MA Appalachian Trail - Section 7 - Jerusalem/Fernside Road (limited parking) to South Mount Wilcox shelter

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/24/2017	11.2 miles

Map and Guide: Appalachian Trail Guide to Massachusetts-Connecticut
Parking: Fernside/Jerusalem Road
Directions: Hike southbound from Jerusalem/Fernside Road (a gravel road) to South Mount Wilcox Shelter. Return to parking area.

This time we started at the correct parking area on Jerusalem Road. We passed the parking area on the paved portion of Jerusalem Road and continued on past where the road became a gravel road to the other parking area on Jerusalem Road.

My hip had been quite sore the later part of this week. I don't know what triggered it to get worse this time. But the weather was nice, and its been a while since we went hiking, so I was eager to go anyways. I'm also getting a cortisone injection in my psoas on Monday, so it is actually preferable to have moderate pain when I go in (so I can more easily tell if the injection helps).
We left both dogs at home. Trek had his surgery, and it went well. He had a low grade fibrosarcoma. The vet was able to get clean margins, so the hope is that it won't return. It's taking some time for his incision to heal. They remove a bunch of skin in order to get clean margins, so the skin on his belly was taut. He's had his staples removed, but still has an open wound where one part didn't close up properly. The incision doesn't bother him in the least and he's as happy a dog as ever.
We had warm weather today and not too buggy. This was a pleasant hike. No real views other than a beaver pond, but it was a nice walk in the woods. There was around 1,000 feet elevation gain in the beginning of the hike, but the rest of the hike was much more level. We did see a handful of thru hikers, and there were a couple of folks who set up trail magic on Beartown Road. On the way back, I talked to a thru hiker for a couple miles. He was looking for some company, and I was enjoying learning about his journey.
We are closing in on finishing the MA section of the AT. We set a goal for ourselves of hiking 200 miles on the AT this year. At this point, I feel like our progress is slow. With crazy work hours, afternoon thunderstorms frequently in the forecast, and Trek's cancer, we just haven't been getting out as much as I like.