Day 1 - Roads and Dogs

After a comfortable night in the hotel in Ellenburg, we got coffee at the general store and headed out on the 2.7 mile roadwalk to the beginning of the trail. (For our 2am call from the police, check out spins' blog at: http://spinscdt.blogspot.com ) As the windmills got closer we reached the start of the Trans Adirondack Route, the junction of Star Road and Brandy Brooke road. 

In the distance is the start of the trail. The best aspect about the roadwalk in the morning was that the shoulder of the road was wide and dirt which made for way better travel than the asphalt. 

The first section of road was farmland and rural houses. Every house had a dog and it seemed they were all out. All of them were friendly thankfully! 

The farmland transitioned into woods and the scent of pine overtook the air which is so refreshing coming from Buffalo. Lunch break was on the side of the road by one of the MANY water sources along the roadwalk. (Water everywhere so far) 

We quickly approached Hwy 374 and mad our way past Lyons. There's a gas station there where you can grab a drink and snack (or beer) for reference and we then walked up the 'pass' that lead to a view of Chazy Lake. Descending down we reached Chazy Lake Road and then stopped for a snack and water. We continued along Chazy Lake and found a great camp spot off the road about a mile or so past the end of the lake. 

We passed over twenty water sources today and the trees don 't have leaves yet so I got my first layer of sunburn before breaking out my umbrella for the rest of the day. My body and feet are quite sore from pounding on the asphalt and hustling to carry some weight on my back again. Tomorrow morning will be fun and way more sore. We covered roughly 22 miles today counting the walk from the hotel; not a bad start!