Miles: 5
Water: 1 l
Back on the trail today. Jamie gave me a ride near to where I was. There was a two mile hike into the trail. I didn't get started until afternoon so I made it a short day. I'm at a campsite just across the CT border into MA. It's raining pretty steadily so I'm mostly just laying here in my tent.
The three days off were pretty sweet, it was nice to be back in reality, but it was also nice to get back on the trail. After an hour of reluctant hiking I found my legs and the rest was fine.
Today I climbed bear mt ct. I guess every state with bears has a bear mt. This was the first summit where the plants started to get really stumpy and stunted, soon I imagine I'll be seeing bigger peaks with actual tree lines. At the top was a pile of rocks and a stone tablet proclaiming it the highest spot in Connecticut. In new jersey they built an oblisk, in ct a pile of rocks.
I felt pretty good most of the day today, but that pain in my calf that had been entirely gone came back toward the end. That kind of sucks. I realize that I'm not going to make it anywhere if I don't hike through some injuries, they are just part of long distance hiking. So I'm going to take it easy on my leg but try to make progress.
I feel like taking the weekend off really helped my body, but it might have knocked my hiker mentality off kilter. We will see.
The mountain laurel, the beautiful tree that has been in bloom the last few weeks, is the state flower of Connecticut.
Mountain luarel is always awesome, I love the way it looks in and among the rocks. Glad to hear you're mixing con-time and trail-time. I expect some profound life and gaming quotes out of this trip. Let me know if I can mail you a non-broken pair of shorts-with-zip-off-pants. As a former REI employee, it's the least I can do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pants offer, but I kind of like my trail mended pants.
DeleteIf you end up writing your book about hiking the Apalachian Trail -- strike that -- WHEN you write your book about hiking the AT, you are going to need a glossary. And maybe an index. I expect to see terms such as reluctant hiking in the glossary.
ReplyDeleteReluctant hiking does sound like some crazy technique, like walking backwards or hopping every third step. Really, I just didn't feel like hiking very much when I first started, that's all.
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