Date: 2016-06-21
From: Cheshire, MA

To: North Adams, MA
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 6014.7 miles in 9.25 hoursCheshire, MA (1577.9) to North Adams, MA (1592.6)Weather: 60s70s, sunny, breezy, exceptionally pleasant in the a.m., overcast, threatening showers, more humid in the p.m.Dinner: PizzaHikers: No one all morning, Spacious at Bascom lodge after lunch, day hikers afternoonSome days just seem easier¢or at least start out that way. When I swim laps, I generally do 36 to 72 at a time and I count them. Sometimes I get lost in the moment and the time just flies by. I'll lose track of the number and feel like I could swim forever. Other times I count. Every. Single. Lap. I count down to the time when I can be done. Unlike some of my other days, I got lost in the moment hiking from Cheshire to the summit of Mt. Greylock. It was cooler, less humid and the air was filled with the scent of sun-warmed pine. The trail was loamy and meandered through ridge pole pines. And it lacked one significant feature: rocks. There was none of this ¢chose your own adventure¢ crap where the trail tries to kill you. One of my iTunes downloads is ¢A Soft Place To Land¢ by Kathleen Edwards. The chorus goes, ¢I¢m looking for a soft place to land. The forest floor. The palm of your hands.¢ Usually when this song cycled through, I was picking my way through some hellish rock field and I¢d think; ¢Right. Try landing here sweetheart!¢ But today, that chorus finally rang true¢at least while I was traipsing through the Christmas trees and sphagnum moss.I arrived at the summit of Mt. Greylock as clouds started building. Visited the historic Bascom Lodge and called my parents before heading six miles back down to North Adams. Either the sunlight and pretty pine trees clouded my perception of the morning¢s section or the afternoon was really more challenging. The first three miles seemed to take forever, followed by what appeared to be mile long descent straight down. The final mile and a half finally changed to more forgiving switchbacks. Maybe the trail maintainers just haven't finished getting all the switchbacks installed, but land sakes! That was hard¢on the knees, on the toes, on the brain.I was in charge of dinner tonight. I ordered pizza. Musings: People come and go while you are hiking the trail. A friendship may last only a single day. You may cross paths down the road or never see them again. Except on Facebook. You might hike just for an afternoon or share a shelter overnight intensely talking about life in general or politics in specific. Or you might spend days or weeks with a person or group sharing stories and motels rooms. On the other hand, you might have a lifetime of friendships. My husband and I first met Becky and David more than 30 years ago while attending college in central Wisconsin. They lived a few houses away from us, but we didn't meet them until spring only after we both emerged from our winter cocoons carrying our first borns in baby Bjorns. Their son and our daughter arrived just a month apart that year. Even though they moved to North Adams nine months after we met, we've stayed in touch. David¢s work kept him away during my visit, but being able to spend this much time with Becky sort of felt like we were back in college. Except we were living in a really nice house. And not eating ramen. Or at least one of us isn't eating that college staple over these four days. And there was no Poly-Sci exam to cram for on Monday. The trail connects not only places but people.