I’m currently in Lee, Massachusetts at mile 1553. I’ve done 7 days of hiking since I started back up in Pawling, NY. Getting back into hiking was a rude awakening as I’d lost my Trail legs from 11 weeks ago. I did 12 miles the first day and felt exhausted. I did 16 the next day and my feet were beat at the end of the day. After about the fourth day back I felt better but my body is still adjusting to being back hiking. It’s a funny thing because I was in good shape in the summer, I’d been boxing and running but it’s just a different type of fitness I guess. My new favorite trail town is Salisbury, Connecticut. It was a really nice village with a great coffee shop. A woman came up to me as I was drinking my coffee outside and started chatting about the trail. She turned out to be a trail angel named Sweet G and gave me 10 dollars when she was leaving as trail magic. I resupplied for 3 days and got ramen for 2 dinners, rice for 1 dinner, tortillas and Nutella for lunch, and oatmeal for breakfast, and granola bars for snacks. I averaged 15 miles over 7 days to get to lee from Pawling. I hitched into lee earlier today and a man who thru hiked in 1981 picked me up, so it was cool comparing and contrasting the differences between now and then. He said there was a lot less people on the trail then and he couldn’t believe how light the packs are today. I’ve only seen 3 Nobos in the 7 days I’ve been back which I was surprised by so I’ve spent almost the whole week by myself. The solitude doesn’t bother me that much, I actually have learnt to enjoy it, it suits my personality I think. I do miss the buzz of having people around. When I’m not hiking I pass the time by reading, being on my phone, and doing camp chores, I just finished “The Second Half by Roy Keane”. It takes me about an hour to get going in the morning and an hour 15 to set up camp in the evening. After that I have usually have a couple of hours to myself before I go to sleep. I meet my twin sister, Alannah near the Ma/VT border in about 50 miles on Wednesday evening and she will hike with me for 7 days as she is sectioning Vermont’s Long Trail.

My front camera is broken so that’s why I’m only posting selfie’s just in case you thought I was getting too fond of myself. I have yet to master the subtle art of the selfie.