[at-l] Ready's Journal July 30 TD 46

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

We intended to get up early, but - mea culpa - I wanted to
get just a few more zzz's in before we got up hiking. It was
  8:30 before we were on the trail.
Today was all about climbs and descents, big ones! The
terrain is rocky, but mostly of the type I call "whale backs,"
  due to their enormity. In spite of all these sheer rock faces,
the treadway was surprisingly good. The soles of our sneakers
and the rubber pole tips "grabbed" well.
We leapfrogged with Voyager Bob, Stump and Izzy several
times during the day. We also encountered a rush of southbounders,
of which I can recall only a few names: Search, Strider, Crispy,
Gentle and his dog, Bernie, and Paradise. We ran into Kenneth,
from at-l at the summit of Bear Mountain. It was great seeing him again.
I took a photo using a camera I'd borrowed from Spur. As I was
putting it back into my fanny pack, I noticed that the lens had
two long cracks in it. I wondered how that could have happened;
I had no recollection of falling or dropping the bag. Our remedy
will be to remove the glass entirely. I'll use Spur's Minolta when
it comes back from repair work.
The blue skies meant low humidity and clear, crisp views, of
which there were many - all awesome! We thought we could
see the Adirondacks high peaks region off to the northwest! Awesome!
We lunched on Race Mountain, where the warm sun offset
the cool breezes. There were no wildlife sightings today but
the flora and beautiful woods more than made up for that.
We passed through pine forests, scrub brush above tree line,
rhododendron, mountain laurel, blueberry bushes, ferns, and
both old, imposing and young, wispy trees.
At one rock and boulder pile on the trail, my left pole and foot
slipped as I was descending a big boulder. My right foot was
secure, the sole gripping the rock firmly, but my left foot just
barely reached the ground below the boulder - at about 2 inches
beyond my comfortable stepping range. I was literally "hung up"
by my right leg, which was bent in a way that would not allow
me to engage my muscles to free it. It hurt like crazy and I was
  really concerned about how I was going to untangle myself.
Spur appeared and gave me a pull up onto the boulder from
which I could start again
My leg was very strong today. When we caught sight of the
profile map at the end of the day we were both impressed with
what we had accomplished! The profile showed some dramatic
ups and downs! Welcome to Massachusetts! We now have only
4 states to go: Mass., Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
This is one of a few areas for which we have no map (Spur's was
  lent to a thruhiker last year and not returned), and so we have
sneaked peeks at those of other hikers. We do have WF's book,
so that helps us find landmarks and services.
We reached the campsite around 5:00 PM. We decided to call
  it a day in order to be sure that I wasn't overdoing it - 10 difficult miles!
We made camp, ate, journaled and got to sleep early. Plans
are for a 14-mile day tomorrow.


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