Friday, July 8th

Race Brook Falls Campsite (1515.0 mi) to Great Barrington (1525.1 mi)

Hiking Miles: 10.1

Total Ascent: 1,369.8 ft

Total Descent: 2,636.2 ft

Total Grade: 397.4 ft/mi

Steps: 28,713

Gator/Sunrise: I woke at 4:30 am ready to bolt up Mt Everett especially with all the “hoop-la” posted on Far Out comparing it to the White Mountains (what a joke). A few times during the night I was tempted to drink the remaining few ounces of water I had in my Smart Water bottle, but challenged myself to see how long I could hold off until desperation hit. That said, I was pumped to make it to Great Barrington for some needed rest and a tour of the town. After approaching the base of the mountain (in the dark, with headlamp on), I swiftly climbed to the summit in just 38 minutes to the sight of a beautiful “sunrise”. Sunrise also became my third trail name today, given to me by Croc whereas he pointed out that I practically experienced every sunrise on trail. So starting today and each day going forward on this blog, you will see my portion start after the name “Gator/Sunrise”.

As it has been over the past few days, there unfortunately were not many opportunities to scoop water. Where there typically were viable scooping streams (posted on Far Out), those sources were now dried up, and I was getting extremely thirsty. But I was determined to make the remaining drops my water last until I knew I was at least close to a fruitful source. That source started to look like Great Barrington. 

Just under a mile from town, I came upon a sign that said “Trail Magic”. I remembered yesterday reading about a church group that occasionally set up a station (for hikers) and served served hotdogs, hamburgers, cookies, watermelon, drinks, etc, in exchange for conversation, and figured it was them. I immediately thought this was my water source on steroids – A definite stop! It was good timing as well whereas I was still waiting for Croc to catch up. I approached and joined a small gathering of volunteers and hikers (about 10 of us) sitting beneath a tent awning. I was happy to see two familiar faces, Chompers and Dijeridoo, among the group. We shared stories and quenched our thirsts by having cold water from a large bubbler, which tasted so good. I had to chuckle when Dijeridoo once again told his tale about taking 8 zeros in New York!

Shortly after Croc arrived and sat down, a car drove up with the food. We were so excited (and hungry), and we all feasted on burgers, hot dogs, snacks and drinks. It was such a nice break and a generous offering from these wonderful people. When it came time to move on, we thanked them again and said our good-byes. Their only ask was that we let them know when we finished our AT through-hike.

When we reached the trailhead in town, we contacted a shuttle driver named Joe for a pick up. However, when a car pulled over at a prescribed location, it wasn’t Joe. It was a trail angel named Lisa (we are meeting a lot of nice folks named Lisa) who had room in her car for me, Croc, and Dijeridoo and Chompers who joined us. At first, I thought that Joe may have sent her so I didn’t question it. Then shortly after driving off, Joe called me wondering where we were. I apologized to him for the coincidence and miscommunication and he was okay with it. I did later schedule him to pick us up in the morning to return us to the trailhead.

Lisa dropped Chompers and Dijeridoo off in town, then proceeded to take us to a Holiday Inn Express. We checked in at the front desk, then settled into our room before heading for lunch. We ate at an organic farm fresh restaurant called the Market Place Kitchen that Lisa had highly recommended, and toasted each other with a beer for entering another state. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a popular Sweet Shop (Mielke Confections) for ice cream and a few chocolate goodies.

Random update – Fast forwarding to 2024 – we sadly heard that Mielke is no longer in business.

We chilled at the hotel for bit (I took a nap) before heading out again that evening. We did a small resupply at a Price Chopper market, then ate dinner outdoors on a patio at an authentic Greek restaurant called Aegean Breeze. It was delicious!

Croc: Today was one of those magical days where it felt like a day off, but we still clocked over 10 miles. This was our version of a “nero” (near zero), though for most people it has to be under 5 miles to be called a nero. We had originally planned for an even shorter “nero,” but decided not to push it yesterday because of the impending “white mountain-esque” terrain. Regardless, I knew today was going to be fun because we hadn’t cleaned up or resupplied since we were dropped off by Mom four days ago.

As Gator mentioned, Mt. Everett turned out to be nothing more than a hill that we had seen a hundred times before. There were a few more rocks than normal and some spots that required handrails bolted into the rocks, but overall it was quick up-and-over experience. It was nothing like the White Mountains that we had been warned about.

I was really pushing it today because I heard Gator get up very early (apparently 4:30 AM), and I took the more casual approach getting up at around 7:00 AM. This would have been our normal routine, but I knew we were only hiking 10 miles today and Gator would likely be done by 8:00 or 9:00 AM, and I didn’t want to keep him waiting, especially with a town in reach. So I probably went the fastest I ever had on the trail, even jogging at times. I didn’t think I could go any faster until I got a text from Gator saying he was waiting at a tent with trail magic. That spurred me to pick up my pace even more to join the party, not knowing how long they’d be there.

A probably obvious side note: even though we had hiked 1,500 miles at this point and you’d think my cardio would be at its peak, I had actually lost most of my running muscles. I felt like I was running slower than my actual hiking pace.

Eventually, I reached the tented trail magic and relaxed with Gator and a group of other hikers, knowing we only had a short walk across a field until we reached Great Barrington. We feasted on burgers, hotdogs, cookies, and most importantly, cold water and sweet tea. This might also be obvious, but there is nothing more refreshing than a cold, sweet beverage on a hot day after a hike. Even better than the food. It reminded me of the Spongebob episode where Spongebob and Patrick go to Sandy’s house for the first time and they’re dying of thirst because she lives in a air tank/house under the sea and Spongebob/Patrick are sea creatures so they dry out. And then Sandy makes them fish tank helmets filled with water to keep them hydrated while inside her house, and drops teabags into their helmets so they can drink ice cold tea. It’s hard to explain, but go look it up. It’s a childhood memory burned in my brain (pinky up!).

Anyways, after we were well-fed,we headed towards the road to grab a ride into Great Barrington. When we arrived, Chompers and Dijeridoo were trying to hitch a ride using the old fashion method (thumbs up!) Clearly, it wasn’t working since they said they had been trying for a while, so Gator and I opted to call for a shuttle into town. Of course, when we got picked up by what we thought was our shuttle driver (see story above), Dijeridoo quickly jumped into the car and tagged along. After he quickly commandeered the conversation, I was actually surprised to hear he had so many miles under his belt, having already completed the PCT and, I believe, the CDT as well. Dijeridoo didn’t seem to like the AT much, saying the trail and community didn’t have the same “vibes” or “friendliness” as the PCT. It would also be because he would blast by people going 40+ miles a day and then leave trail for multiple days.

After we were dropped off, the hotel kindly let us check into our room even though it was still late morning. Even though we had just eaten, we walked over to a local restaurant that was recommended to us and cheered to a great “rest” day. Of course, I had to get the Cat’s Meow beer, which had a “smooth finish with a touch of grapefruit bitterness at the end.” On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped by a sweets shop to check out their selection but ended up just getting ice cream. It felt like a waste to buy fancy, expensive chocolate that would either melt on the trail or taste the same as a Hershey’s bar since everything on the trail is delicious when you’re starving.

When we got back to the hotel, we cleaned up, caught up on sending Tarryn photos and videos, updated Instagram, and took a quick nap before heading out again for a resupply and dinner. In typical AT fashion, there was no concept of time, and suddenly it was bedtime. We knew we had to get to bed early since we had a big 27-mile day tomorrow to get to our next shelter, which was rumored to have pancakes for breakfast!