now settled in my tent, the thermometer is reading 27°C / 81°F and it feels like it. Tonight is the first night I’ve slept without my sports bra on and it feels nice to be free and clean. I have my sleeping bag draped over one leg.
My legs are throbbing.
The night time temperature
