Date: 2022-06-22
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Cookie Lady
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

¢m typing tonight from a vacant airplane hangar we have occupied for the evening. The details on how we got here:We awoke with the rustling of other hikers in the bunk room at UGPC about 5:45 this morning. The room proved to be dark and remarkably quiet throughout the night. We all got an excellent night¢s sleep. I was downstairs at about 6:05 in time to see Baxter forking over two of the first pancakes onto his plate. The caretaker spent the next hour-and-a-half at the griddle cranking them out 6 at a time. It took 8 kettles of coffee before, at last, one sat only half-emptied on the table. It was a hungry crowd and large to boot. We spent time after breakfast reallocating gear in an effort to get weight from Joni¢s pack. We were able to get her load below 20 pounds without burdening Baxter or Jasper too much.>span class="s1">Today was predominately rain, moderate at times but never steady. The canopy does much to even out the ¢flow¢ of rain to the trail below so that the heavier rain is heard but not immediately felt. The trade off is that water is dripping all day - even when none is falling high above. We all hiked with pack covers but rarely wore rain gear. Once the engine gets running the internal heat doesn¢t mind the rain. Stopping is when the cold catches up. It creeps into the family quickly, lightweights first. Body mass makes a big difference in heat retention. The boys get cold quickly after stopping in these circumstances. I¢ve learned to bear with the on-again off-again nature of the mid layer or rain jacket. I can set out from a shelter in the cold rain in only a tee shirt knowing I¢ll be heated up in only several hundred yards. The boys wear a layer out and then, in about that same distance need to stop to take it off. We get along down the trail just fine like this. I¢ve written out a 10-day plan for our goal of 300 miles in June. AWOLs guide has no mention of camping in this stretch of trail we¢re in. I wrote ¢STEALTH¢ on the plan sheet. ¢Stealth camping¢ is hiker speak for camping in a non-designated site. It can mean an unofficial spot on the trail previously used buy hikers, a place in the woods away from the trail, or sometimes a concealed spot behind the local Circle K convenience store. We don¢t mind stealthing if needed - I actually prefer it. We started hearing rumors 2 or 3 days ago of ¢cookie lady¢ at mile 1563. This is the same mile I had written the ¢stealth¢ note on the plan. We got to the rumored road crossing today after lunch and there was indeed a sign - in the style of the roadside boiled-peanuts stand - with an image of a cookie next to the women¢s-restroom-figure cutout. Then an arrow. We followed the road for 100 yards and met Ruth: Fourth-grade teacher, berry farmer, mother of 3, road tipper (in a converted mini bus)! Ruth served up cookies and hibiscus lemonade. We stood outside talking in the rain like it was all normal. She paid it no mind. I didn¢t realize it was raining on us until later. She asked if we were looking to stay the night (it was only 3:00). We said we¢d love to. ¢The bus won¢t fit all of you but I can show you the hangar.¢ ¢Okay!¢She bought the property from a Mr Wiley who built his own grass landing strip and hangar here. The strip is being overtaken by the weeds and the hangar has no airplane in it but it makes a palatial hiker shelter for 5! So we¢re bedded down on sleeping mats in a giant 50-foot-on-a-side room. No rain on us!¢NOBO¢ and ¢SOBO¢ are hiker lingo for ¢northbound¢ and ¢southbound¢. I¢ve only recently realized their phonetic and cultural proximity to ¢hobo¢.  We¢ve spent the last 5 nights in tent, hotel, tent, cabin, hangar. Do hobos live any differently? I¢m digging it.Dalton MA or lunch tomorrow. Ten mile before noon? We¢ll see. Queue ¢The Big Rock Candy Mountain¢.