Massachusetts AT Day 1 (4/18/21)

Before I start this blog entry, I have to thank Dragonfly. Without her willingness to shuttle me down to the trailhead, the hike would have either been impossible or significantly more difficult.

When Dragonfly dropped me off at Massachusetts Route 7 to start my hike, I was happy to see a tent set up at the trailhead. I was afraid that I would be by myself on this hike. Thankfully, that would not prove to be the case.

The trail started out with some beautiful scenery as it stayed on flat terrain and wound between a farm and a river. My shoes got a bit soaked in the grass, but they’re Altras and they dry off quickly, so I wasn’t worried.

Before too long, I ran into my first other hikers. They were two guys just finishing up a southbound overnighter. They warned me that the trail climbed steeply once it hit the woods.

Well, I enjoyed the last of my time in the fields, and then as promised, began to climb steeply after the wood line. Before long I started leapfrogging with two other northbounders. They too were finishing up an overnighter. They were cool guys and we chatted quite a bit, and later on they even offered to let me have their leftover water when they arrived at their car.

My goal was to make it to the Tom Leonard Shelter for lunch. It was a little tougher hiking than I expected to get there, but I made it in good time. There I met two women, Lily and Heather, and their dog Bubbles. Bubbles was a little dog, but as is typical of little dogs, he thought that he was a big dog, and acted fearless. Lily told me a funny story about how she and Heather acquired their Jetboil hiking stove by winning it in a raffle at a charity drag show. I thought that was probably the funniest way to acquire hiking equipment that I had yet heard.

We also discovered that we are heading to the same destination, Williamstown, though at very different paces. They’re doing a consistent ten mile a day clip, and my shortest day is 11 miles (tomorrow).

Nonetheless, I was glad to find that I would have company at the Shaker camp site that evening. I heard there was bear activity in the area, and more people is always safer where bears are concerned.

After I left Tom Leonard Shelter, I was hiking along the trail when I began to smell cow manure. I looked back, and somehow I had managed to walk beside a field of cows without noticing them. Apparently it’s a good thing that I am not a cowboy.

The trail wasn’t quite what I expected. I had been expecting snow, which I only saw in patches, and town walkthroughs, which there were none of. I also wasn’t expecting challenging water crossings, and there were several of those. At times I wondered how Bubbles was doing with the water crossings. One thing that I did expect and get plenty of were muddy areas. It’s spring in New England, after all.

At one point in my hike, I found a series of blue blazes that I wasn’t expecting. On the Appalachian Trail, blue blazes designate side trails, usually to shelters or roads. These blazes, though, didn’t seem to indicate anything that I could find on my maps. I eventually came to realize that they were a property line marker. It seemed foolish to me to designate a property line marker that was intended to keep people out with the exact color that would draw AT hikers in, but what do I know?

17 or so miles into my hike, I began to draw near the end. I was 0.3 miles from the Shaker camp site where I would end my day. However, as I mentioned earlier, I was aware of bear problems at Shaker, so I wanted to avoid eating there and leaving a scent if possible. I saw on Guthook, my hiking app, that there was an amazing water source nearby, a cold natural spring piped right out of the ground. I decided that I would have dinner there. I ran into Matt, a member of the local Appalachian Trail Club, and he pointed out where the spring was, as well as confirming the bear problems at Shaker.

Well, the water source had its own problems, namely bugs. There were a few flying bugs, maybe black flies, that swarmed around my head despite the permethrin on my hat. Worse were the tiny little insects, about the size of a grain of sand, that swarmed all over any objects that were on the ground.

Shrugging off the insects, I began filtering water and making dinner. Locals kept driving by looking at me funny. One lady saw me near the spring and assumed that I was an expert on it and began asking me questions about it that I couldn’t answer. Another guy stopped by, and he really was an expert on the spring. He filled up a bunch of gallon water jugs from it, and explained to me that he had been drinking the water unfiltered for years and it was safe. Taking no chances of giardia, I filtered it anyway.

When I finally got my dinner ready, I had Backpackers Pantry Lasagna for dinner. For dessert, I had the crown jewel of backpacking desserts, Packit Gourmet. I only had this because my mother is awesome. Back at my birthday, my mother wanted gift ideas. I suggested Packit Gourmet desserts, thinking that she would get me maybe four. She got me seventeen, so I will be backpacking in style for a while as I knock out miles with lots of smiles. Okay, I will stop now. I also heard gunshots nearby during dinner, so that was obviously concerning.

After dinner, I headed down to Shaker. Not only were Lily, Heather, and Bubbles there, but there were some new people there as well. Allie and her son were out for a training hike for their attempt at the Long Trail this summer, while Rob was just out for two nights. Rob backpacked in style, bringing a tent to sleep in and a hammock to relax in. Allie and her son built a fire and we all relaxed around it (with masks on) and chatted until it started to rain, which sent us scurrying back to our tents. As I was getting ready for bed, Rob told me that there was a giant porcupine in the camp site. I got out to look, and sure enough the biggest porcupine I had ever seen was wandering through the camp site. Unfortunately, I missed getting a picture.

I hope that I will be able to sleep tonight. There must be a train nearby and I keep hearing a train whistle. Thanks for reading, and always remember, you can’t take flight until you spread your wings.