Date: 2010-08-16
From: Shamrock Inn Dalton

To: Cheshire, St Mary's church
Miles today: 8.8

Day 28 Mon Aug 16Plan: Hike 9 miles from Dalton to St Mary's church in Cheshire.Weather: overcast and threatening rain.We get up about 7:00 and by now packing for the trail is routine - we know exactly what we have and where we put it. As mentioned in the previous post we have huge appetites. Genevieve is unusually quiet though. I'm not sure what is going on. My initial thoughts are she is concerned because her weight dropped from 115 to 109 but can't really figure it out so I stop thinking about it and just go with the flow. We stop at Java Juice for breakfast since it is right on the way. I have the egg and ham quiche - 1/4 of the whole pie... followed by a banana and a sausage and bacon and egg sandwich, a tall glass of water and a small coffee. Genevieve had some of her chicken tenders from last night as pre-breakfast snack and then a strawberry & banana smoothie, banana and breakfast sandwich. Everyone in this town is super friendly. We finally get on the trail but have to walk about a mile through neighborhoods before we enter the forest. As soon as we enter the forest Genevieve's mood changes. She has a big smile on her face and she breaks out in song. I finally get it: her spirit is happy and free in the woods - it pumps energy into her just like a mountain spring into a brook. We have a wonderful morning walk. She wants to walk together since we are nearing the end of our journey. I set the pace at about 1.5 which is comfortable to me. Everything is wet and slippery from the heavy rain last night. The forest is silently fogged in a beautiful mist. We are alone for the first two hours but then we meet many north and south bounders. This a veritable highway hike! Probably all told as many as 20 hikers. We meet southbounders Pyro and SaltyNoodle who give us news of our friends Rangler, Fuzzy and SoulPatch. SoulPatch is especially well known on the trail I think because he has befriended so many people. We stop for lunch with "Up" and "Winging It" at Crystal Mtn Shelter. While we are eating who should come along but Cerveza and PowerNap. We met them three days ago at the blueberry farm and thought they would be long gone down the trail. Well anyway it was good to see them again. This is a specially beautiful and pleasant section of trail with a good mix of boulder climbs and large pine groves. During breaks I have gotten into the habit taking off boots and wet trail shirt as soon as we stop - I replace it with my rain top. Lately I have been getting chilled about 15 minutes after stopping hiking and try to avoid that. Perhaps it is cooler now or perhaps since I have lost 15-20 pounds I am more easily chilled - dunno. We get back on the trail at 1:30 and estimate 3 hours to make the 4.5 miles to Cheshire. I am reluctant to walk faster than 1.5 in these wet conditions. At 2:00 we hear thunder and realize we are going to be in the middle of a big storm very soon. We drop our packs and put on covers. Almost immediately we are in a huge thunderstorm. We are a bit nervous because the lightening is very close and the rain is heavy and hard. If we stop we will get cold. We have little option but to keep walking carefully and try to avoid a slip. We want to get off this peak with all of this lightening around. About 2:30 everything subsides but it was a little hairy for a while there. A little later we meet southbounders Giggles and NeedsAssistance (an aussie) who were on top of Mt Greylock at 3500 ft when it hit. The rest of our trip is a non-event as the trail flattens out into Cheshire and we arrive at 5:00. We find PowerNap and Cerveza by the side of the road drying out. They plan to head halfway up Greylock today to Mark Knoepel shelter. We've had enough and head for St. Mary's church who have a community room where they put up hikers. We are still bingeing on food so Genevieve fixes two bacpacker meals while I stuff our boots with newspapers. We have set up our stove on the lawn outside and are entertained by the 8 year old kids football practice. Just as we finish dinner and begin another pot for coffee without any warning it suddenly begins raining hard huge cold drops. We have on our only dry clothes!! We very quickly grab the stuff that shouldn't get wet and scamper back into the church. In beteen squalls Genevieve collects the remainder of our gear and makes coffee under the porch awning. Father Raymond comes out to meet us and we have a nice visit. He tries to meet all of the hikers and talk with them. He takes our picture along with southbounder CrazyTalk (solo female) for the church hiker bulletin board. CrazyTalk is running low on food and we are trying to shed load for our big climb tomorrow up Greylock so we give her our blackbean soup. We are getting tired about this time so we plan the events for tomorrow. We want to get an early start at 7:00? The climb will be 2500 ft mostly at a 20 degree grade but two sections are about 45 degrees. Seven miles total. I am allocating 9 hours total with breaks. We have dinner reservations at 7:00 in Bascom Lodge and I bounced my town clothes forward so I hope they show up and we may need some time to get settled in. Don't want to be late for dinner!! I must admit that I am a little sad because I know that tomorrow is my last day on this trail. It has become a comfortable and special place to be. Although we saw many spectacular sites and views it is the unexpected trail community and fellowship that I will remember most. I believe I am more comfortable now walking in my own boots and accepting of others walking in theirs. I can sense the strong desire to carry this feeling forward beyond the limits of the AT because it is so very clear - there is only one trail - and we are all on it. Wish me luck for the big climb tomorrow - it will be a piece of cake for Bea but a challenge I'm sure for old 1.0.