LT 2015 Day 0: Approach to Journey’s End

It definitely felt much different starting from the north than it did when I started in North Adams.  The area around the northern terminus is predictably less populated and even the trail feels less used.  I wasn’t quite sure where the trailhead started as we drove the car in so I kissed my son and wife goodbye at the first parking area.  It’s possible the car could have made it down to the actual trailhead but it would have been tough going in some ditch-y spots.

The actual trailhead register had come off the tree, so I’m not even sure I signed it.  I expected to truly start my hike the next day and knew I would find a hut log at Journey’s End.

I did find a log there, along with a quaint looking cabin alongside a small rise in the trail.  However, I also found a lot of mosquitos so I ditched my pack there and took my dinner up to find the Canadian border.  I was planning on trekking to the border early the next morning but I had a lot of time to kill and decided it would be better off spent in a picturesque place rather than a bug infested shelter.

I took a picture now because I knew I wouldn’t get one at 5:30 in the morning

Inside Journey’s End

Turned out to be about perfect at the border.  The border was dramatic with the wide swath of trees scarring the landscape as far as I could see.  The sun was only partly out, but the temperature was just right, just a little cool but perfect with the sun shining on me.  I laid there listening to some music for about an hour or two.  That’s when I was joined by a couple that was staying at Shooting Star and had just come up to see the border.  Not wanting to feel like the third wheel, I headed on back to the cabin.  There I passed a very relaxing evening reading through the trail log at all the hikers that had come before in the log.  I figured I wouldn’t have much of a chance to do that again with the blistering pace I was planning on keeping.