Date: 2004-07-18
From: Kay Wood Lean-to

To: Bascom Lodge
Miles today: 20.0

It was a fine morning at Kay Wood Lean-to. For a change, I was the first one out. Red was sleeping in. It was only 3 miles down to the town of Dalton, MA. It only took about an hour to get to the railroad tracks. From there the trail heads down Depot Street through a quiet neighborhood. Walking through towns always makes me a little giddy. You just have to wonder what the locals think. Do they have any idea where a thru-hiker is really coming from, in a cosmic sense. Do we set their minds to wondering. Well, one man on this street must know. There's an AT trail marker on the post of his porch and a sign beckoning to thru-hikers. His name is Tom Levardi. He was sitting on his porch with maybe 3 thru-hikers. He waved me over. We talked over the railing. He invited me to join them. He was going to take the lot into town for breakfast. I thanked him but said I'd rather walk. It wasn't far and they pulled up just as I got there.Ozzie's was a pretty busy place for breakfast. The guys got the last table. I thought of joining them but hopped on a stool at the counter instead. Surprisingly, Tom pulled up on the stool next to me. We had a good talk and the food was great. The fear was that it might be too much. Over eating is never a good way to start the day for me. Tom was a genuine trail angel and just wanted to help thru-hikers out. After breakfast, having checked my voice mail at the pay phone out front and noticing that the library was closed, I had no other business in town. That left nothing but to walk up Main Street to Park Avenue and out Gulf Road to get back on the trail.It was only 10 miles over to Cheshire. There was this little ice cream joint near the bike path right on the trail. They made sandwiches too. This could not be passed up. After all this was going to be a short day anyway. As the kids and folks came and went on their bikes, I sat eating at a picnic table outside. A few engaged me in conversation. The sky was gray but it was still a fine day.Trail Life:Life on the trail was so simple. Wake, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, sleep. What more could a soul want. Ahhhh.It wasn't long before the trail ducked off the streets and back into the forest. There were some views early on of the summit of Mount Greylock and the strange lighthouse War Memorial on top. The weather got worse as the trail gained the ridge. The rain started coming down turning the trail into a mud wallow of puddles. It was a mess. Someone left a bag of Oreos on a rock in the middle of the trail with a note that said trail magic. There weren't that many and the rain was going to do them in if I didn't anyway. Well, someone had to pack out the trash. It might as well be me. They had green and white filling. Mmmmm gooood.The summit was completely socked in by the time I got there around 5pm. One of my phone calls from Dalton was to reserve a bunk and a meal at Bascom Lodge on the summit. It was a cool old lodge with lots of history. The AMC ran it for a few years but not any more. It seemed like I was the only person eating there tonight and one of very few spending the night. Of course it was Sunday night and a dreary one at that. How strange to have 3 purchased meals in one day, all in different towns. It was nice to have a warm shower and a dry place to stay in this damp weather. It was also a comfy place to sit around and chat with folks. A woman and her young son shared the bunk room with me. It had only been a 20 mile day but that was OK after several long ones.