One of these days, I'm gonna climb that mountain... twice.

7-15-09 day 43
start: MA 2 at North Adams, MA
end: Congdon Shelter, VT
daily mileage: 14.1
total mileage: 583.7

Tom drove us north to North Adams again where we could hike north. After thanking him profusely for both dinners and nights spent at his fine abode, we started off the day by heading to the North Adams Shop N Save grocery store. Fortunately, we'd raided his hiker box at his house before leaving, so we didn't have to buy too much food - just a few breakfasts and snacks! We met up with Double Vision and Jukebox Hero again and got to enjoy the spectacle they made of themselves as they approached some random sunbathing on the pretext of having her take their garbage - only to find that she was definitely no more than 14 or 15!

Now, unfortunately, I had to be on the phone for part of the day while hiking because of a small problem with my undergraduate transcript being mailed out to OSU's Med School. We started off the day climbing a pretty decent mountain, and with Sea Monster a bit ahead of me, and me talking on the phone with mom and not really paying attention, I ally took the "Bad Weather Trail" all the way back down to where I'd started! I climbed all the way back up and met up with Sea Monster, Double Vision, and Jukebox Hero who had been waiting for over half an hour.

We ate lunch in the buggiest place I've ever seen, and that's saying something. The mosquitos were everywhere! It was unbelievable. DEET is amazing stuff though, and we perservered... otherwise, VT has been a nice state so far even if it is really muddy (we've heard it called Vermud).

I got into the shelter much later than Sea Monster, though. When dad and I finally got connected on the phone to work out the last of the transcript drama, I elected to just sit down on the trail where I knew there was service and have the whole conversation. I'm just glad it's taken care of!