We had blueberry pancakes this morning (and juice, and hot chocolate). After a short detour back to Jug End to drop someone else off, Jess took me to Tyringham, where I got started at a little after 9. I had a great time Jess Treat's, and would happily recommend her hostel.
Just shortly past the trailhead, there was watermelon and water in a cooler. A great way to start the day.
I took my first break a little more than five miles in. The trail wasn't especially rocky, but my feet hurt more than they should have. My second break was after another five miles, stop Becket Mountain.
Through no fault of the hostel, I didn't really sleep well the last two nights; last night in particular, I kept running ideas through my head for a new AT-related website I thought of during yesterday's hike. As a result, I decided to stop at a single-tent campsite right off the trail after 13 miles, just short of County Rd. It's a nice campsite, if a bit cozy. A brook flows from a swamp a short distance away, so while the water wasn't the best, it wasn't too bad once filtered.
The local insect life was somewhat annoying when setting up my tent. Twice, bees got themselves stuck inside, as well as a horsefly. The bees I managed to shoo out; the horsefly I crippled with my shoe before throwing it out.
The unexpectedly short day today puts tomorrow's plan into question; rather than staying at the campsite past Dalton, I'll probably stay in Dalton itself.
For the first time in quite awhile, I didn't have cell signal at camp, though with my backlog on blog posts, that's probably less distraction.
Annoyingly, my bottle of Dr. Bronners (concentrated liquid soap) spilled inside my toiletries bag, coating everything, including my toilet paper, with soap. Almost presciently, I got an extra roll of toilet paper from Jess that I hadn't put in the bag yet, so complete disaster was averted.
For the first time all hike, I didn't take any pictures on the trail today. There just wasn't much in terms of scenery, and towards the end of the day, I was just too tired to notice anything of interest.