Day 5 – Hike #7 Slackpacking Massachusetts

Day 5 – Appalachian Trail – MA 23 to Main Road 12 Miles – Gain 2,671 and loss 2,756

Claire was preparing breakfast, looked through the kitchen window, and saw a bear run through the yard. I missed it!!!!!

Then we loaded the van, and Pam said, “Bacon and eggs walk into a bar and order a beer, and the bartender says… Sorry, we don’t serve breakfast.” Then we started a steep climb out of the parking lot, and Pam continued, “Breathe in the calm, breathe out the smile.” Now that makes sense to me. I want to eat the bacon and eggs while breathing out my smile.

Marianne’s husband, the General, provided this quote to inspire our day today, “When you are going through hell, keep going, ” – Winston Churchill.

Well, today wasn’t hell but moments were a bit hellish and the only option was to keep going, so that’s what we did. Today was a tough day, filled with many steep ups and downs, some rock climbing, lots of bog boards, some rock jumping, and very stable mud (Tori calls it).

We arrived at Lunch 1 (we have 2 lunch breaks on most days), and a thru-hiker was sitting by the water. Dave is headed to Maine, and guess where he’s from? He’s from Cranberry Township, PA, right off of Freedom Road. So if anyone knows Dave, please tell his son Ryan that he is doing great!

Now, you must get to know our Guide Extraordinaire, Jody, a little better. She has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro not once but twice. She shares with us many great things and one that has stuck with me is, “Pole pole.” Pole Pole (pronounced poley poley), means slowly-slowly. I guess you hear this about 200 times a day on your Kilimanjaro climb. She also loves potato chips, so of course, we have teased her non-stop.

Later in the day, we met another thru-hiker whose trail name is Rockbottom. Rockbottom, is a flip-flop hiker headed to Maine. A flip-flop hike is a method for hiking the entire Appalachian Trail that involves starting somewhere in the middle, hiking to one end, returning to the middle, and hiking to the other end, flip-flopping directions. Rockbottom started in Harper’s Ferry on April 28th and seems to be doing pretty well!

After meeting Rockbottom, we learned about the 7 (LNT) Leave No Trace Principles of Hiking (and the fun skit) Chef Claire taught us to go with each one:

1. Plan ahead and be prepared
2. Stay on the trail
3. Dig a hole
4. Leave it as you found it
5. Don’t build a fire unless necessary
6. Respect wildlife
7. Peace and love to everyone on the trail

We all ended our day breathing out a smile and seeing the best bear Pam could find.

What I Learned

• So what do we have for breakfast? Mountains – What do we have for lunch? Mountains – What do we have for dinner? Mountains. Then we have dinner.
• Leave No Trace Principles
• It’s easy to fall on the trail. Someone has fallen every day (but no injuries).
• The bear can remove the lid from the compost bin.

Highlights

• Beautiful, constantly changing terrain and scenery
• Linda stepping in as guide
• Meeting Dave, from Pittsburgh!
• Tons of bog boards that require balancing and boardwalks through marshy swamps.