Total Miles: 631.9
Today was supposed to be some of the flattest terrain I've seen in a long time, and I was looking forward to taking advantage of it. I was trying to make it the 20 miles to Upper Goose Pond, but that clearly didn't happen.
The day started with a few climbs up Tully Mountain and Warner Hill. They were easy, but it was humid. I was dripping sweat just standing still. There weren't any views thanks to everything being enveloped in fog, something I've gotten used to lately. It was unfortunate because I thought Warner Hill would have been beautiful. The fresh rain made the wildflowers smell so much stronger, and I was surrounded by a mini fern forest. I continued to the Cookie Lady's house on Washington Road with little distraction.
It is the responsibility of the SOBOs to pick blueberries for the pancakes at Upper Goose when stopping at the Cookie Lady's house. It's the end of the season, but I was able to scrounge up some to carry with me. I enjoyed a Coke and some cookies while talking to Roy before preparing to move on, believing that I would still make it to Upper Goose at that point. As I reached the trailhead, the rain started to fall. I decided to head back to Marilyn and Roy's to wait out the shower, which passed after about an hour. I made my way back to the trail as soon as it stopped. The trail was on a dirt road, and I missed the point where it turned back into the woods. I walked a good mile to mile and a half out of the way before reaching an intersection and realizing I was lost. I had to walk all the way back and find where I lost the trail. It was seriously maybe 100 feet from the road. This little side trip took an hour of my time, and the bugs were awful! Have I mentioned how much I hate when the trail crosses roads? I can follow the trail in the woods all day, but put me on a road and it's all over.
I decided I would just be stopping at the next shelter after my little side trip. The thunderstorms were going to be starting back up, and there would be few things worse than night hiking during a thunderstorm. It was still early, so I hung my tent to dry from the other morning and talked to Divide and Conquer, the section hiker here. I made dinner and shared the blueberries with him since I didn't think they would survive the trip to Upper Goose tomorrow. They were already pretty squished, and it was a nice treat. It hasn't started raining yet as I type this, but I sincerely hope it does so I won't feel like I wasted a good hiking day. It feels like there has been a lot of that lately.
No comments:
Post a Comment