Date: 2009-07-13
From: Kay Wood Lean to

To: Cheshire Massachusetts
Miles today: 12.4

I wake up at 6 am as the older hikers are up and on the trail early. The newer hiker doesn't know hiking etiquette yet and slams his pack on the picnic table a few times to smooth it out. This wakes the rest of us but thats ok. I am getting low on food and I have crackers for breakfast. The town of Dalton is only two miles away and I roll in to see several of the younger hikers from Goose Pond Cabin and Sir Richard on the porch of one of the houses in town. Tom, a trail angel , lets people camp on his lawn but this day he let them sleep inside and even made dinner for them. I make my way downtown to Duff and Dells variety and find a great little restaurant serving breakfast. As I entered Model T calls me over to join them at their table, and then they profusely apologize for the early morning noise. I get coffee, OJ and a bacon and cheese omelet with hashbrowns and toast. Real food!!! I decide to only do 12 miles today as there is a big climb after that and afternoon uphills are killer. I stop at the first shelter at 9:30 just to read the shelter journal and see who has been here. I find one hiker still sleeping. It is Catherine a Junior at Rice University (electrical engineering) that is hiking from Harpers Ferry North this summer. She is hiking alone and I have met her a couple of times earlier this week. Catherines trailname is Sleepy head.She tells me that last night she shared the shelter with Castle a southbound hiker. I had passed this girl(Castle) earlier on the trail and spoke to her briefly. Now I remember that she is the same girl that I had given a ride to town last week when I was in Maine. She is making very good time.I stop for lunch next to a pond and enjoy some salami and cheese I had bought in town and then hit the trail to the town of Cheshire. This is a very small town and has an ice cream store where I get a root beer float. I stop at the hardware store, the only store in town and it is the typical general store you would expect in New England. It even has a glass case with penny candy in dishes just like I used to buy when I was a kid. Only difference is all the penny candy now costs ten cents each. I make my way to the Wayside Hiker Hostelrun by Jim Johnson. This is a new hiker hostel on the trail and is in an old barn type building that has a full kitchen and bath and a couple of bunks. Thebuilding also has a large room with exposed beam ceiling and is full of antiques. They had been using this as a small conference center but that business has dried up with the current economy. It is full of books and is more like a library than a hostel. I do my laundry and settle in to find out that the town does not have anyplace to eat. The only pizza restaurant is closed on mondays and the ice cream place closed at 5 pm. There are 3 brothers staying here at one of the cabins at this hostel. They hike as the Smith Brothers. They tell me that I am the 12th person to ask them about cough drops. They are too young to remember the SMITH BROTHER cough drops and the advertisng of the late 50's and 60's, but I remember the box distinctly with three bearded men on the label. SkyPilot is staying at the other cabin with his wife who has come to give him support and a break from the trail. They bring over homemade salsa with chips and pumpkin cake. This was great because we were all hungry. We stay up talking till 10 and I am recharged for another day. O.M. River