Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017
Our last two hiking days were supposed to be shorter and
easier. Today's hike was slated at about 17 or 18 miles. I didn't have an exact
total, because the starting and ending points were within marked segments – not
at the start/end of segments – so I had to estimate.
It was another warm day with highs in the mid-80s and a
fair amount of humidity. The gnats were still out.
The first section was along the Upper Bald /Stratton
Mountain in the Northfield State Forest. We had a nice vista by a campsite and
cabin, which also featured a giant cairn and two Stonehenge-like arrangements.
After a road walk we passed through Hermit and
Rattlesnake Mountains, then reached the Wendell State Forest. This is when things
started to deteriorate. The trail was underwater at one point, so we had to do
some bushwhacking around it, then just walk through some wet parts. It wasn't
bad, but we lost some time strategizing about how to handle it. Next, this
section was longer than the map indicated.
The worst part came when we were finally exiting the
state park area. The trail was supposed to lead us through a town park and onto
the road for a road-walk to our car. But the blazes suddenly were sending us in
circles, and we eventually realized the park had its own set of white blazes –
possibly for a cross-country course – that had nothing to do with the white
blazes of the NET in Massachusetts. Note to NET staff/volunteers: Ask the Lake
Wyota folks to pick a different color for their blazes!
Snowshoe and Stubs
Map Miles: About 20.7
Map Miles to Date: About 215.6
iPhone Miles: 23.8
iPhone Miles to Date: 219
Steps: 55,641
Steps to Date: 553,679
Flights Walked: 97
Flights to Date: 1,934
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