Date: 2015-07-08
From: St Mary's, Cheshire, MA

To: Williamstown, MA
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: broken clouds

7/8, 14.5, Williamstown, MassGloomy. That's the word for today. Hiking the AT is so similar to life's journey one must expect gloomy days. Life has gloomy days and the AT has gloomy days. We woke early to get out early as we had planned 20 miles today in spite of the rainy forecast. We are feeling the pressure to finish and let our families get on with life upon our return, so the pressure is self inflicted, but real nonetheless. Wether that is the source or something else we did not discuss it sensing somehow none of us wished to talk about our gloom. Rather, we were satisfied to blame it on the misty rain we knew would last while we hiked over Mt. Graylock. We started our steady climb at 6:30 heading up the mountain. It was a nice climb except for the mud and slippery trail from the past tree days of rain. Footing was tenuous at times but our progress was pretty good. We reached the apex of the initial climb and moved through the soggy forest still climbing, but more gently now. Around 10:30 we encountered Penguin, Maps and Moxie hiking south. They had taken a slack packing opportunity to hike from the top of Graylock both directions, south today to Cheshire, then north tomorrow. We had a short conversation bit they were having such a good time it lifted us out of our gloom a bit just as he rain seemed to be lightening up a bit. They also informed us hat there is a lodge on top of Graylock that our guide does not show. Snacks and sodas were not far now so our mood was brightened a bit in anticipation.We arrived at the lodge on top at 11:00, secured a couple snacks each and sat on the porch to rest. Otter and Wayfarer had arrived just ahead of us so we visited a bit. After our break we headed north again having given up on any view from Graylock due to the heavy fog. Otter caught up with us shortly and decided to hike with us down the mountain. With slippery trails we all like having someone to pick us up if we take a bad fall. This was a decent decision because over the next three hours hiking downhill we each slipped and fell at least once, and multiple times for a couple. By the time we reached Williamstown we had a few scrapes and bruises, but were otherwise OK. Our original plan was a short grocery stop to resupply for three days, mostly for Bill and Pete, but as we looked at the time our best guess had us arriving at the shelter between 7:30 and 8:00pm. Since we had not done laundry for more than five days we opted to get a motel room split four ways with Otter joining, which would give us a nice solid rest to face the climb over two more mountains tomorrow. We found a room in a motel that provides shuttle from the trail and back so we walked to the grocery, resupplied and called the shuttle. We were settled into our room showering and getting laundry ready by 4:30. We set the laundry on an extra soiled cycle so it did not finish until 6:00 at which point we headed to the resturant next door utilizing the discount from the motel. Tomorrow we plan to hike over the mountains to a shelter twenty miles away. The best part is the rain quit around 2:00 and the trails began to dry and the forecast for the next three days is clear and sunny. We plan to hike out after breakfast together and may be four hikers together for a while. In some ways this makes he trip less expensive as we split motels often slightly cheaper than a hostel stay. Here's hoping the cash outflow slows a bit for these last few weeks of the adventure as the northeast has become very pricey, even on the trail. Our moods have improved now but we are all pushing to finish. Much of this last section will be striking a a balance between safety and speed as we do our best to avoid injury, but keep moving steady toward Katahdin.Silverback