My hike this weekend was something of a train wreck. Maria and I had planned a few weeks prior to spend Saturday through Monday in the woods. As the week approached, we both realized that our busy lives as grad students meant taking Monday off work wasn’t something we were very excited about. For a while we were considering leaving after work Friday evening, but I decided I’d like to spend the evening with friends celebrating the success completion of our qualifying exam. A late night in New Haven meant crashing with a friend and taking the train back to Springfield in the morning and since packing hadn’t happened by the time I got back home, we decided it would be better to put off the hike and get our house a little more put together, spending Sunday and Monday morning in the woods.
Despite making this decision early Saturday, we still weren’t packed by the end of the day, and took until 11:00 on Sunday to finish. After an hour of driving we finally arrived at the trailhead around noon. Maria slept for most of the drive, because she was just feeling a little out of it and was really tired.
The drive to the Berkshires was well worth the time. The Mt. Holyoke Range I’d hiked in the last two weeks are conveniently close to home, but with that convenience comes other people, and traffic noises. Beartown State Forest is far enough from people that it was easy to be fully immersed in the wilds. As if to welcome us to this relative tranquility, we were greeted by a large owl as we were getting out of the car. They seemed to like their peace undisturbed though, and wouldn’t let me get close enough to for a great picture.
The hike started out on a gentle gravel road for a little over a mile, past a ponds and a small lake. The forest was lush and wet from the mornings drizzle, and there wasn’t another person in sight. After about half a mile the road we crossed the Appalachian Trail, along which we were hoping to return at the end of our loop. I was carrying a bag full of apples and some cokes in the hopes of running into some thru-hikers and providing a little trail magic.
When the gravel road turned to asphalt, we turned right into the woods towards Mt Wilcox. It was about here that the first signs of trouble began making themselves clear. Maria’s tiredness from drive was translating into a headache and dizziness, and it wasn’t showing signs of improving. Still, it was a nice day, and we driven a while to get here, so we decided to give it a little more time before calling it quits.
The next mile of trail was wonderful, if wet. The morning rains and called to the local salamander population, and they were out in force. We had to slow down to avoid stepping on the tiny orange creatures, but it was quite the sight, with Maria stopping every few hundred yards to take more pictures.
Unfortunately, Maria wasn’t feeling any better, so after sitting down on some rocks next to the trail for a few minutes of rest, we turned back towards the car. We took a slightly different path back, which turned into a rock covered stream a little ways down. Maria though it was very picture worthy.
As we made out way towards the car, I’d been holding out hope that even we couldn’t do the whole 10 mile loop that I’d planned, we could at least spend the night at the shelter a mile up the AT. Sometimes comfort and peace of mind are more valuable than a night in the wood though, and feeling as crappy as she was, it was best to just get home early and let her spend the night comfortable and warm in our bed.
We got back to the car a around 16:00 having hiked a little over 4 miles, and I was feeling pretty down, having lost out on most of plans for the weekend. I hadn’t spent the night outside in since the beginning of the summer, and I’d really been looking forward to it. It was the right decision to come back home, but that didn’t mean it was a fun one. Fortunately after some rest and a visit to the doctor, Maria’s condition improved significantly over the next few days, and there is nothing keeping me from trying again next weekend. Maybe I’ll be able to find some AT hikers to give out the apples I’d been carrying around to.
Hike Details:
- Time: 12:00 – 16:00, 9/05/2021
- Distance: 5 miles
- Route: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/map-aug-29-08-55-pm-9f8684e We made it about 2.5 miles in before turning around.
Pokin' Along 