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[at-l] Williamstown to Manchester Day 1
- Subject: [at-l] Williamstown to Manchester Day 1
- From: MrsGorp@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 17:45:26 EDT
Something inside of me said go HIKE. Get in shape for the JMT. I asked
Larry if I was still grounded. He said nope. Beaming, I quickly loaded up
the Breeze and jumped in the Volvo for the ride south on Rte 7 to
Williamstown, MA. My intent was to walk home to Wallingford via the AT/LT.
Last Wednesday afternoon he dropped me off at the Pine Cobble Trailhead. The
ascent up to the AT intersection was relatively dry despite the previous
day's rainstorm which produced 5 inches of rain in the area. The azalea's
were in bloom. There was a good breeze, NO bugs, yet.
I met Rerun and the 50 lb Beast at the AT/Pine Cobble intersection. He
started at Harper's Ferry in mid April. The trail turned into a muddy
streambed. We sloshed our way to the border. As soon as we crossed the
state line the blackflies greeted us with gusto. We quickly signed the
register and started walking again. Lady Slippers were in bloom everywhere.
Six masked men in full anti-black fly regalia were lounging about Seth Warner
Shelter. Some were cooking, some writing in journals, one was hacking away
at dead skin on his waterlogged feet. I said, "Full house?" They said
"There's always room for one more," I said, " Uh, thanks, but I think I'll
keep walking, it's too soon to stop." In that brief intro I met 4 AT thru
hikers and 2 LT thru hikers. Rerun stayed and set up his tent to escape the
bugs.
I filled my one liter platypus and went to put on my pack. I noticed the
Breeze pack had blown a side seam. On the ALT some of the webbing pulled out
because the seam allowance was just too skimpy. Now with just a 20 lb load
and only 300 miles on the pack, it's falling apart, literally at the seams.
I stuff all of my gear inside a trash compactor bag so nothing would fall
out. I'm disappointed in the construction of this pack. Quarter inch seam
allowances are not acceptable in the attempt to save pack weight.
An hour later I set up the Nomad at the "south summit" of a nameless ridge,
just beyond Ed's Spring. There was a breeze that kept the flies someplace
else. I was content, 7.7 miles, it felt good to be back on the trail.
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