Date: 2010-08-25
From: Dalton

To: Campsite past Cheshire 
Miles today: 10.7

8/25 3Dalton to campsite past Cheshire10.7TentI took my last imitrex this morning. If I still have a migraine tomorrow I'll have to use the less effective excedrin. But that should be the last of the migraines for this trip. Yay!I ate rice crispy treats for breakfast with a pepsi to wash them down. Then I walked over to the Juice n Java for coffee and a muffin.  Two breakfasts is perfectly normal for a thruhiker. On my way out if Dalton this morning I walked right by High Street. You'd think they'd put a sign on it, but no. There was a dead end sign, and a heavy commercial vehicles excluded sign, but no street name sign. If not for a kind resident pointing out my error, I might have walked a long way in search of High Street. Instead I only backtracked a block. I realized this morning that I'm passing twelve hundred miles today. I feel pretty pleased about this. I hope to do about fourteen hundred total but twelve is nothing to sneeze at. I have continued to see a lot of efts. They have never had much survival talent, and now things have gotten worse. At least before they were a startling orange so I had a chance of avoiding them where they lay on the trail. Now they are changing to a dull brown color which blends in very well. I fear I may have already stepped on one without noticing. I totally missed The Cobbles overlook today. There was a side trail but no sign. I wasn't willing to go back uphill for the view once I realized my mistake. I got a sandwich and some sherbet in Cheshire at Diane's Twist. Then I stopped by the church for my last box. Father David Raymond was very nice and had wondered about the woman getting all the packages. I gave him one of JD's cookies, which he pronounced good. It was only a bit after four so I moved on after repacking. I hoped to find a campsite in a couple of miles, and indeed I did. It's a little slopey, but I've had worse.  Tomorrow I have about a six mile walk to the summit of Mount Greylock, where I hope to have a nice meal and then move on to a shelter. Though I suppose I might stay at Bascom Lodge if it seems the thing to do. I've been carrying an enormous food bag for ages and that doesn't look to change any time soon. At least I feel strong enough that it's not a particular burden. Nor are the three liters of water and the extra warm gear.  Still, it's silly to have so much food when I'm in towns so often. Maybe I'll make it a goal to empty my food bag before the end of my trip. That will require better planning and possibly trail magic. I'm sure I can give some things away. At the moment I'm craving hippy food. Things I really can't get in the woods. I want a sandwich like I used to get in college at the food coop in the student union. To the best of my recollection, here is what I always ordered: a white pita pocket stuffed with alfalfa sprouts, carrot shreds, cucumber, hummus, and extra tahini. The tahini is what really made it. Coop workers would grumpily inform me that hummus already had tahini in it, but they just didn't Get It. It is hard to have too much tahini in a sandwich. (Note to JD: this is not a request.)I realize that I write about food a lot. It's inevitable, as I'm spending most of my time thinking about eating. The trail passes beneath my feet unremarked as I dream of endless calories. I am now an eating machine to a much greater extent than I am a hiking machine. I foresee great problems trying to turn off or even put the brakes on either aspect. Thanks to the failure of my phone to access the Internet, my battery usage has decreased a little. I'd rather use more battery and be able to check the weather and upload my journal. Alas, it is not an option. I'm reduced to trying to find wifi access in towns. I'm having withdrawal pangs that caffeine cannot soothe.