home to congdon shelter

i woke up around 06:30 this morning and definitely didn’t want to get out of bed. when 07:00 came i forced myself to get up and get going. i focused on the tasks i had to do; shower, coffee, pack, etc.

a little after 09:00 magz and i went to a friend’s house to pick up the car, a mazda with 3 rows of seating. the 7 of us would all fit with some packs on laps.

it rained pretty consistently on the drive to north adams, but there was still a chance it would pass by the time we got on trail. i drove everyone to stop and shop for our resupply. we all crammed back in the car and a couple minutes later we were back at the trail. the rain stopped as we were fitting our packs.

i kissed magz goodbye and gave her a big hug. i really didn’t want to leave. we all crossed the bridges over the river and the train tracks, crossed massachusetts ave. and entered the woods.

it felt a little strange hiking this section of trail with the tramily because i’ve hiked this section so many times but under a completely different context.

we pretty quickly passed both the 1600 mile mark and the ma / vt border with the sign indicating the southern terminus of the long trail. we kept hiking up to seth warner shelter where we took an extended lunch that ended with a short work out - push ups and planks.

(planks photo by maestro)

after lunch we passed a beaver pond that is often a place i stop to take photos. today however we were treated to three beavers!

i had thought it would be emotionally difficult leaving home, but the hiking felt pretty exciting today, i think due to the familiarity of the trail. that all changed however when i chatted with magz in the late afternoon. the sound of her voice telling me she missed me brought on a wave of homesickness that had me calculating how many days were left.

i distracted myself by listening to an audio book for the rest of the afternoon. we got to camp pretty late, somewhere around 19:30 i think. the site was pretty full, and tent sites were scarce, but we all found something suitable.

as i made dinner another wave of homesickness hit me. why am i sleeping in a tent when i have a beautiful house with a bed and a wonderful partner? and dogs! oof.

this was to be expected. right now i’m just focusing on tasks. i expect in a day or two my trail rhythm will be back and the homesickness will subside.

some additional images from today: