Date: 2003-07-18
From: October Mountain Lean-to

To: Dalton, MA (Shamrock Inn)
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

We hit the trail with a mission this morning, we were on the way to the cookie lady¢s house for water, just 2.2 miles up the trail. We arrived at her house (we knew she was out of town), got our water, said hi to her dog Rufus, and took a break & ate snacks from the hiker box on the steps. As we were relaxing, Cookie man ( Mr. Cookie lady?) came out, gave us some homemade cookies and talked for a while. He told us of a Bear sighting nearby, and a Moose sighting too. The other day, a woman out hiking, saw a bear by upper goose pond. Sigh¢¦ We still haven¢t seen a bear¢¦We continued on our way, filled up with snacks, water & friendship. There were no real mountains to climb today, mostly level, with a couple medium ups, then down into Dalton MA. We ate lunch at the local eatery, ¢Duff & Dells¢ variety store, and met another Northbounder there (they really do exist, even if we rarely see them). His trail name is Crow, and he also started March 1st! We decided that we were filthy and smelled really bad, and decided to get a hotel room at the Shamrock Inn and take showers (any time you use a bathroom, and the seat is dark when you get off of it¢¦. Face it, you are filthy.). We were slimy with sweat, dirt, and Deet, we were just damn nasty¢¦ I had to wash my hands after picking up my dirty clothes, before I took them to the laundrymat. Hey, I was clean, I didn¢t want that smell on me¢¦ ;-) While we were waiting for our clothes to finish, the lady that worked at the place gave us her leftover pizza to eat¢¦ Yum, a snack¢¦ Then we ate dinner at the Irish pub next to the Inn. Mmmm¢¦.. Guinness, glasses of seltzer water, a cheeseburger, fries, coffee, and back to the room for cookies & snickers. We got a ride to Cheshire to get our mail drops earlier, from the guy at the Shell station (he lets hikers stay at his house too), so I had plenty of snacks to sample. NOTE: Never race to a mail drop!!!! I mean it this time! Tomorrow, we are planning a 17 mile day to the top of Mt. Greylock (our first climb above 3500 feet in a long time), we¢ll see how our legs feel, it should be a tough day. NOTE: Legs¢¦ Ny knees still ache all night, but not as bad as the other day after we did 19.9 & 19.1. It takes less Advil to dull the ache lately, so that¢s a good thing (I was soon to find out, that I didn¢t even know what an ache was yet¢¦). My back is OK for now, my shoulders are still a bit sore from carrying most of my pack weight (still can¢t tighten the waist belt without my back spasms starting up again). My ankles and right foot (tendon), still flare up now and again (since I still twist my ankles every day). So basically, things are normal¢¦ We looked ahead at the profile maps of Vermont and New Hampshire.. Vermont gets pretty hilly, with some mountains there, but New Hampshire gets really freakin¢ steep!!! Oh my God!!! I hope mount Greylock and the other mountains in VT get us in shape for it. We will be in VT in about 2 days¢¦ Wow, the miles are really flying by, we did 112 miles in the last 7 days (maybe that is why we smelled so bad¢¦ Well, that and the Deet.). Even if we only do 10 miles a day, we¢ll be in Maine in one month. Well enough guessing. Time will tell. Life is good¢¦Note: How funny it was to look back on that one line, weeks later ¢if we only do 10 miles a day¢¢¦ Wow¢¦ ¢only 10 miles a day¢? There is no ¢only¢ in New Hampshire¢¦ We felt pretty damned proud ¢to be able to do¢ 10 miles a day (average) through New Hampshire. It was rainy & slick most of the time, and up over big mountains. It was the true test of the trip, and we came out of it with our heads held high. The fatigue, the pain, the beauty¢¦ The best. Life is good!