Date: 2003-07-19
From: Dalton, MA (Shamrock Inn)

To: Mt. Graylock (Bascom Lodge, overflow hostel)
Miles today: 17.0

Today was one of those ¢Oh my God¢ days. We were going to climb our first real mountain in quite some time (Mt Greylock). It¢s only 3,491 feet high, but that¢s quite a jump from what we are used to. The profile on the map didn¢t look too bad, but we had to hike 10 miles before we even started up it. But I¢m getting ahead of myself¢¦ I started off the day at about 8AM, by going to the Post Office with a small box of ¢stuff¢ (old maps, databook pages, etc.) to send home. Then back to the hotel to pack & take another shower. I know¢¦ 2 showers in 24 hours? What was I thinking? But I think the dirt finally all came off in this one¢¦ And it felt GREAT! We checked out, and headed up to Cumberland farms for breakfast (can you believe they didn¢t have any cherry pies? The dogs¢¦). But they had coffee (except the vanilla creamer was empty, and the regular cream was empty, and the milk was empty), so I got some, then got some grumpy comments from a Cumberland Farms worker who clearly didn¢t want to be there, about how she was too busy to keep refilling things (Wench & I were the only ones in the store. And the woman had plenty of time to step outside & smoke¢¦). I told her to lose the attitude, and went on about my business. Maybe she¢s just having a bad day. Yumm¢¦ Coffee, banana nut loaf, a breakfast bar, breakfast Chex mix, Gatorade. I filled my new Platypus hoser (Thanks Shari, and Appalachian Outfitters in Greenville, SC for a quick, free replacement) & hit the trail. First we head to Cheshire, about 9-10 miles away. We heard ¢T¢s Treats was a good place for lunch, and there was a good park like area with a cheese monument where we could relax & eat. So into the woods, and the cool shade we hiked. Such a nice hiking day¢¦ Up & over small mountains, then up & over some more. Lots odf leg work, with long nice stretches in between. We started out behind a woman and her dog Truman, then we passed her and hit our stride. On the Cheshire side of the ¢mountains¢, we stopped in to see the ¢Cobble¢, a marble like set of rock outcroppings, with great views of Greylock and other scenic points. We sat there a while, soaking it all in, and taking pictures. A man and his 2 little girls were there too. Let¢s see, who else did we see today? A Southbound hiker named ¢BS¢, it stood for Bright Side, not Bull Shit. Now, relaxed & ready to go, we raced into Cheshire, to find ¢T¢s Treats closed. Sigh¢¦ So we retired to the park to eat peanut butter & breakfast bars. We saw a group of girls, taking a break (younger girls, all with backpacks, with their female leader), we even saw a police man patrolling town on his bicycle. He stopped by us while we were eating and talked to us about the local trail, and Cheshire. I asked him about water, and he said to follow him up the street to the police station, we could get water there. Then he said, just give him our water bottles that he would take them to the station, fill them up and bring them back¢¦ I live this town!! And it has a smooth, paved 11 mile bike trail too (rails to trails.. Brand new.)! The policeman also said that the school we had to hike by, was having a baseball tournament today, with a concession stand that would be serving hotdogs, hamburgers, & ice cream!!! I stopped eating at that point & put my food away. As we packed, 2 south bounders stopped by to talk, Nanowolf, and Dixie Bound (so many south bounders suddenly appearing). We were sorry to leave the nice park so quickly, but the ball game was calling. We hiked right to the concession stand & had hotdogs, Gatorade & ice cream, and watched the little league tournament for a while as we rested in the Sun. I could have stayed there all day, but Mt Greylock was calling us. So we wandered out, looking back at the game all the way (Well, it was bases loaded and only one out¢¦), and saw a hit that scored a couple of runs¢¦ Cool! Then it was up the mountain. It started out steep & leveled off, then we had 7 miles that alternated between level;, gradual up & down, steep up, and REALLY steep up. But for all the worrying I did, it wasn¢t so bad (we¢ve climbed worse, and will again soon). We took our breaks, and saw some nice views along the way (a vista east, and a bunch of sweet views of Greylock from varying distances). And suddenly we were there. We hiked up to the ¢Memorial¢ tower (a light house, go figure), and saw it close up for the first time. Pretty cool, but you have to see it to believe it¢¦ We checked in at the lodge, and paid for our hostel bunk (can you say mouse hotel?), and ate a discounted ¢thruhiker¢ dinner, at the lodge (Corn on the cob, Chicken, rice, salad, lemonade, coffee). After dinner we climbed the spiral stair case up to the top of the tower and checked out the views. The views were awesome, of the almost pulsating mountains to the north, and the flat lands to the east. I have to come back here again (OK, I did go back, but the fog was so thick, I never really even saw the tower). But today it was a clear day, and we could see the Adirondacks, the Catskills, Albany NY, the Green Mountains in Vermont, and much more. It was awesome, the way the sun played along the ridges, teasing the colors out of forest. It was an enclosed tower, great for viewing , but not so good for pictures, so I only took two, then headed back down to check out the big viewing areas below. We got a volunteer to take our picture holding Teds flag, with the vista at our backs. Ted would have loved this, a war memorial, great views, a setting sun¢¦. Awesome. After a few more pictures of the smelly hikers and the views, we were off to the hostel to drop our packs, then to the lodge for showers and back to the tower to watch the sun set over the mountains. As we stood by the tower, watching the awesome colors as the sun slowly set, a woman stopped us to talk. She asked us if she had seen us in Cheshire? We said maybe, we were there today. She asked, ¢were you at the ball game?¢ We laughed and said yes, for the hotdogs and Ice cream. She had recognized me by the knee braces I was wearing and said to her husband that we had to be the ones that were at the game. Nice people, from North Adams, MA. They live near the trail, and asked us questions about what was OK to offer a thruhiker, that wouldn¢t be considered ¢cheating¢. They want to be trail angels, but weren¢t sure what they could offer to do. We had a pleasant time talking with them, and watching the sun go down (took lots of pictures). As I keep saying, the people we met along the trail were the best part of the hike. The rest of the night was spent snacking journaling, and watching tons of mice run around the hostel (in full view of us, with a bright light on). It¢s going to be a long night, we better mouse proof everything (We spent the whole night waking up at every little noise).