Day 7/April 7 -- rain, rain and more rain

Miles hiked: 9.77

Starting location: Goose Pond Road, Tyringham, MA

Ending location: County Road, Becket, MA

Elevation gain: 1,965'

Rather than snow, today's weather featured rain, not much when I started, but it picked up considerably in the afternoon. As long as I have a good waterproof jacket, I'm perfectly happy to hike in the rain, although one does have to realize that everything is slippery and potentially harmful.

A new pair of trail shoes that I purchased recently, the adidas Terrex X-King, was a big help with traction today. The shoes are made with the same rubber that Continental Tire uses for its mountain bike line. These stick like glue on wet rocks; wet boards and roots--not quite so well.

Here's a video of me climbing what could be a slippery stone ledge, but was no problem in the X-Kings:

With no one to hike with, the only diversions are the sights along the way. Here's a beech tree that the beavers are working on; the rain just colors the work perfectly:

That was next to Finerty Pond, which is probably one of the cleanest ponds around and certainly a fine place for a swim on a thru hike--just not today.

Shortly after I passed the pond, I had to stop and tie my shoes and being the lazybones that I am, I found a rock to put my foot on, which put my nose a close enough to see this:

That looks better than many salads I've been served in restaurants. 

A lot of the woods in October Mountain State Forest are wet--bogs, ponds, beaver ponds, swamps, and streams. This one even had some mini waterfalls:

And this was today's attempt to keep my feet dry--it worked for a number of hours, but not for the entire four hours:

Tomorrow a friend will let me wear either his Gore-Tex socks, or some vapor barrier socks. Those might be a good addition to the pack at various times during the hike.

Route from my Suunto.