August 4

1500

The trail wasn't too difficult this morning, but it was really hot and humid.  I took a break after the climb up Lions Head.  I got moving quickly, since it was too hot to sit up there in the sun.  Lunch and more water at Brassie Brook shelter.  Then more incline this afternoon, up to the top of Bear Mountain.  At the summit there was a great 360 degree view from a small rock tower that was built in the 1800s.  Samson had caught back up with us too, after hiking out from spending another day at home.  We all continued on.  The descent from Bear Mountain was rough.  The steep, rocky trail was hard on the knees.  It started to level out, still going downhill, just not at such an angle, and we came to an intersecting trail.  The Paradise Lane trail at this point, marked the state line between Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Another state down!  And just past the 1500 mile mark of this journey!  Just across the border, we kept descending, hiking along a creek that cut sharply down through an area called Sages Ravine.  The next mile or so through this area was amazing.  It was late in the afternoon, and the others pushed on in search of a campsite for the night, but Apache and I stopped along the creek, captivated by its cascades.  In the ravine, it was just one waterfall after another, and we found several large pools.  We really wanted to go for a swim.  We found an awesome swimming hole.  There was a little cascade that emptied into a deep pool.  A literal cloud of mosquitoes swarmed just above the calm water of the pool.  There was a rocky ledge perfect for jumping from, but we weren't sure how deep the water was.  Apache climbed down the cascade and swam out to see how deep it was.  Not deep enough, but there was a lower ledge that wasn't too high above the water that would be fine to jump from.  He got out of the water, and climbed back up to the lower ledge.  I entered the pool from the same direction that he had, so that I could stand on a rock in the middle of the pool to get a good picture of him jumping into the water.  I flung myself into the water toward the rock.  The water was ice cold.  I quickly climbed onto the rock, frigid water washing over my ankles, and got ready for the shot.  Apache jumped out, through the swarm of mosquitoes, and splashed down in the water.  Coming back to the surface, he said "oh yeah, it's plenty deep".  I dove off of the rock and swam over to the edge of the swimming hole, shivered as I got out of the water, and climbed back up to the trail.  I was refreshed by my brief dip, having no desire to make the leap, so we strapped our packs back on and headed down the trail to try to catch up with everyone else.  More gorgeous pine and hemlock forest.  The fallen needles of the evergreens made for a cushiony walk.  After a long, steady climb, we came out onto an exposed ridgewalk on Mt. Race.  Absolutely beautiful.  The trail would travel along a rocky section, with sheer drop to the right.  Then it would curve back from the edge into the stunted trees.  What was exceptional about this area was the tiny evergreens.  Even the tallest ones were no bigger than I was, most of them were only waist high.  I could see all around as I walked through them down the trail.  Behind me, Bear Mountain was in view.  Then in front of me, Mt. Everett came into view.  After this beautiful ridge line, with the sun slowly starting to get lower and lower in the west, I came down into a gap.  Next up was Mt. Everett.  It was only about a 700 foot elevation gain, but it was a butt burner.  Probably the toughest, straight assault on a mountain, that we've encountered in a very long time.  After about a 16 mile day, we had made it to Hemlocks shelter just at dark.  This nice shelter area is appropriately named, for the many huge hemlock trees in the area.  Really beautiful.  Slept like a baby.

Hiking along the ridge on Mt. Race, Massachusetts