Miles today: 18
Total miles: 686.2
Wolf Bird made us a great breakfast this morning of scrambled eggs and mushrooms, English muffins, coffee, and orange juice. We hung around all morning and got back on trail by 11 or so. We said goodbye to Andrew and his friend jimmy and thanked them for their incredible hospitality.
We had three mountains to climb today. As much as I hate uphills, I kind of enjoyed the way the mountains broke up the day, giving me tasks to accomplish. Cool Blues shins were hurting him so I went in front of him, rather than bringing up the rear as I’ve been doing with the boys without shuffle to go last. I hiked behind Wolf bird and Blondie all day. Or so I thought. I was behind them but couldn’t seem to catch them. Usually they will break every couple hours or at least for lunch, giving me a chance to catch up. But today I couldn’t seem to catch them. Mountain after mountain went by and still no sign. I was hustling too since we got such a late start and had to go 18 miles. I figured they were also hustling so I took my breaks alone.
All day it looked like impending rain but luckily it never did. We hadn’t discussed exactly which shelter we were going to at the end of the day. There are two right near each other, 1.2 miles apart. As I got close to the first one I was really hoping Wolf Bird and Blondie had stopped there for the night. I was tired and it was getting late and I just wanted to stop. But of course upon getting to the shelter I found it empty. I sucked it up and set out for the next shelter. On the way there a deer sprinted out of the trees across the trail in front of me scaring me to death. When I finally got to the next shelter around 6:30, I was surprised to find it also empty. Had wolf bird and Blondie gone on?? How come they weren’t there? I texted Blondie and Cool blue (wolf bird lost his phone of course) and found out blue was at the previous shelter. I told him to come to the one I was at. A little while later he came , along with wolf bird and Blondie. Apparently I’d been in front of them all day with no idea. They’d stopped for lunch at a shelter way earlier and I’d walked right by (the shelter was a little off trail). Somehow I was walking fast enough they didn’t catch up to me. I was glad to see them though and it was nice of them to come to the next shelter–they’d already gotten out their sleeping bags and such at the earlier shelter but packed back up to come to me.
It was a nice fall day made even better by completing yet another state! We crossed over into our fifth state Connecticut today.