Day 108: Entering Massachusetts

Day 108Brassie Brook Shelter to Tom leonard ShelterMiles Hiked: 23.2AT Milage: 1529.2Last night I had the shelter all to myself for the first time. I was bothered by mosquitos but it was bareable. It was the first night in a long time where it was slightly chilly enough to wear my wool sleeping outfit in my sleeping bag. I think it helped the bugs not bite me. Yesterday in town I bought natural bug spray and I used almost half the bottle before bed. I got ready really fast and got on the trail right before 7am. The first mountain I climbed was bear mountain which is the highest peak in Connecticut, but not the highest point. The highest point in Connecticut is actually 63ft higher on the side of a mountain that’s peak is in Massachusetts.After bear mountain, I climbed Mount Race. Mount Race had these ledges with an awesome view of the valley and surrounding mountains. I imagine these ledges would be similar to Tinker Cliffs which I walked by in Virginia on a rainy day when I couldn’t see anything except fog. While I was taking a break on the ledge, Flamingo caught up to me after being seperated for about 4-5 days. He has been doing some big miles lately. He did a 32, 17, and another 32 yesterday. I can tell he’s been getting pretty tired from it. After the summit of Mount Race, we descended and immediately went up the steep and rocky climb of Mount Everett.Flamingo and I hiked together the rest of the day. We got water from a water cache and it was the only water we would see for 20 miles today. I’m so thankful a trail angel left it, otherwise we would have had to stop in town or carry a lot. I only have a max carrying capacity of 3 liters which isn’t a whole lot for a 20 mile day. At one point we took a long hour break on the side of the trail eating food and attempting to take a nap. We saw only two other NOBO hikers all day. It was quite strange.My parents are going on vacation to New England this week and today they were driving through Massachusetts. Their route passed a half hour from where we were hiking in the Berkshire Hills so my parents went out of their way to see us and take us to dinner! It was so nice to see them and get fed. We went to the local brewery where I got a veggie burger that filled me up. I will be seeing my parents again in a week at the end of their vacation when I plan to take a zero with them. I’m so excited for a rest day and to just hang out with my family. I miss them a lot and I know I’m so lucky to get to see them so many times on the trail.After dinner, my parents dropped Flamingo and I back off at the trail head where we met them. It was 8pm and we still had 3.5 more miles to hike up a big mountain. It quickly got dark and it felt like the shirt distance was taking us forever to do. We finally arrived at the shelter at 9:30pm. We set up our stuff in the shelter for the night and went to bed quickly.Happy Trails!