Date: 2003-08-01
From: Brassie Brook Lean-to

To: Egremont Country Club!!!
Miles today: 13.4

Writing this on 01/12/2004, FYIToday started out pretty lousy weather wise, it's cold and wet, but what else's new? I've been hiking with some really cool guys lately, including Tunnel Vision and Bull (the three of us met just after Neel's Gap, GA) and Stretch, who I've been hiking with on and off for a while. We've been having a blast, lots of good humor and conversation. We crossed the Connecticut-Massachusetts border pretty early, which means that we can camp off-trail without worrying about getting in trouble (it wasn't really a problem.) The problem is that we would have to go 8.8 , 8.9, or 23.2 miles to get to a shelter, and we haven't heard about any decent campsites ahead. 8.9 seems a bit short, 23.2 too long, and gambling on finding a campsite doesn't sound like fun today, so we decided to go for option C) Get to South Egremont (13.1 miles, then 1.2m hitch) early and try to find a cheap/free roof for the night. We wanted to get to town early so that we could still hit the woods before dark if we can't find anything in town.Tunnel Vision and Bull managed to get a ride before Stretch and I, so started walking after trying to hitch for a while longer. Tunnel Vision was sure that he could find a church that would put us up in exchange for doing chores or something, but after standing in the rain for what seemed like forever, Stretch and I decided to wait at a (dry, warm) convenience store down the road a bit. We had been chatting with the storekeeper for a while when a large guy in an apron walks in and picks up a couple dozen eggs. He stuck up a conversation and we quickly found out that this was Tim, cook at the South Egremont Country Club. Tim seemed really impressed and amazed at what we were doing, and was really friendly. Before leaving, he invited Stretch and I to come up for a free meal of Hungarian Goulash, the special of the night!! We politely informed him that we had a couple friends in town as well, and he enthusiastically told us to bring them up in 45 minutes or so. Stretch and I quickly ran up to the phone booth, just in time for Tunnel Vision to hang up after his last, unsuccessful try at a local church. He had gotten nothing but answering machines, or people who weren't inclined to help out and was really looking down. Of course after hearing about Tim, Bull and T-Vision's moods did a 180 and we all headed off in the general direction of the South Egremont Country Club (since we didn't know exactly where it was.) We got an offer for a ride when we were nearly there, but opted to walk since the car was a Civic, and we figured we would be there quicker without dealing with packing, unpacking, etc. Thanks whoever you are!! Walking up the drive and up to the restaurant was like a scene from a backwards western (is that an eastern?) Four dirty, unshaven hikers in tattered clothes walking into a very nice country club with the usual clientele of well-off golfers. The moment that we stepped into the restaurant (after leaving packs and poles outside) everyone stared at us and became silent. After a few awkward moments, Stretch broke the silence, asking for Tim. The mood changed as immediately as it had minutes earlier at the payphone. The bar tender was excitedly (in a good way) directing us to a nearby hall before we could blink. Tim greeted us with firm handshakes all around and sat us down in the dining room, yes the dining room, with tablecloths and everything. He had quickly filled our table with glasses and pitchers of water, soda, and beer. A waitress soon emerged with four giant salads and bread, both of which are much sought after foods for hikers in town since they are hard to pack out. We could barely contain ourselves as we sat there eating and drinking. Every couple minutes, someone would come over from the bar and timidly ask a different question; ¢What trail are you walking?¢ ¢How long!?¢ ¢How do you carry all that food?¢ ¢Why?¢ ¢You hike in sandals?¢ We didn¢t think things could get any better, but they did! Tim and the waitress entered the room with plates held high so that we couldn¢t see the contents. As they lowered the plates to the table, we were shocked at the goulash; it looked just like huge steaks, fries, and broccoli! Tim explained to us that the Hungarian Goulash was the special, and he didn¢t want to run out, so he had done the next best thing. What a great guy!! We had to stop to take some pictures, then we dug in. Even aside from the usual trail-induced hunger, I think that was the best steak that I have ever eaten. Even the parts of a steak that would usually be too chewy to eat were great, the fries and broccoli were just as good. As we sat, grinning from ear to ear, the questions kept coming from the bar, now along with more drinks. When we were done with our plates, we carried them to the kitchen with the intention of helping wash or cook in an attempt to repay this enormous favor.Tim refused any help, and then offered the use of the locker room downstairs to get a hot shower! A hot shower (hadn¢t had one since Greymoor, about 110 miles south,) after an amazing dinner, it can¢t get any better than this. After getting cleaned up and rinsing out some cloths in the sink (my shirt was gross) we had wound down a little and realized that it was nearly dark already, and without some really good luck we weren¢t going to make it into the woods before dark. Judging by our relatively bad luck with getting a ride this morning, we decided that we had better odds hanging around at the country club (like we didn¢t want to¢¦) After all, we could always night hike and stealth camp if needed. We went back upstairs to find a much larger crowd eating dinner. After a quick survey of the situation, we decided to sit on the porch for a while to dry off and wait for the crowd to thin a bit so that we wouldn¢t scare too may people off . Night quickly fell, but not as quickly as a pitcher of soda and beer (two separate pitchers) appeared on our table. We went back inside and sat down at the bar, where the regulars quickly engaged us in conversation and the bartender offered us anything we wanted, including ice cream! We sat and talked for quite a while, and eventually the subject of where we were going to sleep came up. We were quickly offered a place to stay under a large shade behind the country club. We set up our stuff out back before all the lights were turned off outside the restaurant at the suggestion of a local, then went back to visit some more. What an amazing day!!! Thanks soo much to everyone we met, you were all wonderful (especially Tim!!!) Tune in tomorrow for the second installment of the Saga of South Egremont!! August 1st is now known as T-Day.