Bama➡️Baxter Day 125&126

Day 125: 20 miles

This morning I woke up at our stealth site to the sound of tent stakes clanking together. I knew that sound immediately and realized that one of the guys was already breaking down their tent! The sound of the gushing river nearby had made me miss the sounds of their air pads popping and them beginning to break down camp.

Somehow, even though I woke up at 6:38 a.m., I managed to be fully packed up and ready to go before 7:00 a.m. I have set up and broken down my camp more than 365 times over all the years I’ve spent thru-hiking. The routine of it all comes easier than anything else, so in a pinch I can do it all unbelievably fast.

All of us walked over to the Bulls Bridge Country Store right at 7:00 a.m. They were already open and the woman working inside was incredibly kind and accommodating. The other day when it rained, Sweet Pea’s phone got soaked and it stopped working this morning. When we arrived at the store, the lady working gave him a box of rice so that he could try and fix it. Inside I got a few resupply items, a breakfast sandwich, and coffee drink. There were outlets inside and outside the store that we could use to charge our electronics a bit. That was a lovely surprise.

All of us ate and hung out at the shop until after 8:00 a.m. before finally continuing on. We met the adorable dog that barked at us last night at the shelter too. She was the cutest little thing named Daisy and was friendly as could be! She just didn’t appreciate us surprising her in the dark at the shelter last night. When we got back to walking, we had a pretty decent climb to start. It was quite steep but after a mile or so it leveled up. Then we mostly just rode along the ridge after we got to the top of the climb.

We went on for about six miles before we came to the Mt Algo Shelter. It seemed like a good enough place to stop off for a quick break. I ate some snacks there and stretched. Then I remembered to make my Bama➡️Baxter 1,900 mile marker! I can’t believe I’ve almost walked 2,000 miles once again along a thru-hike. Before leaving the shelter, another hiker arrived named Biscuits. He was actually hiking the PCT earlier on in the year but decided to get off and hop on the AT instead. It’s a truly terrible year to hike the PCT if you’re goal is a continuous footpath. The weather this year has been record breaking out there.

After a while, we decided to continue on. The terrain was phenomenal and the miles came pretty effortlessly. For the next seven or so miles, the trail followed along the Housatonic River. The weather was fantastic and it was a truly perfect day to be hiking. I was sweating up a storm, but what else could you expect from summer in New England. We walked for about eight miles before we decided to take our next break at the Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter. There was another hiker set up inside sleeping when we arrived there quite early in the afternoon.

We wound up breaking there for a pretty long time to eat and just chill out. We only had about five miles to go from there to get to the road into Cornwall Bridge or Kent. It was pretty much entirely flat after we hiked out from the shelter. But my butt cheeks were chaffing so bad from the intense sweating today, which was a bummer. I think that has to be the worst type of chaffing that I’ve ever gotten and continue to get on the AT. I’ve found a way to manage pretty much every type of chaffing besides my damn butt cheeks.

We arrived in town and wound up walking over to the Citgo first. I grabbed a couple things for resupply and got a drink. Then once we headed outside, we asked a local person if there were any restaurants in Cornwall Bridge. But sadly, they said the closest place to eat was in Kent, which was a hitch away.

All of us really wanted pizza though, so I decided to walk up to the road and stick a thumb out. And literally the first vehicle to drive past pulled into the gas station. They were actually a hostel owner who was shuttling around another AT hiker! And we had met that hiker earlier today. The guy offered for us to come and stay at his hostel, but we were planning to get some food and get back to trail. So instead, he said that he could take us to a pizza place and then back to the trailhead.

We all rode in the back of the pickup as we drove from the gas station over to the hostel. The guy Tommy dropped off the hiker Hops at his house so that she could shower and relax. Then he drove us to the pizza place in Kent. Squirrel sat in the cab with Tommy and Sweet Pea and I had to lay down in the back of the pickup because it’s not legal to ride in the back of trucks here.

At the pizza place, we decided to sit down inside to eat so that we could have a drink. Tommy joined us and it was a really nice time. He was a super interesting guy who actually spent a long time living in Boston! That guy has lived one fascinating life. Some of the stories that he told were wild, so I was having a great time listening. He asked us if we all wanted to stay at his house tonight free of charge. We could shower, do laundry, and charge our electronics. Though we were really planning to get a few more miles in, so we weren’t sure.

While waiting for our food, I had a cider and hung out. Then after the food came, the waitress asked if I wanted another cider. So I asked the guys what we were going to do tonight. Because if I have a second drink this late in the day there’s no way I’ll be doing any more walking. And it was pretty unanimous that we all wanted to stay the night at Tommy’s place. So we accepted his offer and I had another cider!

After we ate, Tommy drove us back to his house. We stopped off at a liquor store along the way and I found citizen cider, which is my absolute favorite cider. Then we went back to the house to chill for the rest of the night. I showered once we were back and then everyone got their clothes together to do a load of laundry.

This is my first shower in seven days and the first time doing laundry in ten days. I am quite possibly the grossest that I’ve ever been on trail before. I’ve gone a lot longer in between showers before, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so gross. My poor body is covered in bug bites and chafe marks. The AT is certainly a harsher trail on my body than the PCT ever was. There is so much more moisture in the air out here.

While it was going, we walked around the property with Tommy. The house is across the street from a dairy farm and barn. He showed up around the 1890s barn and dairy cow area. It was really cool to see the setup of the old barn. I’d never been in a place like that before. If the farm was fully operational, he would have let me milk a cow! Which is something that I think would be really cool to do.

After walking around the property, we headed back to chill. There are two barn cats on the property and they came around to snuggle with all of us. One of the cats named Peter laid on my lap for a long time. And his cat friend Smokey was super skittish but warmed up after a while. All of us sat out on the porch for a long time, sharing stories and talking amongst each other. I had a couple ciders and we smoked. Then after a while we headed back inside to sleep in the living room. I wound going to sleep on one of the couches.

Day 126: 14 miles

This morning Tommy drove us back to the trailhead around 7:15 a.m. It felt great to be getting a nice early start to the day. The morning started with a quick climb and then leveled out. We wound up doing six miles to the Pine Swamp Brook Shelter and taking our first break there.

We hung out there for a while before continuing along. I ate some snacks and then stretched for a bit. While we were there, Squirrel let us know that we are getting close to catching up to his trail family from a couple weeks ago, and that he wanted to slow down to hike with them once we did.

After we headed out from the shelter, the trail was pretty cruisy. We had to do a couple short climbs, but were rewarded with a few really nice overlooks. There were definitely some fantastic views along the way. Plus, I began noticing some blackberry bushes in the sunny patches along the trail. A few bushes had ripe berries, so I began to stop and pick them as I walked.

About five miles in, the trail descended and wound up crossing a road. I knew that Sweet Pea didn’t have a working phone, so I stopped to wait for him to catch up. There is a restaurant right off the trail at a road a bit further up. But I figured that he wouldn’t know which road to take. When he caught up, he didn’t look so good. He was particularly sweaty and pale looking. Sadly, he said that he was feeling crummy and sick to his stomach.

We only had to walk another mile or so to get to the Mountainside Cafe, thankfully. When we got there, we dropped our packs and headed inside. I thought that sitting in AC and eating something would probably make Sweet Pea feel better. We ordered food and relaxed inside. I gave Sweet Pea a Dramamine to help with his nausea. But while Squirrel and I were drinking coffee and eating delicious food, Sweet Pea was just sitting there. That to me was the true sign of how shitty he felt. The food at the cafe was ridiculously good too.

We stayed at the cafe for a while before heading out. And at this point, it had been decided that we weren’t going to go much further today. Sweet Pea was just feeling worse as time went on. He really didn’t have much many more miles in him for the day. The trail was really easy when we headed out from the cafe. But even still, Sweet Pea was lagging far behind, clearly exhausted. Poor dude. We stopped a couple miles in and made a plan. There was a town called Falls Village just a mile or so away. And one of the businesses in town apparently lets AT hikers tent for free in their yard.

So we took a quick break for Sweet Pea to recoup before we pushed the final mile or so to get there. When we got to the road into Falls Creek, we turned to head over. The woman who owns Toymakers in town told us that we could camp for free in her side yard. She walked us over to a lovely shaded grassy area where we could set up. There was even a faucet for us to use and an outlet that we could plug into if need be. It was truly the perfect situation. All things considered, today is working out better than it could have. At least if Sweet Pea has to feel sick, he can do so near a town with some comforts.

All of us set up our tents and wound up walking to the nearby liquor store for some sodas and juice. Sweet Pea needs ginger ale and electrolytes for sure. He was feeling like garbage. Once we got back, he fell asleep in the grass and I wound up writing blogs for a long while. He was in and out for the rest of the evening. Every now and again he would wake up and talk for a few and then fall back asleep. Clearly his body is fighting something pretty intense.

Around 7:00 p.m. I wound up walking down the street to a cafe that did hot food. I sat outside and used their Wi-Fi to do some blogging for a bit. Then I ordered a cheeseburger and fries to bring back to our tent site. The burger was surprisingly cheap and very delicious. It had loads of caramelized onions, which are my absolute favorite. I sat in the grass to eat it, which was delightful. Sweet Pea woke up for a bit and said that he was feeling better.

The three of us hung out in the grass for a bit before the mosquitos got too bad. Then we all retreated to our tents for the night. I did a bit more blogging and then decided to head off to bed.