On Top of Jay Peak

Well - we  are finally on the trail. Today is our second full day of hiking. On Tuesday morning we drove to North Adams, MA and parked the van. We won't see it again until we walk off the final steps of the southern end of the trail in about a month. We got a late start on the ride north because the shuttle driver was late due to a communication mishap, but we were on our way by 12:40 and got dropped off at the Journey's End parking lot on the Canadian Border by around 5pm. Then it was a short hike in (less than a mile) to the Journey's end cabin where we camped for the night.

Yesterday morning we woke early and began the day's hike, about 9 miles. It was our first time with full packs on in a number of years and the morning didn't feel too bad. It was exciting to see the actual northern point on the trail (that was about 1.3 miles from where we slept - as we weren't officially on the trail yet). We took photos at the border marking, the same place we have photos of the boys from 13 years ago when they finished their own northbound hike.

The afternoon was tougher on us. We had a quick lunch at the Shooting Star shelter then set out for a grueling 3 hours of ups and downs and turns as we made our way up around and over Doll Peak. The trail was very wet, rocky and slippery but we made it to our next camp, Laura Woodward Shelter by 3:20. We were pretty damp and cold and I spent quite a while in my sleeping bag just trying to get the chill off. Andre made a great fire and a good meal and we got to bed by 7pm!

Had a great warm night of sleep in our sleeping bags then up and out by 8 AM this morning. It was a steep mile and a half up the ski slopes to Jay Peak where we are right now, warming up and drying out again from the dampness and also charging our phone, computer & kindle. As we've had no sun yet, it seems doubtful we'll get much use out of our solar panel for charging.  All is well, as we are sitting in the tram restaurant at the top of the slopes, waiting for the restaurant to open at 11:00. Haven't been able to upload photos yet, so those will come along with the next posting.

Until then...