(6/2_ /12) Great Barrington, MA (Phone Update)

Ugh. I was able to chat with Brett for a while, but I was so busy taking notes of his activities that I never wrote down the date of this phone call.

Brett had pushed himself the day before, hiking 26 miles. He said it was too much and he was hurting because of it. He had blisters from his new shoes. He hiked only a few miles and arrived at a hostel that morning-what they call a Nero day (near zero). His goal was to hike 20 miles the next day.

He was spending the day at the hostel taking care of errands-phone calls, laundry, and a shower. He planned on ordering pizza for dinner.

Brett said he hiked all through Connecticut without really seeing other hikers. He was in kind of a weird bubble. Some hikers were about a day ahead, some about a day behind, but he was really hiking alone.

They had record heat the previous weekend. Brett said the smell has gone up to a whole different level. He sat in a creek pouring water over his head to cool down his core temp. He said to himself, I could handle some rain. Not much later he was stuck in a thunderstorm with hail the size of a cherry or grape, with nowhere to go. It was June and there was an inch of ice on the ground. He from hot to freezing in about 15 minutes. The hail was smooth and round, making it difficult to walk over. Brett said you have to be careful what you wish for. Brett said it was raining again; another grey day.

Brett was in Massachusetts and said that the mosquitoes were the worst he's ever seen. They continued biting even while he was moving.

On the positive side, Brett said there were wild blueberries all over the place. He was out of the range of the wild raspberries, and the huckleberries weren't ripe yet. He passed by a small, out-of-the-way, but busy creamery. I told him folks know how to do ice cream in New England.

Brett was in Great Barrington, MA. He planned to resupply in Lee.

I didn't hear much about it, but Brett was able to have visitors along the way. His friend Nancy and her sister were able to hike with him for a couple of days. Although I think Brett had to significantly slow down his pace, it's worth it to be able to have good company for a little while.