Date: 2012-06-14
From: Crystal Mountain Campsite

To: Stealth Campsite by the river
Miles today: 18.8

After yesterday's low mileage, it was time to take advantage of the perfect weather and make it over Greylock. I was hiking with Eazy E and Roughneck and we made decent time, reaching Cheshire by late morning. There's a small market right next to the trail in town, so we stopped off for an early lunch. While enjoying some ice cream, BoBo stopped by on his way north. After a couple thousand calories of ice cream had been consumed, it was time to ascend Greylock, the high point of Massachusetts. From Cheshire it's almost 8 miles and 2,500' feet to the summit. The trail was in good shape and the climb wasn't bad at all. The view from the top was the best one yet - blue skies and 360 degree visibility. We still had a few miles to cover before reaching the next shelter so we left Greylock and began a steep descent. The Wilbur Clearing Shelter is near a road, and Eazy E & Roughneck were stoked about having a pizza delivered there. Sounded like a great idea, but as we approached the shelter, we could hear a large dog barking like crazy and a very angry man yelling at it. The whole thing had a little bit of a Deliverance vibe to it. We decided to continue on towards the shelter and see what was going on. Halfway down the side trail, a huge black dog stood in the middle of the trail glaring at us. Noticing that he wasn't on a leash, we decided to get out of there and look for someplace else to camp. The trail quickly began a descent towards Route 2 and there were no places to camp on the way down. Near the bottom, it started to level off and we thought there might be some spots in this area. No sooner did we start scouting out the area when we noticed a "No Camping" sign. We stopped to plan our next move and while we were talking, an old hippie guy popped up - it looked like he was camped out on a blanket in a ditch about 20 feet from the No Camping sign. Continuing on, we decided to try camping behind the outfitter in Williamstown. Daylight was quickly running out, we picked up the pace and practically jogged the last mile to Route 2. Finally at the road, we tried to hitch a ride but for some reason nobody stopped to pick up three scruffy hikers. We started walking towards Williamstown and after a couple minutes I spotted a shopping cart on the side of the road. Sweet! It took me about five seconds to remove my heavy pack and set it in the shopping cart. Continuing down the road, we headed to a shopping center just up ahead. At this point, Easy E and Roughneck decided to crash at a nearby motel instead of going all the way into town where the outfitter is. I probably should have gone too, but it was a nice night out and I figured I could probably find someplace decent to camp nearby. I hit the grocery store to resupply for the next few days in Vermont. I must have been hungrier than normal, it took about 20 minutes to cram everything into my pack. I'd asked the cashier if there was anyplace to camp in the area and she suggested a spot that sounded good, unfortunately it was about 10 miles away. Outside, a guy who was behind me in line started telling me about some great places to camp that he knew about. Just give him $10 for gas and he'd take me there, never mind the fact that it's nowhere near the AT... After listening to his never ending sales pitch, I finally escaped and sat down on a bench to eat. While carb-loading, I spotted an older couple in the parking lot heading towards a muddy Jeep Cherokee with Vermont plates. I thought to myself, "I bet these guys know where to camp", so I casually walked up to them and asked about camping, as if it was the most normal conversation to have in a grocery store parking lot. After thinking about it for a minute, they recommended a little park by the river not far from the grocery store. I thanked them, and headed towards what I hoped would be a decent stealth site. Their directions were right on, I found the park and took a short trail into the woods, setting up my tent near the Hoosic River. Not a bad spot, except for the train tracks across the river. Of course, a train showed up around midnight, right when I was starting to drift off to sleep. Only four miles to Vermont!