Date: 2003-07-20
From: Mount Greylock Summit

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Day - 142¢¦ Miles ¢ 1583.5¢¦ Miles to go ¢ 589.1¢¦ Can you believe it? I still don¢t¢¦ 11 states down, 3 to go! Those numbers are just too large to get a grip on¢¦ We only focus on the miles between resupply, so these big numbers have no real meaning in our everyday World. We did what? For how long? I am so glad the memory of pain goes away after good things happen. I don¢t know if I could take it otherwise. See, even our minds are set on self preservation mode, only remembering the good things. When I get done with this hike, the pain will be a dim memory, but the good experiences will live in my memory forever. But enough of this, back to this morning. The mice put on quite a show last night, but only one got near us, that we noticed (they could have tap danced on my forehead while I was sleeping & I wouldn¢t have noticed). One mouse ran along the wall & the edge of the mattress behind Wench¢s back while she was journaling, and touched her shirt on the way by. That may have influenced her decision to move to a top bunk, and my move from a mattress on the floor, up onto a real bed. This place was worse than any shelter on the trail, it was an old garage being converted to a cheap hostel with bunks (a work in progress). But the workers and other hikers had left food scraps & garbage laying all over for the mice to eat, so they kept coming back to look for more. Not a place I would stay again¢¦ It got quite cold & breezy over night on the summit of Greylock (especially when I had to get out of a warm bag, and go out & pee), I better put my jacket back in my pack when I get to Manchester Center, VT (I have been bouncing it ahead until I need it). In the morning, we got up and ate our own food for breakfast, I didn¢t feel like spending $10.00 on breakfast at the lodge. Then we packed (checking to be sure no mice were hitching a ride), got water at the lodge & went to check out the morning views on the way to the trail. An awesome morning, bright Sun, great views from the summit, then a nice trail thru the pines to walk on (with great northern views opening up in front of us a s we walked. We heard the birds singing, the chipmonks chattering, then saw a pudgy little Porcupine waddling his way North up the trail¢¦ I wonder¢¦. Was he a section hiker? Whatever he was, he didn¢t want to stay for my photo session, and waddled off into the woods. We sat down and took a break at the 600 mile to go vista, a nice overlook with a view north. 600 miles to Katahdin, it almost seems real now, instead of a make believe place. I can almost imagine how Dorothy felt, as she neared the Emerald City. But for now, I¢ll keep focused, and today that means winding down the mountain to North Adams MA, to resupply. Did I mention that the tower on Mt Greylock is a light house? Someone said it was meant to go in Boston Harbor, but was put here instead¢¦ Go figure¢¦ Anyway, on the way down the mountain, I kept hearing , short bursts of propeller noise, like from an airport, but they were not the usual prop noise I was used to. These would have their power on high for a bit, then it went to low or was turned off. It was very confusing, and I thought something was crashing the first time I heard it, at least until I finally saw the sign for the Mohawk Glider club. Of course, it was a glider being towed up by a tow plane¢¦ I should have known, I spent a lot of time at the local airport when I was younger, watching my father, aunt & uncles glider club activities (aero club albatross). I watched a couple more take off as we walked to the local supermarket to resupply. Yummm¢¦.. A deli sandwich, a Hostess cherry pie, soda.. We had to eat a good meal for the climb out of town and up the mountain towards the Vermont/Massachusetts border. A nice solid 3 mile climb.. sigh¢¦ I hope I forget this climb, before I get around to doing the Long Trail, because this is the climb we have to do to get to the start of it. But next time, without a 1500 mile warm up (and I¢m still not used to these). We saw lots of day hikers, and short term backpackers today, and one Northbound Thru hiker slackpacking south bound (bank robber). As we walked along today, I¢ve noticed that Jan ¢liteshoe¢, has quite a fan base up this way. We keep seeing hand made cards addressed to her, tacked up along the trail (some great crayon pictures & cards written by children¢¦ Very cool). The latest one I saw was from a girl named ¢Hannah¢¢¦ What a great job! Most of our 3 mile climb, was not too bad, but there were some parts that just sucked (up steep over boulders & loose flat rocks). Until this minute I had forgotten these rocks, but now I can see them as clear as a bell in my mind (and it¢s a good memory now). But the trail is, what it is¢¦ And we have to hike it, so up the rocks we went. Keep this in mind, and you will do well on the trail (adapt to the trail as the trail changes). Yeah, OK. You can whine a bit (I did), but keep a positive attitude & hike north. As we approached the VT/MA border, we started to get excited, we couldn¢t wait to cross off another state. Hmmmm¢¦. The closer we got to the border, the more noise we heard¢¦ What could it be? We went around a corner, and found 5 people celebrating in the middle of the trail, by the Long Trail sign. Better yet, people we knew! It was Chicken Foot, Flanders, Bree, Snappy, and Puff Puff, we had finally caught up with them after being behind them for quite a while. We also caught up with people starting their ¢Long Trail¢ hikes, and other groups out for the week. When we finally got to the shelter, it was very congested, there were 17 people in and around the shelter. I think I got used to seeing less people over the last month, I prefer having the woods to myself. VT. We are now in VT, and probably have less than 2 months left to hike. As much as I like being out here, I will be ready when the hike is over at Katahdin. You can get too much of a good thing, I think. Maybe I will disagree with that after I get to NH, and ME¢¦ There are still many mountains to climb, and dreams to realize. It¢s been great weather for hiking lately, I can feel the weather changing. Clear days, cool nights, great for hiking and sleeping, maybe a sign of good things to come. The plans for the next few days are up in the air, I am supposed to call friends in the area, but I have no cell signal, so we will wing it. For now, I listen to the radio and relax. Life is good.