Day 124 – Great Barrington, MA to Shaker Campsite 

“I want to tell you about the town of

Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where this happened. They got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the

scene of the crime, there were five police officers and three police cars,

being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, everybody wanted to

get in the newspaper story about it. And they were using up all kinds of

cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer’s station.” – Alice’s Restaurant 

Up at 7:00. Ate and packed up and attached my new phone pouch to my chest strap. Headed out at 7:50. Stopped at Dunkin on the way out of town.

Upper 70s, partly sunny, not bad humidity, chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

Hitched a ride the last 2 miles with a local handyman. Rode on the back of his flatbed. Perfect morning. On trail at 8:30. 

Ran across these free walking sticks. Very cool.

Hiked near Stockbridge, MA today.

Good hard climb this morning. Good to get my legs used to this again as the Whites are looming. Also carrying too much food, but I’ll eat through that over the next 3 days.

Took a break at mile 3. Great sitting rock in the shade and decent cell service. Got a tough 1.4-mile climb right after this.

Stopped at MA Route 23 parking lot for a water cache and trail magic at 1:30 and 8.4 miles so far today. Cokes, peanut butter cups, Gatorade, oranges, apples. Thanks much!! 

Still have 9.2 miles to go. Hoping for 6:00 but probably gonna be more like 6:30.

Yet another big pond or small lake. Lots of these the past few days.

Quick break at 3:45. Tough climbs this day!

Swapped water bottles and had a snack at 5:15. Got 3.5 miles to camp.

Got 3 liters of water for tonight .3 miles before camp. Very cold water!

Set up camp at Shaker Campsite at 7:15. Privy, bear box, tent pads.  Nice!

Long hard day. One of the biggest vertical days in a while. Felt good physically and mentally. Now let’s see if I can string two days like this together.

Technical Notes:

• Pop tarts 370
• Dunkin Boston cream 270
• Large latte 230
• Coke 140
• Peanut butter cups 140
• Zero sugar sausage 120
• Skittles 100
• Oreos 160
• Oreos 160
• Ramen 370
• Dehydrated chicken 170
• Fritos 400
• Water liters 3
• Miles 17.6 + 1.2
• Time 9:30
• Elevation gain 3731
• Calories consumed 3000
• Calories burned 7000