Date: 2015-07-11
From: The Cookie Lady

To: Camp site 1579.0
Miles today: 19.4

We woke early today because Wye Knot and Black Bear were up at 05:00. We still didn't get up till 06:30 as we just enjoyed laying in our tent. We had a quick breakfast of honey buns and power bars and then we were on the trail by 07:15.    The trail left off just like the end of the day yesterday. It was muddy, muddy and muddy! I know it has been a wet year for the New England area but these trails have been some of the worst we have hiked so far. Numerous times this morning we both stepped in mud that would come up over our boots and try and suck the boot right off our foot. We decided we weren't hiking but "mudding".    We caught up to Wye Knot and Black Bear after about an hour on the trail. They were taking a break. We stopped and chatted a bit and then we continued on. The trail was mostly flat and muddy for the next several miles. We came to a power line clearing. We decided to take our morning break. It was nice to sit in the sun and enjoy the view down the mountain. About 10 minutes later Wye Knot and Black Bear came by and took a break with us. We all complained about the mud and what terrible shape the trail was in. We continued on after our break and for about a half mile the trail was nice and dry. We thought maybe we were done with the mud. But, that changed very quickly.    We started a long descent to the town of Dalton and the trail was mostly mud. At times, small streams were flowing down the trail. Lavander fell once and was covered in mud on her one side. Needless to say she was not a happy camper.    Just before we got to Dalton we had to cross a set of railroad tracks, we heard a train coming. We went as fast as our muddy legs would take us. We just beat the train into town. We were looking forward to eating lunch in Dalton since the trail goes right through town.    We stopped at Jacob's Pub and had a great lunch. The waitress was super friendly and the place was very hiker friendly. They allowed us to charge our phone, fill our water bottles (yes, no filtering required), and relax as long as we needed. We each had sandwiches and something cold to drink. Soon enough, we were back on the trail. We continued walking through town as the AT passed directly through the town. The sun was shining and it was hot. We were happy when we approached the woods. The temperature dropped considerably in the woods. There was no humidity. We had a steady climb. We were both very tired and could hardly continue hiking. We decided the lunch in our tummies were causing us to be sluggish. So, we decided to take a break and take a nap. And we did take a 10 minute nap. We woke feeling much better. We were just putting our ground cover away when Sunny, another thru-hiker we met two days ago, came up the trail. He had taken a nero day. Normally, he hikes very fast and does an average of 19.5 miles a day with no zero days. Today, he was taking it easy. So, we hiked together.    The trail was up and down, up and down. There were a few muddy areas but nothing like the trail this morning. We were discussing hiker phlosophy. We realized we all have the same phlosophy and the same attitude toward hiking. We were talking about different parts of the trail we have already hiked. We had a good time chatting and laughing at stupid stuff we have done on the trail. Time flew by and before we knew it, we were in the next town, Cheshire.   The AT goes through the one end of Cheshire. Directly on the trail was an ice-cream shop. Yes, you know what we had to do. We stopped for ice-cream. We also bought something cold to drink. Sunny agreed with us again, we didn't drink sodas before hiking the AT. Now, that is all we want to drink. We were back on the trail again soon. Sunny hiked on as he only had 7 miles in for the day. We said goodbye as we were finished for the day. It is sad as we enjoyed each others company. But, we will probably never cross paths again. So goes meeting people on the AT. We found a stealth campsite for the night. We set up camp, relaxed a bit before having dinner. Now, here we are writing our journal entry. Tomorrow we have to climb Greylock Mountain. This will be our first long climb since hiking into the Soakies. We hope we have a good nights sleep. We want to be well rested for the climb.