Hiking the AT Part Five - North Adams, MA to Bennington, VT
Just over a year ago, my buddy Jessy and I decided to start hiking the Appalachian Trail. We both work full time as Engineers so taking off a few months and hiking was out of the question so we decided to take it a weekend at a time. Our hiking season has been between fall and start of spring which usually makes for some great stories.
Winter hiking pros: no bugs, lack of sweat, water sources are literally everywhere.
Winter hiking cons: more gear, not bringing your snowshoes.
We originally started at the top of Connecticut. and now... we have made it to Vermont. We've gained some hikers along the way, Big Mac (My father Todd), Dirtz (Jessy's cousin and bringer of the cocoa), and my buddy Sean for a while.
Anyways, Jessy, Big Mac, and I started off where we last ended, in North Adams, MA. We got the cars parked at the trail head and finish, and geared up to go. We had a nice night on Friday to start hiking. We went through North Adams and Williamstown and then up into the woods. It was only a couple miles to the camp site so we got in and started to set up the tents. We got two tents up on one platform and started unpacking our sleeping gear. Jessy's face dropped as he said one word, "Shit.". He forgot his sleeping bag. Literally the second most important piece of equipment. As usual, we figured it out. We gave him every piece of down we owned, him and I shared the tent, and no one froze to death.
We woke up to find the tents at least six inches from where we slept in them. We were all woken up a few times during the night by this incredible rolling wind. You would hear it off in the distance and then it would grow louder as it got closer and then your tent would hit you in the face. We didn't realize that it had also moved us and our tents.
The next day was a long one. We got to the MA-VT state line mid-morning, where the Long Trail starts and the Appalachian meets up with it. This marked the end of Mass for Jessy and I and the beginning of our third state. We headed out and had a few pretty decent climbs and up to the Seth Warner Shelter intersection for lunch. We were pretty beat by lunch but still had about seven miles so we cinched up the packs, put our heads down, and headed to Congdon Shelter.
There were a few slips and falls but we didn't lose the trail once and even though our legs were starting to slow down, we knew that there was a nice and easy shelter with Mike, carrying Jessy's sleeping bag. We got to Congdon earlier than we thought, without the need of headlamps, and with enough time to eat and get the shelter set up. Mike came in with Jessy's sleeping bag for the night and 'Stick' (Jessy's trusty stick). We ate, drank some trail fuel, and told stories of what happened between the last hike and that night.
When I woke up, I was told I had gained a trail name, Diesel. My father used it to describe the sounds I made while I snored throughout the night. We made some breakfast and headed out. We were excited to get back to the cars, a warm shower, and a cold beer. The hike was short and fairly easy to begin with but ended up really steep down the hill to our cars.
We made it and only had a couple of spills along the way. It was the first trip without getting off the trail, the first trip into Vermont, all of our first times on the Long Trail, mine and Jessy's 100th mile, and our first trip of 2016.
We got cleaned up as best we could, and headed to lunch. (Check out lunch here)
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