This week, we are once again immersed in humidity that even lifting a cold beer to your lips would cause you to sweat. While there is a heat advisory for the “muggles”, who aptly heed the warning and stay inside, we, on the other hand march along over root and rock thankful for the frequent streams and the green tunnel of shade. Otherwise, I’m pretty certain we would “stroke out.” Heat stroke, that is.

Day 8: 10.6 mi (1507.5 – 1517.8 +.2)

So today, we finished the state of Connecticut and climbed three mountains, each with its own challenging descent. One of which landed us in Massachusetts.

Lion’s Head (1,714 ft.) had no resemblence to a lion, as far as we could see.

Bear Mountain (2,312 ft), was literally a bear climbing down. We found ourselves on more than one occasion scooting on our butts. Four points of contact was required at all times. So glad it hadn’t rained the night before!

Mount Race (2,361 ft), which was preceded by the  Mt. Race Ledges, which involved skirting across rocky ledges that provided wide vista views of Massachusetts below.

I’ve got to say, we didn’t realize how happy we were to be done with Connecticut until after our descent from Bear Mountain, when we found ourselves in an old growth Hemlock forest. It was magical. The trail followed the edge of one of the most picturesque streams (Sawmill Brook), of which normally I would be scouting for fish. Not this place.

The beauty was overwhelming and begged for us to stay and just dwell in it for a while. Unfortunately, with all thru-hikes, there generally isn’t that kind of time. So we took as much time as we could while filtering water and watched as two girls wandered along the trail in slow, graceful motion searching out mushrooms. While soaking my feet, after Paul had filtered our water, of course, we were treated to our first “on trail,”  trail magic.

A local man “Pokey” was distributing Gatorades to hikers as he walked the trail. He told us in excited detail what we would soon come across. He also gave us his phone number in case we needed a ride into Great Barrington when we reached Hwy 7.

Pokey was not wrong when he described Race’s Ledges. It WAS a walk along stone Ledges, with amazing views, where one would be careful not to miss-step.

Our trek for the day ended at the Race Brook Falls campsite, where the treetops rustled in the breeze as if whispering to us goodnight.

Day 9: 10 mi. (1517.8 [+.2] – 1528)

Today was brutal. The high was stated as being 92°, with 90% humidity, which I think calculates to feeling like 120°. Of this, we would not deny.

Our major climb was first thing in the morning, up to Mt. Everet (2602 ft.). While the ups were not so bad, the downs were difficult on the knees. Most of the trail was not difficult, but the heat and humidity was draining. If it wasn’t for coming upon the April Hill Conservation Center, home of the Greenagers, I’m pretty sure we would have succumbed to heat stroke. We  knew we were approaching heat exhaustion with our excessive sweating and unmistakable nausea, even though we were downing water and electrolytes. It’s just that we were starting to lose the battle. And as we approached a road crossing, what to our wandering eyes should appear, but a group of kids in gum boots lined up like little ducklings following the leader from the direction of a giant blue barn with a rainbow heart painted on its face. We asked their leader if he knew where the closest water was. He directed us to the barn, where we could sit in the shade and refill our dwindling water bottles. Originally, we had been racing to a road crossing where we were told they serve cheese burgers and sodas, but only till 3pm. While we had enough time to make it there, we knew we didn’t have enough water and/or energy to make it there alive. Thus, the pivot to the rainbow heart barn.

Timing is everything sometimes with thru-hiking, for as we pulled up under the shade of a large tree between the barn and several buildings, and we’re greeted with, “Sit anywhere you like. You can get water from the hose or inside. Would you like a popsicle?” All’s I can say is God is good…All the time. This was way better than a cheese burger. Who knows what we would have done if those kids hadn’t passed by. Most likely, we would have approached a house and asked for water or perused our FarOut app a little more thoroughly. Once sufficiently cooled down and watered up, we continued down trail upon raised boardwalk across a swampy area. We traversed through the location of the historic “battle” of Shay’s Rebellion and eventually reached Hwy 7.

Just as we reached Hwy 7, we spied a cache of ice cold sodas supplied by trail angel “Steady Stream”, and then called Pokey. Pokey picked us up and dropped us at the Monument Mountain Motel in Great Barrington, after having given us a tour of where to go for resupply and dining options.  Before he left us, he offered to pick us up the following morning at the McDonald’s and take us back to trail. We gladly accepted. What a day!