Legs and Borders

Back on the road and into the next state. The whole house woke up at 5 AM, Vanessa was shuttling people into various places on the trail from 6 AM, I've ate pea and ham soup with few tortillas and said my goodbyes, it wouldn't be long before I've seen people on trail today as they've all been slack packing the opposite direction to where I was going. Weather was really good after yesterday's rain, some of the rocks were still wet and I slipped on one of them during the descent from Bear Mountain, luckily it ended up with only few scratches on my left arm and a bruised ego. Before Mount Race trail was going through lovely ledges with nice views, it was quite foggy though and the visibility wasn't great. I went past California here, then another girl that stayed with us at the hostel last night. DeeDee was hiking slightly different section, I haven't seen her until the afternoon. At this point Appalachian Trail left Connecticut and started it's journey tho...

"Minimize the uphill, maximize the slack pack" California It was supposed to be super rainy today and at this point I saved up enough time to have a first actual day off since starting the AT in April. I was still ready to hike out in the morning but after seeing the weather forecast I started to have doubts, next section was quite technical and people were not recommending hiking it in the rain. I've asked Vanessa if she had spaces left for tonight and she confirmed. Her place was also very affordable at 40$ per night. Accomodations ahead were getting increasingly more expensive with only motels and inns to choose from. DeeDee called for a trip to White Hart Hotel for breakfast before the rain was supposed to start, Vanessa gave us her 25$ gift card to spend there as well. At the hotel we got joined by Indy who spend the night just outside the town at a campsite, he said the weather wasn't too bad and his tent was actually dry in the morning. After breakfast I went t...

My main goal for today was to reach Salisbury where I've booked a nights stay. I've had a great animal encounter along the way! Trail was very rollercoastery to start with, I've got chased and passed by Indy which was quite surprising as he wasn't planning to go far that day (but watch this space.) I've went past a car racing track called Lime Rock Speedway, it was loud even from the top of the mountain few miles away but it provided an interesting view and I knew few other hikers were excited to see it. A mile or two later I've spotted something moving to the side of the trail, it was a big, black bear but it wasn't scared of me at all! I've seen fair amount of black bears at this point on both AT and PCT, every single one would ran away the second they realized I was close. I've understood my situation once two bear cubs ran from behind the mama bear and started to climb a tree. It looked like I wasn't getting a higher ground this time around, ...

Long, hot, demanding day. I've woke up at 4 AM with a plan to arrive at Toni's Deli one mile down the road very early, get a coffee, eat a small breakfast (as I still had pizza from yesterday) and be back on trail asap. Everything was going well until I've mistaken the gas station for the restaurant (it was too early and my brain couldn't comprehend that they can be two separate buildings) and stood outside for half an hour waiting for it to open. Finally I've realized my mistake and managed to order a coffee and an egg and bacon bagel which with two slices of cold pizza was a perfect amount of nutrition for breakfast. I was back on trail at 6 AM and spotted three ticks crawling on my legs within first half an hour, absolute madness. Mosquitoes were also relentless for the whole day which somewhat made me going faster because I had no interest in stopping for longer periods of time as that meant getting swarmed immediately. After 8 miles I've said goodbye to New...