Date: 2009-07-17
From: Mt. Greylock, Bascom Lodge - Trail Mile 602.5

To: The Birdcage, Dalton, MA. - Trail Mile 619.5
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 27[Watson & Holmes arrived.Jess reported: "Again at Rob Bird's. Slack-packed from summit of Greylock Mtn. (42° 38' 12.14" N 73° 10' 0.44" W, 3458 ft) back to Dalton."The photo here is captioned: "Monument atop Mount Greylock, Mass".A second photo is captioned: "Dalton, MA - L->R: HardCore, Fly-By, and Chicken at Jacob's Pub for dinner on my second day in Dalton, MA."Her journal entry:]The Birdcage, Dalton, MAWoke up 7 am this morning after a solid night's sleep. Picked up my resupply box from the post office -thank you M&D for the birthday wishes! - while H slept in.At 8:30 am Rob Bird shuttled one group of slackpackers 23 miles north to the base of Greylock Mtn. They have quite a day ahead of them. I needed to get to the PO (only opened at 8:30) and wasn't prepared to do my second 20+ day yet, so H and I went with the second group at 10:15 am to the summit of Greylock, 17 trail miles north. We spent a little while looking at the views from the monument and the bronze relief map of the area, then chatted with L-Train (on her way north) for a bit. We start down around noon, a few minutes after DOC (Dude On Couch), Sneaks, and Apache. Along the way we pass Top of Gothics and his wife, who writes his trailjournal based on phone conversations, he has read a bit of this journal. Hi!!!A few minutes later we run into the trio (minus Lexie, who went home after the 4th of July with TT's parents). They're doing well.The way down Greylock is some serious mixed terrain. Mud puddles and stone steps and boardwalks and grass and a couple smooth patches, up and down quite a bit. Honestly it was up more often than I expected. I had been hoping to trail run a bit with H, but couldn't go more than 100 ft without slowing for a rough section. Very glad I'm not climbing up. Again, this may be considered cheating, but that's the way the timing worked out, and it's not like I'm going to slackpack every mountain on the trail!We stop in at Mark Noepel Lean-To for water and a quick lunch / H-nap. (Thanks, Dad, for Mandarin Orange slices!) We talk with Greylock himself (a trail maintainer - THANK YOU!!), Egg, and a sectioner. Then we're off hurtling down the mountain again, hoping to get back to Dalton in time for dinner at Jacob's Pub. We pass Will & Way, then DZ&S (still sad at Carpenter's departure from the trail due to Lyme Disease). Almost down, we meet Huck Finn, then take a few minutes to chat with DD on the phone. We're just a bit behind the other 17-mile slackpackers, and will catch up to them at the ice cream shop in Cheshire. (Today was warm and humid - a mint chocolate chip day!) Amanda and Challa are there, but soon leave to find an outfitter. I share my birthday DARK chocolate chip cookies with the boys, Iron Man, and Braid, who arrived headed northbound shortly after we did. (Thank you, Momma Holmes!)Sneaks (with a bum knee) and DOC then hitch back to Dalton, but Apache, H and I press on the remaining 9 miles. There's a short bit of road walk, then a bit of a hill. Apache sets a good pace, though, and I manage to keep up. We pass a couple hours talking about nothing in particular. We get a nice view of The Cobbles, and a couple miles later the rain starts.Through it all H has been doing well, keeping up, but didn't really have time to explore and play as much as he would like. (I think for now we're glad to know we can do 15-20 miles, but are happy to enjoy 12-15 mile days instead.)The thunder and lightning end any chance of H having fun. Normally he would run forward and back howling at me to go faster, but Apache's calm influence in the lead and me keeping H behind so he can't run wild help a lot. I'm confident we'll get used to the rain, as we got used to crossing rivers, cars and trains, and crazy dogs attacking.My glasses get wet and foggy, so I walk the last 5 miles hoping I don't forget they're pushed up on my head, and staring at Apache's shoes to see where he avoids or stumbles on a rock. Again, K&C, thank you for the trekking poles!!Finally down out of the woods, the last mile of road walk into town passes slowly. We make it back to Rob's exactly at 7:00pm, as requested, for showers before being shuttled to Jacob's again for dinner. Many thanks again to Denise and her niece, and all the staff at Jacob's, for their patience and smiles while feeding this a rowdy crowd of hikers (and may I recommend the HUGE plate of nachos & cheese?).I eat dinner with Hardcore (who totally is!), Fly-By, and Chicken. They've been hiking together for a while, but easily welcome the newcomer into the group. Fly-By is planning to cook breakfast for all of us in the morning, so when we get back I take care of H, then help with laundry and prep work for the meal. We also blow up balloons for Hardcore's birthday tomorrow. I'm falling asleep standing (and glad I managed to chop onions and not my fingers!), so I'm off to bed. Not sure how far we're going tomorrow, but it will definitely be less than today! Sweet Dreams, all!42° 28' 46.98" N 73° 9' 38.39" W, 1184 ftFor HarveysMom by Harvey's GrandPop