Hiking, Camping and Knitting

Last time I posted I mentioned my plan to head out to Bash Bish Fall out in western MA, I am happy to say that I made it out there, hiked around a bit and have made it back. I spent two nights camping at a "primitive camp site" in Mount Washington State Forest. Everything I needed for the trip I packed into my backpack and carried about 1.5 miles to the site. My pack, including food and water, ended up weighing about 39 lbs, which was more than I expected, but still manageable. When I arrived I pitched my tent:

put down my sleeping pad and sleeping bag:

and started cooking my dinner:Since there were all kinds of bugs flying around I retreated to my tent early and spent some time working on Rhiannon, my knee sock.

On Saturday I hiked about 10.5 miles and tried to find my way to Bash Bish Falls. I didn't make it. On one trail I decided that I had missed the turn off and turned around and went back the way I came, on another trail I hit a wide brook crossing that I didn't feel up to making (I was pretty sure that I would manage to fall and bang my head if I tried). I may have seen the falls from the side, but I am not sure about that. If I did it was up from near the top or over the top of the falls, and I could only see one of the 2 falls.

Over night between Saturday and Sunday it rained. When I woke up on Sunday and emerged from my tent there was no rain falling, so I decided not to delay and quickly packed up my gear and went back to my car. I took a longer route back to my car and had one brook crossing, which made me a bit nervous, but I managed it. There was no way that I was going to return to Boston without seeing Bash Bish, so I drove around to the trail head for the Falls and descended 300 feet to the viewing area and was rewarded with this view:

Oh, and since this is a knitting blog and I mentioned knitting, with my evenings at camp, the hour and a half I spent at the RMV yesterday morning, and my normal bus trip home yesterday and to work today I am now only one decrease row away from being done with my first Rhiannon knee sock.