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Early start. 8am in the parking lot with one other car. Showtime
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Prep work. It's gonna be a long day. Much longer than we expected....
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Not sure why we do this but we are legally obligated, as members of the Bimblers Running Group, to do this before every run.
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Nothing to do with this picture, but not 20 seconds into the run, SERIOUSLY, not 20 seconds into the run, Loopy slips on a small wooden bridge and lands on her ass. Not. 20. Seconds. In.
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A view from Bear Moutain, the tallest point in the state of Connecticut
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Still early, still feeling good. That will change
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CIMG0129.JPG 2009-07-20
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From Bear Mountain
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Standing atop the highest point in the state, thus the highest person in the state.
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The view from the top of the world....of Connecticut
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Here's where we should have picked up on our mistake. The sign CLEARLY says the AT runs north and south, to my left and right, yet we somehow convince ourselves that the trail perpendicular to that is the one we want. Good times.
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Blissfully unaware
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SHIT. shit shit shit. That 1.9 miles from the AT to this point was ALL downhill. To get back to where we actually needed to be, it was another another 3 miles (roughly). Add to that the fact we left our intended trail BEFORE we climbed Bear Mountain (yes, the tallest point in CT), the total distance of the detour was around 7 or 8 miles.
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Able to find an alternate route back to the AT along Paradise Lane Trail. Still trying to figure out the logic behind that name.
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Water on the trail was a common theme to the day
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Absolutely flying downhill
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Back on track. No time to dilly dally; let's do this.
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THE AT trail. Beautiful.
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I've seen pictures of adventurers striking this pose. Thought it was appropriate. I think it suits me.
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Nice little waterfall along the trail. Mountain fresh and cold as ice.
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Had to cross the river. It wasn't that I wanted to keep my shoes dry; I just wanted to cool the feet off. Honestly.
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So fresh and so clean
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Along the ridge line
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I just told a HILARIOUS joke. You should have been there. It was awesome.
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Amazing to see the water gushing down over the edge
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The ridgeline runs along the right side of the picture
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It was incredible to come out of the woods and burst out into the open sky and see this spectacular view laid out in front of you.
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Loopy stops to dump trail debris out of her shoe. Turns out her shoes are surprisingly roomy.
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This is what we do
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Nice little cabin on the South Taconic Trail. You may notice the wheelbarrow has no wheel. Is it just a barrow then?
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Left the cabin, took three steps and sunk my foot an ankle deep in mud. Story of the day
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Behind me is Mt Frissell. Came up and over that and I'm headed home.
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Done. 7.5 hours. 6 mountains. 3 states.
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Give a shoutout to all my fans
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An ice bath the old fashioned way - in a FREEZING mountain stream
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Our journey, in yellow
Don't stop, believing. Hold on to that feeeeeeelin......