Saturday, June 23, 2012

Day 45 - Tom Leonard Shelter - Shaker Campground

June 23
Miles: 11
Total: ~524

Now we can sing the "I Would Walk 500 Miles" song!  Because we walked 500 miles!  And proved that we would!  And that other song, about the train, "500 Miles"!  Exciting times, exciting times.  This is all we do now on the trail.  It is making it hard to make friends.

So after our three days of intense farm labor, we decided to take an easy day and only hike eleven miles.  We woke up around 8:00 AM and left around 10:00 - not our best up and out of there performance, but with the low mileage and moderate terrain we didn't feel rushed.

We really wanted to relax at Benedict Pond, but when we got there (a quarter mile detour off the trail, mind you), we discovered that the pond was gone!  Well, not really gone, but drained.  Apparently they are working on a dam until late July and there will be no swimming, splashing, rafting, fishing, or any other pond related hijinx of any kind until that time.  Bummer!

There were picnic tables, however, so we ended up eating some lunch there.  AND, even better, they had a dumpster so we could throw away our trash (Jamie had insisted on a foolish purchase of a smallish bottle of scotch - a small glass bottle - that weighed like half a pound - I recommend a flask) and we were glad to be rid of it since we were already carrying way too much food (see previous entry regarding the farm stay for more info on the reason behind the copious amount of vittles). 

The campsite we're at is the site of a former shaker village, hence the title of the campsite!  We camped right up on an old stone wall! Tomorrow we'll start early so we can rush over to the Upper Goose Pond Cabin, which we hear is an actual (free) cabin where they prepare pancakes (free) for breakfast.  Can't.  Wait.

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