Date: 2018-06-29
From: Mt Greylock

To: Seth Warner shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up wondering if it was time to get up. I turned on my cell phone that I had stashed under my pillow and noticed it was only 2:30 so I convinced my mind and my body to go back to sleep until 6am. I got up and took my toothbrush and hiking clothes into the ladies room to get dressed. From the ladies room window I can see we're still pretty socked in with clouds but it's not raining. My clothes are mostly dry except my socks and liners so I have to hike in my clean socks from my bag and no liners and hope I don't get blisters. I'll do my best to keep my feet dry but the trail is likely going to be very wet still today. After getting dressed I went back to the bunk room and grabbed my pack and things and went downstairs to the covered porch where my tent is. I said good morning to Phillip who was headed home after working last night and serving me the wine.  I packed up my tent and the rest of the stuff I was drying and packed my backpack. My shoes had dried by the fireplace and that made me really happy. Eddyman and Alligator had breakfast from their food bags but River and I were waiting for the dining room to open at 8:00 for breakfast. I have one oatmeal left in my bag but I need more than that. Eddyman and Alligator left before 8am and River and I were first in line to order breakfast at 8:00. I had 3 eggs with bacon, sausage and home fries. I packed out my bacon and River caught sight of that and did the same. We hit the trail at 8:27am. Unfortunately the war memorial was not open until 9:30 so I didn't get to go up to see the views. Most of the clouds had burned off and there were large pockets of views. I took a walk around the outside and took pictures of the information plaques outside with photos of the mountains I'd climbed. Wow. Sometimes I can't believe it myself. I've actually climbed those I thought, and I'll climb many more. And I'm not afraid to. As I suspected the trail was wet and water was still flowing down it. I went slowly to be sure not to fall. I'm already sporting several butt bruises from recent falls and I'm trying to be more careful. The initial descent wasn't too bad but the trail was up and down all day and it seemed like a long 13 miles. I'll cross the border today into VT and I'm looking forward to it. This will be the 8th state. I'm not finished with WV yet, that will be completed in my 2nd half but I've hiked thru some of it. On my way up a climb 2 day hikers passed going south and then 2 more came south and asked me if I was a thruhiker. When I responded with the correct answer of yes I was rewarded with a soda. A cool can of Coke. Thank you very much! Endless and Qbee have both hiked the trail and were out spreading trail magic while enjoying a day hike. I was instructed where the cooler was stashed so I could drop my empty can in it when done. I made it up to the top of Mt Williams where I treated myself to the rest of the sweet soda and then began another descent. I came down across the road and disposed of my empty can in the cooler inside the woods as directed. The descent continued and eventually I popped out in Williamstown at a sign with "trail magic" posted posted by the city councilor. A short distance away I can drop my pack and pick up a free bicycle for use around town to enjoy the local business community and get chores done. I don't have the time to spend in town today but what a wonderful thing to do. As I hooked a right for my beloved asphalt walk thru town I saw 2 hikers ahead. Alligator and Eddyman! I hollered "hey" and they turned around and took a curb seat under a maple tree for shade and waited for me. It's hot this afternoon, so much cooler in the woods, but we enjoyed a snack and some electrolytes before proceeding. The trail thru town doesn't pass any businesses which is why the bikes are a wonderful idea. We crossed a pedestrian bridge and ogled an above ground pool as we passed it. That would be amazing right now we all agreed. Eventually the trail took a left up a shared driveway and we arrived at a garden hose and a sign "Thru hikers help yourself". And we did. We filled our bottles, I wet my bandana and Eddyman wet his neck. The hose was buried so the water wasn't hot. The owner came out and let us know we could change the setting on the nozzle to "shower" and shower if we wanted. We passed on that and hiked into the woods after expressing our gratitude. We followed a beautiful wide brook with nice bathing pools for a while. And when we could no longer pass it up we each found our own pool to enjoy. I dropped my skirt and sat right down in mine. I took off my shirt and rinsed it well trying to get some of the stink out and then put it on wet to help me stay cool. I pulled my skirt back on, redressed my feet and took off after Eddyman and Alligator with a freshly wet bandana and a cool feeling. A little breeze made it feel like air conditioning. One more climb up to Eph's view. By the way, when you see the " bad weather trail" option just before the climb you know it's going to be a bitch. And it was. But it was the last one of the day. I met up with Alligator and Eddyman again at the VT border and waited until they left so I could send a video message to Brian. I love bringing him along with me when I cross to a new state. As I was recording River arrived but I didn't stop. Service was spotty so I don't know if he'll get the video right away or if it will send later. I'm officially in state #8 for me. The 3 miles from the border to the Seth Warner shelter was a breeze. A few miles from camp I heard a gunshot... close. I stopped and thought for a second and continued on and heard another, and then more. I kept moving. 5 minutes later I came across the sign that read "gunshots may be heard from nearby firing range". I smiled and said to myself "would have been nice to have seen that 5 minutes ago, like before I stopped to consider wether or not I was being shot at".  I strolled into camp with River to see Alligator and Eddyman setting up and a few other hikers there already set up and resting. I found a spot and put my tent together before checking out the shelter. It was almost 6pm and I was feeling like I just wanted to eat and get to bed. But when I wandered around to the shelter with my food bag and met Betsy and her dog Sam I already felt better. Sam's a cutie and this was their first overnight together. Betsy is hiking the long trail and the other couple here is hiking the first division of it. All nice people. It was discovered by one of them that the bear box was padlocked closed so we'd have to hang bags tonight. One more chore. Eddyman found a great limb by the shelter and tossed River's line over which we used to hoist the others. I gave Betsy a carabinier because she'd need one to hang PCT style and Eddyman and River taught her how to do it. Because I snacked on pepperoni and cheese while boiling my water I couldn't eat all of my turkey and sweet potato stew so I shared it with River and she didn't have to have eggs for dinner. It worked out perfectly. Right after dinner I brushed, hung my bear bag and hit my pillow. I thought I'd sleep early and well.... and then I heard the ATVs. And I heard them close and loud until after 1am. This must be a cruel joke. I can't see the ATVs but it sounds like they're right in camp.