Morning at Chittning Pond

This morning I awoke to the honk of geese, the twitter of birds, and Dad saying, “time to get up….we’re burning daylight.”  It was five forty-five.

I blinked open my eyes and thought, “Damn it’s cold in here.”  I was toasty warm under my down sleeping quilt that had been snugged up around my neck with a drawstring, and my head was covered under my fleece stocking cap.  I did not want to get up and face the chilly morning of our campsite on the banks of Chittning Pond in Sangerfield, NY.

Regardless of what I wanted, it was time to wake up and face whatever the day had in store.

Mist on the water as the sun peeks over the mountain on Chittning Pond.

I grabbed my frigid shoes, slipped my formerly warm feet into the icy togs, and unzipped the tent flap.  I noticed that the character talking about burning daylight was still tightly wrapped in his own sleeping quilt.  No movement out into the cold for him quite yet.

Nevertheless, I stepped out into the morning and was greeted with a glorious sunrise.  Mist had risen over the water, and the sun was just beginning to peek over the hills to the east.  I tucked my head back inot the tent to grab my camera knowing that I wouldn’t be able to capture the moment in the way that it really made me feel.  It was one of those morning that you just had to experience.

The cool dampness of the air nipping at your cheeks while your breath added clouds of vapor to the mounting morning layer of fog.  The geese honking softly as they swam across the pond, and the birds twittering softly in the surrounding woods getting ready to greet the day.

I’m grateful the old man woke me up.  It was a great way to start the day.

Important Milestones

I’m writing this entry a day late due to limited connectivity last night, but the events described all happened on Monday, 22 April 2019.  

We hist some milestones today.  We crossed the three hundred mile mark late in the day on our push to our campsite at Chittning Pond near Sangerville, NY.  It was the second day in a row where we covered over nineteen miles. We received an offer from the Fire Chief in Brooksfield, NY to camp on the grounds of the Volunteer Fire Department.  Someone bought us lunch for the first time.

Of all the things that happened, one of the most important events was our trip to the Post Office in West Winfield, NY.

Dad taking care of business in West Winfield, NY.

You may be asking yourself….A post office being the most important event in a day filled with milestones….What’s so important about a post office?

The post office in West Winfield allowed up to get rid of almost three pounds of excess weight we’d been carrying.  Dad got rid of an external cell phone battery, a camera, a UA base layer top, and UA baselayer tights. I added a pair of socks and a UA baselayer top to the package.

Three pounds may not seem like a lot, but you can feel every ounce after three hundred miles of walking.  Getting rid of excess weight becomes a real moment of celebration.

The second best part of the day was finding a great camping site on public land that didn’t appear to prohibit camping, but that’s a story for another day.