We got a later start than we had planned, but we hit the trail in North Adams at about 11:30 after meeting some trail angels who offered to let us leave our car with them. We immediately began a gentle uphill climb, passing the Sherman Brook campsite and Pete's Spring. This spring has an effervescent quality, the water bubbling out of the sandy bottom. I chugged a bottle and we headed on up the hill to Eph's View and the Vermont state line!
We made it, again!
We had a short lunch here and began doing some ups and downs, meeting people every mile or so - both NoBo and SoBo. After doing a few more miles we reached some power lines at the highest point of our day, 2800 feet, to find a beautiful view of the Adirondacks to one side and Vermont mountains to the other. We also found a bonus at the power lines - fresh raspberries! We are handfuls and then began our descent down to our stop for the night at Congdon shelter.
Roaring Branch Pond
On the way in we walked across bog bridges and through a bog. We got a few photos since it was raining on us during this part of our thru hike back in 2012. We made it to the shelter about 6:30 and met a dozen or so hikers. Several people we saw hiking this afternoon showed up as well. I would guess there are between 14-18 people here, which is about three times as many as we saw on the whole finger lakes trail! We had dinner and settled in for an early night at about 8:30. Vermont is a lot less muddy than it was in 2012!