Salisbury, CT (USA)

Bob’s been working on his “50 for 50” project (experiencing an active adventure in all fifty states during his 50th year) and asked if he could go hiking with me in a few New England states. Of course I agreed and we planned a weekend trip for Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont - complete with shuttle service! I worked for a few hours in the morning and then we drove north in Bob’s car (I gave Nellie another weekend off). Traffic in the DMV was nasty but things improved on US-15. Encountered more traffic in Harrisburg but then had smooth travels on I-81, I-84 (lunch and gas in Montague, NJ, at 1600), Taconic Parkway and US-44. We made such good time that there was enough daylight left to hike! As navigator, I steered us to the AT Trailhead at Undermountain Road (CT-41) and we started NOBO at 1755. The weather was great - not too muggy and very few bugs. It was, however, quite muddy... This was Bob’s first hike on the AT and we took our time, cautiously shimmying up and down treacherous rocks and avoiding the worst morasses. Three serious looking (but very friendly) hikers were following us for over a mile and eventually passed us. I had hoped to find a memorable turnaround point (Lions Head Trail) but it took longer to get there than I expected. To ensure we weren’t hiking in the dark, we turned around about half a mile short (90 degree turn at end of stone wall, huge fallen tree, base of mountain). Saw some deer in the gloaming but no other wildlife or people. We made better time during the backtrack and reached the car by 2000 (after around 3.5 miles). We then drove about 45 minutes to a hotel (Heart of the Berkshires) on the west side of Pittsfield (2015). Spent the rest of the evening reading. We’re all set up for another hike tomorrow morning - Bob hasn’t backed out yet! AT Today = 1.70 miles / Grand Total AT = 1385.32 miles