Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 47 – Picking up another hiker
11th September 2023
Tom Leonard Shelter (663) - Hemlocks Shelter (677.4)
Daily miles: 14.4
Total miles: 685.3
It absolutely poured down around 4am. Checked the time. Rolled over and went to sleep. At 6am it was still raining. Went back to sleep.
Lemonhope regretted camping as he ended up in a puddle and packed up in the early hours and sat in the shelter waiting for us all to get up.
Slow morning in the shelter
I started moving at 7am and everyone was really taking their time this morning, not keen to get moving in the rain and with only 6.4 miles to the road to town there wasn’t much of a sense of urgency.
We found out the girl who came in late was a NOBO who started on 2nd June. In our opinion it’s very unlikely she will make it. The guy with no food also said he started in February. Something odd about him. He might just be sleeping rough in the shelter.
I was going to hike out but then I suggested a hiker train to town given the small miles. This decision was based on whether I thought I could keep up with them.
Not wanting to hike out in the rain
We all started out in rain gear. Everyone in their waterproof jackets and me feeling quite smug in my rain skirt and umbrella. Especially when I was sweating and I knew everyone else was sweating more in their jackets.
A couple of miles in the jackets came off and my umbrella got put away. It was still super humid. We hiked and chatted together and it should have made the time go quicker but honestly it felt like quite a long 6 miles. There were some sketchy slick rocks and Cal took a tumble so we slid down on our butts because the grip on our shoes wasn’t good.
Sliding down wet rock
Hiker train to town
We came out onto and road and had a nice bit brief 0.5 miles along a road then the last mile to the main road was a mosquito hell, a flat mosquito hell. We were practically running to get away from them. Well, they were just hiking fast and I was running to keep up with them.
The rain clearing away
A short road walk
We got to the road and started to hitch into Great Barrington. There isn’t a lot of point 5 people putting their thumbs out so May Queen and Toe did all the heavy lifting and Cal and Lemonhope hid in the shade. I stood somewhere in the middle.
Hitching to town
May Queen and Toe doing all the hard work
A guy pulled over and said he didn’t realise there was so many of us but he made it work and Cal, Lemonhope and I got in the back of the truck, I was sat on a piece of plywood and it was surprisingly comfortable. Toe and May Queen were up front paying the talking tax of hitching.
Squeezed into the back of a work truck with Lemonhope and Cal
It wasn’t a long ride which was lucky as we were feeling a bit like we were running out of air in the back! We were in town just before 11:30 am and went to the Big Y to resupply. Our standard 2.5 days. I think I got too much food. I had also rolled into town with leftover food but I still managed to spend an excessive amount.
My resupply
We were sat outside organising our food and another hiker came along and started talking. A weird guy that had his buff around his face and a hat on and was acting a little shifty. It turns out it was Pyro who is Cal, Toe and May Queen’s friend from the PCT. May Queen had been secretly organising it and she said she nearly told me but that would have been a terrible idea as I’m an awful secret keeper!
He’s going to come hiking with us for a couple of weeks. Pyro went in the supermarket to resupply and Lemonhope and I went in search of some food. I had already been back into the supermarket to get a Ginger Ale and 10 chicken nuggets, but I needed some real food
Soda and nuggs
Easy meals for busy people
There was a cafe next door which turned out to be associated with a supermarket which was a real fancy Whole Foods style one. It had a huge selection of hot foods - sandwiches, pizza, burritos, other cooked stuff - and at first it looked a little up market for the likes of us but we plonked ourselves into a corner next to the outlets and plugged all our electronics in.
I got a Banh Mi sandwich freshly made and it was a great choice. It’s all about the bread with this sandwich. They used great bread. And then the tang of the pickled vegetables really elevates it to the next level.
Banh Mi
The others joined us and one of the servers came over and offered a couple of free coffees that had just made to take photos of. They were really friendly and could not give less of a shit about us being there.
I rinsed out my sweaty bandana in the bathroom sink and used the lavender soap to wash it; it now smells amazing. I wondered around the supermarket looking at all the nice things. I got a chocolate milk and I also in a whim brought a couple of spanakopita slices. I only wanted one, but it was a choice of 1 cold slice or 2 hot ones. I went for the 2 hot ones. It was way more than I needed and I struggled to finish it. We were also given free smoothie samples too.
Some of us were making plans to hike out around 3:30pm but then the rain came down, the heavens opened and we waited for that to pass.
Pouring rain
We split up into two groups to hitch back to the trail and I went in the first one with Lemonhope and Cal. We were picked up very quickly and taken back to trail by a lady who might have been a bit drunk. Not sure. Her car was a mess, I just sat on top of everything that was on the front seat.
It was 8 miles to the shelter and I needed to get moving if I was going to make it before dark. The first bit was fairly straightforward, a nice mostly flat walk that went between forest and fields and boardwalks. After about 1.5 hours of hiking Lemonhope caught up and overtook me. The mosquitoes in that first section were horrendous.
Mosquito zone
Crossing the railway
Follow the blazes
Fields
Corn fields
Boardwalk
Lemonhope
The forest
Next were a couple of steep climbs which were a bit of a shock to the system. My bag felt like someone had put rocks in it, it felt so heavy! And the downhills were rocky and very slippery so they were slow going. I had slowed down a lot.
Last light
Last light
Views at the top of the climb
Sunset
I saw the pinky orange hue of the sun through the trees as it was setting. It was getting dark on trail and I still had 1.4 miles to go. I got my headlamp out ready. When the trees weren’t so thick I could see but some parts were really dark.
I stopped to get some water. I had finished mine a while ago so I guzzled down half a litre straight from the filter then filled up again as did the last 0.7 to the shelter with my head lamp on. I think it’s running out of batteries, it’s not very bright so it was a bit of a struggle!
Night hiking
I saw the sign for the first shelter (a small one with space for 4 people) but we were going to the next one which is a lot bigger. I couldn’t find the sign and it turns out it was high up on a tree. I found the blue blazes and then saw a head lamp. My headlamp was so dim now I had to get my phone out and use the torch on that too. Eventually Lemonhope shouted which was especially helpful because I couldn’t see the shelter at all.
I ended up getting there around 7:40pm and set up my stuff straight away so I could lie down quickly! I didn’t eat anything because I was still full from the town food.
The others arrived at 8:20pm having hitched later out of town. This is a nice shelter, the same set up as last night and we were all relieved to find it was just the 6 of us and no randoms.
The frogs are loud tonight.
