2019 Summer Hike- Day 32- Seth Warner Shelter to VT9/Bennington, VT

Date: July 17

Total Miles Today: 11.5

Total Miles this Summer: 393
Total Trail Miles: 1193.4

We awoke to a dry campsite. We packed up our gear, and just as we were leaving, it started to rain.  Time to hike in the mud.

This is the work of some very industrious beavers.

Nice work beavers.

We had a couple climbs, but they were not too difficult. We also followed this beautiful stream for a bit. 

We stopped for lunch at a shelter  I'm roasting a sausage and taking a picture of Advocado who is taking a picture of her ramen. This is why we have social media.

Midday naptime.

The rain stopped during the nap.

And then it started back up.

We spent most of the day hiking in mud or on slick rocks. Sometimes both at the same time. Most of the time it was raining. 

Almost to our destination, where Laurie will meet us and take us to food and lodging. A wet, muddy, day, with a tricky downhill on wet rocks at the end. 

We had to wait about 40 minutes for our ride, which gave me time to wash my shoes, feet and legs in the cleanest mud puddle of the day. Only when hiking does  washing yourself in a parking lot mud puddle seem like a pleasant opportunity. 

"Clean" and cooled off from the rain, we were picked up and went into town for some good food. Later, we drove to our Airbnb rental. A very wet day that should have been easy, but was made more challenging by the rain.

Summer 2019 Hike - Day 31- Mt Greylock to Seth Warner Shelter

Date: July 16

Total Miles Today: 13.2

Total Miles this Summer: 381.5
Total Trail Miles: 1181.9

Sunrise on Mt Greylock

Breakfast in the Lodge

We reluctantly left the Lodge a bit before 10am...a very late start.

Time to descend.

With a late start, and the day getting into the 80s, we were dragging early.

We took a break at a shelter and cooked some sausages. And then took a nap.

We eventually got moving again...it's early afternoon and we have only hike 3 miles. We still need to descend from Greylock and climb up another Mountain. 

The descent down Greylock was harder than climbing it due to the heat. Both of us were moving slow.

We made it to the bottom, but I didn't think we could go much further.

Trail Magic! Cold sodas, Gatorade and snacks. We sat down in the shade and rested.

Revived, we had the energy to hike through town and through someone's yard. Seriously, the AT goes right up their driveway, through the yard, and into the woods.

We entered the woods and came to a beautiful, ice cold stream. Sage wisely decided to hop in.

That did the trick. Between the trail magic and an ice cold soak, we were revived and ready to hike. 

We powered up a big climb.

And entered Vermont! Another state complete. We really enjoyed Massachusetts.

Vermont immediately hit us with mud. Ahh..Vermud....I've heard of this state by reputation. Sometimes, there were rocks so you could hop over the mud.. sometimes we just plowed through the mud. The tricky part is not loosing a shoe.

It seems the character of the trail changes at each state border. When you cross from Georgia to North Carolina, the trail goes straight up. Pennsylvania to New Jersey, the rocks largely go away. New York was rocky and difficult, and Connecticut had lots of smooth fast sections interspersed with occasional challenges. 

We rolled into the shelter just before dark, and in the coming days, we will get to find out just what Vermont on the AT holds for us. 

Summer 2019 Hike -Day 30 Crystal Mountain Campsite to Mt Greylock- (Bascom Lodge)

Date: July 15
Total Miles Today: 12.3

Total Miles this Summer: 368.3
Total Trail Miles: 1168.7

Our destination for the day: Mt Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts and close to the Vermont border. From the top of Greylock, we will get our first view of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

The day started with a standard breakfast of oatmeal with Little Debbie Nutty Bar on top.

We started hiking and passed another little pond. 

The trail was fairly easy. Massachusetts has alot of smooth trail, I like it. 

Overlooking Cheshire, MA. We will hike down to the town in the next few miles.

More sidewalk/roadwalk. Fast, but it hurts your feet. I miss the squishy pine needles.

Monument to a guy.

He made a big cheese.

Very pretty little town

Very pretty Iced Americano. We made it to the Shell Station / Dunkin Donuts and settled in to the relax and charge our devices.

Next stop, the Dollar General..a very common resupply for AT hikers. 

Then it was back to the trail. Time to climb Greylock. 2500 feet of elevation gain...should be fun.

We took lots of breaks, it was a cool day and there was a breeze. The climb was mostly smooth and gradual..much easier than I expected.

With about 3 miles left to the top, we stopped at the Mark Noeple Shelter and took an afternoon nap. Nice shelter.

After the shelter I noticed the trees were shorter due to the elevation. 

The final part of the climb up to Greylock was not too difficult and we enjoyed the scenery.

One last push and we are up.

The summit of Greylock. And next door..  

Bascom Lodge

Made it. Time to check into the AT hiker bunks and take a shower.

Seth Warner Shelter is our destination for tomorrow. Don't think it will be as nice as the Bascom Lodge.

Sunset from My Greylock.

Summer 2019 Day 29 Kay Wood Shelter to Crystal Mountain Campsite

Date: July 14
Total Miles Today:  7.7

Total Miles this Summer: 356
Total Trail Miles: 1156.4

We left about 615, heading down to Dalton, MA looking for some breakfast and a ride to church.

We hiked down the trail and found someone camping in a random location (not permitted in MA, you can only camp in designated sites). No big deal...I'm not the campsite police.....but....

What is a much bigger deal is their food bag. Note that they hung it 3 feet off the ground. Careless actions like this get bears killled and people hurt. As soon as a bear gets a taste for hiker food bags, it tends to progress to more aggressive actions. Trash left laying around, or a poorly hung food bag impacts everyone...and especially the bears that get killed because they are targeting hikers and their food. All it takes is a few careless people like this...and every hiker has to deal with threats from bears.

It was an easy hike down to town and we made good time.

The AT runs right down the sidewalk through this neighborhood. Wow...wish I was a kid with a lemonade stand on that street.

Then we came to Tom's place. For almost 40 years he has allowed hikers to loiter. Camp in the yard, charge their phones, get water, etc. Sometimes he will bring our food or drinks. His yard is listed in my trail app with the rules/ process. There are just so many neat little things like this on the trail...people and places that are part of the community. You can recognize his place because he has a trekking pole garden in the front yard and a AT sign.

From there we hiked into town. 

We found some food and drinks and I washed my shirt in the gas station sink. (Gotta look my best for church). After a few attempts, we  managed to get a Lyft to church. 

We made it to a wonderful Congregational Reformed church where the gospel was preached and there was an obvious vitality to the church. Everyone was quite friendly and Sage described the service as "just like where we go at home." If I had to move to the Dalton/Pittsfield MA area... I think I know where we would go to church.  I was particularly tickled when during the announcements they said "The men's bible study is meeting in Stockbridge and reading Thomas Watson....". 

Stockbridge...that's where Jonathan Edwards was a missionary to the Housitonic Indians. 

It is so encouraging to run into a faithful church in a region now full of empty, dead liberal false religion. 

In case I'm offending anyone who is just here for the hiking pictures, I'll make one more quick explanation so you understand this weekly quest to find a church and why we can't just go to the nearest building with a steeple.

I absolutely believe in the "catholic" (small c- read universal) church, and there are faithful churches across a variety of traditions. I can happily worship with any of them, and even appreciate the differences. I am all for unity. Unity in truth. If a church has rejected the authority of God's word, if they have rejected God's law and the gospel, there is no room for unity. We worship a God who is real, a God who created everything in 6 days and will judge the living and the dead. Apart from Christ alone, all men stand condemned.  Reject the fundamentals about God, man, sin and redemption...and I cannot worship your false God. Reject the fundamental truths of the Bible and you are not a follower of the God of the Bible. Many of the mainline denominations, sadly, have done just that, and therefore, unity with them would be wrong. They claim to be "Christian" but have rejected the true Christ. So..I have no unity with those who reject and teach in opposition to Christ.  

The gospel is that we are sinners and we stand condemned before a Holy God. God the Father gave God the Son, to live a sinless life and pay the punishment we deserved. By God's grace, we can be credited with his perfect life, and the holy wrath that our sin deserves was poured out on Christ on the cross. We are saved by faith alone, through Christ alone. This is the foundation for unity with other Christians. Reject that...and there is no basis for unity...we do not worship the same God.

So when we go looking for a church, I'm simply trying to find fellow believers who agree on the fundamental gospel message...it's all about Christ. Secondary issues are important, but they remain secondary.

Ok now that I've further offended those who were already offended, I guess I should move on.

We had to resupply and get back on the trail. Moving around town was tough. Someone at church gave us a ride, and after a zillion tries, I finally got a Lyft to the laundromat. But then we were stuck...Lyft had no cars. We were a long way from the trail and just wanted to get out of town.

Finally, I got ahold of an AT shuttle driver, Debbie, and she agreed to pick us up.  We had to wait another hour, so I fed Advocado a smoothie. 

The hike up to the campsite wasn't too difficult.

Made it! Despite our late start, we set up our hammocks before the mosquito feeding frenzy. 

Enjoyed church greatly, but most of the day was very frustrating. The town was spread out and we burned most of the day trying to find transportation. By the end of the day, we were happy to be back on the trail.