I hiked from US 7 (Sheffield, MA) to Mt. Wilcox South, 12.7 miles
The hike starts out next to the Housatonic and uses some local roads before climbing.
This shelter is actually two shelters, one old and one new. It was pouring down rain when I arrived there, and no one could find the water source — everyone was backtracking down the AT. I eventually found it in the morning, and then I realized that I *would* have found it the day before, but I could not hear it running. It just looked like a puddle in the near dark, but the next day, I could hear the water running underground.
I elected to stay at the new shelter, not pitching the hammock because of the rain. When I arrived, there were two dads and four boys (age 10-16, roughly) wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Apparently they had changed because they were not wet. One of the dads informed me that they were “mail technicians” (postmen, I assume). I said that perhaps their boys valued sleep less than I did, and I asked if I’d be happier in the other shelter. They said the boys would be in their sleeping bags by 7:30 or 8pm, and I took them at their word. They were exactly right. I’ve never camped around boys that age who were so quiet. They got up really early (6-6:30, I think), but I have no problem with that. I was actually a little too warm in the shelter, but there were no bugs due to the pouring rain. By morning, it was just foggy.
In the older shelter, there was an older woman who I talked to much more the next day. She took one look at the boys and decided to stay in the older shelter, at that point, on her own. Another guy came in after dark, a southbound section hiker, and by the time he came to the newer shelter asking where the heck the water was, everyone was asleep except me. I explained that yes, supposedly it was here, but that we couldn’t find it.
I got going by about 8:00am, which is pretty good for me. Again, the boys were thwarted in their desire for a campfire.
I ran into Lynn (the woman at the other shelter) later on, and we both stopped and ate something at Finerty Pond and then moved on to Upper Goose Pond Shelter.
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