I tried all week to hype my family into coming with me on this hike, but to no avail. The eight mile planned path was not helping, and as the day approached the grim weather forecast ensured I would be alone for this one. While prepping for this weeks hike, I spent way too much time in AllTrails messing with routes and paths in an effort to minimize the amount of time retracing my steps. Eventually I came up with a convoluted plan that switched directions and zig-zagged and bounced around with the hopes to save me some steps. Then on Saturday morning as soon as my feet hit the trail, I forgot all about my plan and just charged forward. It wasn’t until 30 minutes later that I checked my app and realized I was totally screwing up my plan. So I stopped, reviewed the route plan, made some mental notes on how to adjust course and then carried on. I then discovered… Hills. With a capital “H”. I guess there’s a reason my app tells me the elevation change. So about half way through the hike I realized I might not make the full eight miles. Either way, I started out going down Slide Notch Path and right away came upon the aftermath of the May 1st brush fire. It was almost surreal how the East side of the path was just fine, and the West side was charred and burnt out.
This was mostly a downhill hike and then I came to Bouncing Brook Path which was flat and level and I was going strong. I took a sharp left on Curve Path, another left onto Sassamon Notch Path and then a right onto the Skyline Trail. I reached the top of Nahanton Hill and that’s when I realized that this was going to be a lot harder of a hike than I expected.
After checking out the view, catching my breath, and checking my heart rate (169 BPM!) I headed down the hill and enjoyed a fairly flat long walk around Squamaug Notch Path and then Curve Path. I kept going according to my newly revised plan and headed down to Laurel Path. When I got to marker #3111, I had to stop, reassess, and revise my plan. Again. I’m not a morning person and I got a late start and it had taken me 2.5 hours to make it 4 miles and I was hoping to cover the entire hike in less than 4 hours. If I stuck to the plan, it would be 4 miles of trails until I returned back to this point and then, I’d have one more mile, all up hill, covering 300 vertical feet to the peak of Kitchamakin Hill and then a short walk to my car. OR I could skip the 4 miles and just hike the one more mile up Kitchamakin Hill, then car, then home. Decision time.
I decided to abandon the 4 mile loop I had planned and headed up the hill to cut the hike short and then head home. Again, old man gravity took it’s tool and I was huffing and puffing like a geriatric wolf trying to get to his little pig dinner. With this image in mind, I found I was getting a little hungry so grabbed one of the several varieties of energy bars I had picked up to experiment and figure out which brand / flavor I like best. After I dug a PowerCrunch Salted Caramel bar out of my backpack, I figured I’d save time by not stopping and enjoying my PowerCrunch Salted Caramel protein as I continued to trudge up the hill. This is when I learned two new and important facts. Fact One: PowerCrunch Salted Caramel protein bars, are VERY dry. Like sandstorm dry. My mouth was filled with a cloud of wafer cookie protein dust with every bite. Fact Two: If you are huffing and puffing like a geriatric wolf, you do NOT want to fill your mouth with a cloud of wafer cookie protein dust as you will quickly inhale sed cloud and find your self coughing and choking all alone in the middle of a hiking trail while scrambling to retrieve your water bottle which is in the side pocket of the backpack still strapped to your back in an effort to re-hydrate the wafer cookie protein dust sandstorm currently raging in your mouth and windpipe. It’s moments like these where I’m grateful none of my family chose to join me, as I’m sure this little act would have induced peels of laughter from my immediate relations. With these two new facts firmly implanted in my brain, I found a handy rock to sit for a spell while I finished my snack with my water bottle readily available. With snack finished and re-hydration complete, I continued on and finally made it to the top of the hill. This is when plans changed for a fourth and final time.
When I finally crested Kitchamakin Hill, I stopped yet again to admire the view, catch my breath, and check my heart rate (173BPM!). After recovering briefly I took a left turn and headed West on the Skyline Trail for a bit and then came back to the Slide Notch Trail. This is when I changed plans for a fourth and final time. I was back in the burn zone from the brush fire and I was curious to see how far the damage extended, so rather than heading back to the car I kept heading West on the Skyline Trail for about 500 feet when I reached the West side of the burn zone. I knew the Northern edge wasn’t that far away since I walked through it earlier, but I wondered how far South the fire had spread. There was no trail here so I stopped and had a serious debate with myself. Should I satisfy my curiosity and hike off into the uncharted parts of the Blue Hills or should I just take my tired ass home and not waste my energy on hiking where it wouldn’t ‘count’ towards my 125 Mile Clube and TTBH goals? In the end, curiosity won and I spent the next 40 minutes or so stomping through the woods, tracing the edge of the burn zone. It was kind of fun to make my way through the woods, climbing over rocks and along ledges. At least it was fun until a stumbled on some loose rocks with a sharp 30 foot drop just a few feet away. I fell forward onto my hands and I slammed my right shin into some rocks. My metal water bottle was launched from backpack and landed a few feet away. I was foolishly walking with my phone in my left hand and so when I fell, it was slammed against a jagged rock with my full body weight behind it. As I got up, my right hand had some abrasions on the palm but no blood. My phone screen was completely shattered at the point of impact. Thankfully, I’ve been using a 9H glass based screen protectors for a while now. I was hoping that the damage was to just the screen protector and not the actual screen. My shin was bleeding a little but was more or less okay. If you are curious, you can see the whole fiasco play out on the video from my bodycam. After a delayed “ow” or two, I cautiously proceeded. I got a real sense of the damage from the brush fire and when I finally reached the end of the burn zone I found myself at the bottom of Kitchamakin Hill, again. So I climbed up the Slide Notch Trail one more time. I stopped for an energy bar and some water and finally made it back to the car thoroughly exhausted.
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