Things that go bounce on the trail

Today we crossed into Massachusetts. That makes 10 states down and 4 to go. It is so good to be back in Red Sox Nation territory.  

 Maria had a teary-eyed good-bye for us last night knowing we would be off hiking by the time she got up. She made our stay worth a zero and I hope to go back and visit her sometime. 

Today made the first full day of hiking with Wye Knot. We were quite the combination. He is legally blind and wanted to hike in front so if he stumbled he could let his momentum help stable him and not hit me. So my job from the caboose position was to direct him if he started to veer off trail. Which did happen several times. I would yell, left or right and he’d get back on course. The funny thing was that I tend to be a little, maybe a lot, directionally challenged. When I say right I might actually mean left and vice-a-versa. We’d laugh when I’d make an error. When we got to the exposed ridge with a cliff I was concentrating so hard to get it correct so I didn’t send him over the edge. 

We had three pretty good climbs today, Bear Moutain, Mt. Race and Mt. Everett, or Everest as I would goof up and say. And Wye Knot would snap “oh come on, it’s not that bad” and we would laugh. The elevations were 2316ft, 2367ft, and 2602ft respectfully. It was a good day today with 13.5 miles done. 

We laughed a bunch today. Especially when he took a nasty fall. It was his second fall of the day for him. The trail was ledge, rocks and wet from the humidity and rain today. Combine that with steep descents made staying upright a challenge. I had even fallen once today. First time for me on my 1,500+ mile journey so far. On this particular loss with gravity he slid down a slippery section of ledge and fell so hard on his pack that he bounced and flipped over in the air and landed on his belly with arms and legs spread wide. I didn’t know if I should push the emergency button on my InReach or laugh. When I heard him laugh, I laughed so hard also. He didn’t even get a scratch, unlike his other two falls. Some times things go bounce on the trail.

Time to hit the pillow, well, my stuff sack filled with clothes and other sacks. Hope I keep warm, I left my sleeping bag in my extra equipment bag at Maria’s to lighten my pack. I kept only my liner. I wanted to ease back into full weight. I hadn’t carried a full pack in almost 3 weeks. Yeah, I am spoiled, I mean blessed. 

Happy Hiking. 
 

Emily M. Leonard

About Emily M. Leonard

I am a 50 year old Maine native and lover of the outdoors. Former Physical Education teacher and soccer coach. I am Married to the best husband ever and gave up teaching and coaching to raise our two wonderful sons. I have always enjoyed being outside and on the go.