Day 83 Slow Down

Today we decided to slow our pace and hike 19 miles. We stopped in town for pizza and to relax after a shorter day. 


I didn’t sleep very well last night but still managed to get 5-6 hours of sleep. We had another turkey come gobbling a couple hundred yards from our tent site again in the morning. We decided last night to take an extra day getting into Great Barrington MA, so we can hike 20-24 miles per day over the next four days and get into Salisbury CT by Friday. This way we have more time to rest as we need it and we can stop to enjoy the trail as we want to. 


We slept in until around 7 and were hiking by 8:30. For most of the day we hiked through thick woods. 




In the afternoon we started walking over some ridges with views of the lakes and valleys below.



As we were stopping for lunch we e met a thru hiker named Purple Haze, after the fly fishing fly. He is hiking the second half of Appalachian Trail this year and did the first half last year. He has also hiked many other long trails across the United States including the PCT and CDT. We talked with him about fly fishing and hiking. 


We hiked a few more miles after lunch and stopped at a stream under a bridge. Spencer and I decided to soak ourselves in the stream and also wash our clothes since we haven’t been able to shower or do laundry in over a week. Being mostly clean felt amazing. 



Shortly after the stream we passed a cool shelter that was basically a fully enclosed house with a back porch. 




Over the last 5 miles of the day we had some good views and saw a small milk snake, a nonvenomous snake that was only about 12 inches long.






At 5PM we made it to a pizza place called Corrados pizza that lets thru hikers camp in the back yard.We met back up with Purple Haze and enjoyed trading hiking and fishing stories while eating dinner. We will camp out back in the rain tonight and enjoy a warm breakfast in the morning. 


Goodnight,

Walker 





If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==

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