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[at-l] 24 hrs with Cosmo (& Pittsb,) in the Appalachian Rain Forest



Sunday, 9am--
A dark van pulls into the driveway.  It starts to rain.  A large, 
bearded man gets out and says he's Pittsburgh.  A brand spanking new 
Mountainlight 5000 is wedged  somehow into the back of the dark van, 
and Cosmo is wedged into the plastic-covered rear seat.  An Un-named 
Hiker, being a paying customer ( and uninterested in internet 
notoriety, gets the front seat.

10am
We've out paced the rain showers and are setting out Northbound from 
Notch Rd just past Mt Williams.  Two of us are bound for the Un-named 
Hiker's pickup parked (hopefully) on Mill Rd about 12 miles away in 
Vermont.  One of us is headed to Seth Warner Shelter for a quick test 
of his new backpack.
After a short quick ascent of Mt Prospect, we gaze out over the hazy 
valley that cradles Billsville.  Little did we know, it would be our 
last glimpse of anything further away than about 100 yards for the 
rest of the day.
With Pittsburgh leading the way, resplendent in his hunter green HATT 
hat and fleece, we proceeded down the steepest section of trail in 
Mass to Rt 2 in North Adams

12:00 noon
Lunch at the AT foot bridge near Rt 2.  Pittsburgh and Un-named Hiker 
eye an adjacent row house as a possible future hostel.  The rain 
returns.  As we move into the woods, Un-named Hiker takes the lead, 
Cosmo is in the middle, and Pittsburgh is the sweeper.  The rain 
intensifies.  Though the blackflies seem to be pretty much gone, the 
mosquitoes--thick in the shady woods along the lower levels of 
Sherman Brook feed hungrily.  The recent rains have swollen the book; 
it's loud, rambunctious and is clearly enjoying its travels over 
rocks and through the hemlock groves that pepper this trail as it 
ascends out of the valley.

1:00pm
Panting after the steady 2 mile climb and dripping with rain/sweat, 
Cosmo eyes the 200 ft rock fall and begins to think seriously about 
the bad weather bypass.  Un-named Hiker has stretched out ahead--even 
slackpacking (excuse me Pittsburgh: "Freedom Hiking") the drive to go 
Northwards is unmistakable.
A glance behind shows no sign of Pittsburgh.  Slowly with poles 
planted carefully Cosmo gets up over the edge of the rock fall into 
an area of stunted pine, scrub and bare rock, quite a change from the 
verdant valley below.  The rain intensifies, again.

2:30pm
After an attractive and relatively  flat stretch of trail that 
meandered along he ridge through open forest, Cosmo arrives at the 
MA/VT border to find Un-named Hiker munching the rest of his lunch as 
the rain continues to fall.  More than ready for a pack-off break 
(though the thing does carry like a dream) Cosmo joins him waiting 
for Pittsburgh.  After about 20 minutes Cosmo, beginning to shiver in 
the damp, breaks out his fleece and puts it on under his rain jacket. 
Just as he and Un-named Hiker are discussing heading back to see if 
Pittsburgh has fallen or is slowly freezing to death on the side of 
he trail, Un-named Hiker sees movement in the trees to the south. 
"Maybe it's a moose?"  "No, a moose makes much more noise than that." 
"Wait, it's green!"  Sure enough Pittsburgh arrives churning the mud 
(did I mention it was muddy?)  like a paddle wheel steamer.  Wet but 
warm in his HATT fleece, he's doing fine (of course).  On to Vermont!

5pm, Seth Warner Shelter
After 3 or so more miles in of mud and rocks (did I mention it was 
muddy?), Cosmo finally sees the side trail to the shelter.  On the 
way the trail alternates between short steep pitches on to 
whale-backed rocks, glades filled with bright green waist high ferns 
(Pitts will post pictures on hike-usa) and slogging through black mud 
swamps (did I mention that it was muddy?).
Checking the GMNF sign in, Cosmo sees scrawled in the last line on 
the page "Gary from Fairfax".  At the end of the 0.2m side trail a 
small shelter comes into view.  Inside are two guys.  "Is one of you 
guys Gary?", Cosmo asks.  Another list friend well met.  The other 
guy is Bill on a short hike from Dalton to Bennington.  Gary is 
pointing out the finer points of tuckerization to him.  Cosmo, a poor 
example, explodes his pack over half the shelter--it seems he has 
some learning to do regarding top loading packs.  Cosmo had 
originally intended to make this hike of his a test of his Nomad's 
condensation features, but warm in the shelter, out of the rain and 
enjoying the conversation--he considers modifying his plans.

5:30pm
Pittsburgh stops by to say so long (its about 0.8 more miles to 
Un-named Hiker's truck), and after a brief chat with Gary and Bill, 
he vanishes into the woods (hope you made it, Pittsb).

6pm
Cosmo's dinner is simmering nicely and silently on his butane stove, 
when two more hikers arrive in the company of a Pug.  A Pug is a 
breed of small dog (as long as a ferret, but taller) with short legs 
and a smashed-in face.  An unliklier trail dog Cosmo can't imagine. 
He begins to consider tenting again.
However, the dog is leashed and is not yippy or ill-behaved.  His 
hiking partners--two women starting the Long Trail today--seem to 
have it together despite the weather.  They begin to unload.  Another 
example of non-ultralight hiking, they pull out everything but the 
kitchen sink from their packs, including a 2 pound block of cheese. 
The dog, firmly ensconsed on his own blanket, starts to snore softly. 
Cosmo remains uneasy until he sees the most artful handling of a 
Whisperlight stove by one of he new arrivals.  Simmering a large pot 
of rice in the middle of the shelter under the scrutiny of three 
strangers, the cook adds a handful of dehydrated veggies and spices 
and concocts a pretty outstanding hot supper for two.  Cosmo finishes 
his Liptons and decides to stay.

Just about dark, our last traveler arrives bringing the total to six, 
cozy but not crowded.  Fortunately, the rain has pretty much stopped, 
so our late arrival can cook on the adjacent picnic table, instead of 
next to dozing shelter mates.  He also proceeds to hang his stuff and 
unload his pack without much fuss.  In fact  the only one to actually 
make a mess is Cosmo, who drops his pot and  spills a bit of the 
clean up water he is heating perilously close to Bill's sleeping pad. 
No damage was done, except to Cosmo's ego.

Just as we are all snuggling in, a strange buzzing and rattling 
vibrates through the shelter.  No one can figure out what's up. 
Eventually the source is traced to Bill's watch which apparently due 
to the rain has set itself to vibratory alarm and gone off.  No 
amount of button pushing from 3 different people can shut it off. 
The watch is hung with Bill's food bag on a nearby tree.

Monday 5:30am
After a somewhat restless night in a 40 degree bag that clearly isn't 
living up to it's rating, Cosmo arises to have breakfast with Bill 
and Gary.  At six, Cosmo and Gary are southbound.  Gary for his car 
in North Adams and an 8hr drive back to Ol'  Virginny (hope you made 
it too, Gary).  Cosmo descends west off the ridge and road walks the 
3/4 mile to his house, once again shaking his head in disbelief that 
thru hikers can spend days at a time in this kind of weather and not 
go crazy.

Monday 10am
Cosmo walks up his street, as he turns onto his driveway, the sun 
begins to break through the clouds (briefly).

Respectfully Submitted 6/19/00

Cosmo

 

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