Date: 2010-08-01
From: Dalton

To: Mt Greylock Summit
Miles today: 17.0

This is my day and I have a lot to say about it! Three years ago today I smoked the last cigarette I will ever smoke and took a giant step toward saving my own life. It was a scary day, with ambulance rides and hospitals. Back in 2004 I joined a quit-smoking support website and Codygirl was my username at that site. This is why I use Cody as my trailname, for me it represents winning the fight of my life and that if I make the choice to do something, I can do it, even if it is hard or seems impossible. If I could quit smoking, I can walk this Appalachian Trail.   That giant step made all these many steps possible.   If you are interested, check out quitnet.com. The people at that site held my hand and walked with me as I went through that process, they are an extraordinary group of people. Very special, they are.So, I started the day with breakfast with Tom Lavardi and others who stayed there. They listened politely to the story of "my day," then I set off hiking. I have a trail fantasy: that I burst out of the woods in some little town and find myself at a Little League baseball game, and I get to eat all the grilled hotdogs I can stomach.   Hasn't happened yet, but as I walked the trail out of Dalton there was a LL baseball game going on, so I stopped for an hour and watched the action. 13 yr old boys from Danbury CT on the side I was sitting on, no idea who the other team was. Must've been some kind of tourney. Concession stand was not open, so no hotdogs. Still, a great way to start my day's hike.The uphill began at the edge of town, decent climb but not too tough. Passed by a campsite, a few ponds, several dayhikers and a few southbound thruhikers, and The Cobbles, a marble outcropping with a lovely view of the valley. From there was an average downhill, not too steep or long, but enough. My mind was set on lunch in the town of Cheshire so I wanted off that mountain. I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about food, LOL! That sandwich was good too, at Diane's Twist. Fabulous really. I sat outside at a picnic table with 4 bicyclists and 2 other thru hikers, eating and telling the story of "my day." Hope I wasn't too much of a bore. One of the other hikers told me there is a bunkhouse at the top of Mt Greylock and there was just enough time, so I set off. This is the mountain in yesterday's picture, I started at the left end and that summit bunkhouse is at the peak near the right end. It was a very steep climb with some dropoffs, fortunately surrounded in trees to help me keep from panicking. I don't want to be overly dramatic about it, but I am still struggling with the heights thing. This mountain gets to 3491 feet, biggest mountain since Virginia. I'm glad to be getting back to bigger mountains. That means real climbs though, and this was one. Nuthin but a walk, one foot in front of the other, and absolutely lovely! Starting to find spruce trees among the hemlocks. Ponds up on top, as in the picture. Really a lovely walk with ups and downs too. I got to the summit with 30 minutes or so of daylight left so I took the time to walk around and admire all the views. Big monument up there too. A storm was moving in, so dramatic thunderheads. Since this still was "my day" I treated myself to the cheapest room the lodge had instead of the bunkhouse. Slept great! I am the luckiest girl in the world.