Date: 2005-06-27
From: MA 23

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: haze

start: MA 23 (East Mountain Retreat) finish: Upper Goose Pond Cabin miles: 19.1day: 1125:00am came earlier than expected today.  We're on the "new plan" today.  We'll hike 12 miles into Tyringham, take a long siesta, and hike another 8 in the evening.We started out having to hike an extra 1.5 miles because we were that far off the trail and no one else was awake to wave our thumbs at.  The mosquitoes were awful again, at one point forcing Tea Break to put on his "rain gear", which is simply a $1.00 disposable poncho.  Of course he sweated to death within minutes.  Seems we must donate sweat, blood, or both to hike Massachussetts.We were somewhat sleepy, but how hard can 12 miles be?  Our plan worked: we arrived at the Tyringham trailhead before 11:00am.  We had seen Cocoa Bean, and Snail who informed us that this was a totally impossible hitch.  Pah! We like a challenge.  We also ran into Senator and OPa.  I hadn't seen Senator since Bear's Den, over 500 miles back.  And I hadn't seen OPa since Daleville, some 800 miles ago.Well, Tea Break and I got the hitch, within minutes of course, and the fellow took us all the way into Lee to Joe's Diner.  There are no services in Tyringham.  There's nothing better than riding in the back of a pickup truck, leaning on your pack, on a lovely day.We hung out at the diner for a couple of hours, eating, and drinking root beer, birch beer, and tea.  I overused the one man restroom, stripping down to my sneakers and bathing in the sink, sort of.  I also washed my shirt and shorts in the sink, wrung them out and put them back on.  These hot, humid days I sweat SO much.  I think I'm starting to sweat almost as much as my friend John Galt.  I have shiny, wet shorts all day long.We left the diner to find a place for the napping portion of our siesta, walked through town without finding any suitable place, and just then a small SUV pulls up and the very attractive young girl asks if we want a ride back to the trail.  I started to say we were looking for a park or something, but Tea Break jumped in with "Sure, we'd love a ride!"  I don't think he cared where she took us.So now we're in Tyringham at the pavilion, napping and generally chilling out,  Senator and OPa are here.  OPa just informed me that his watch thermometer says 89 degrees in the shade.  Thanks OPa, I thought it was a bit cooler than that.  Now I feel hotter.  This is a very sleepy little place, with a river flowing by behind us and very little traffic on the road.[later...]We wanted to swim.  And we were getting tired.  I guess that's why we went to Goose Pond Cabin instead of stealthing.  I figured there would be no bugs in a closed in cabin, but I was wrong.  I wish I was in my tarp right now, but the only pitching option here is on a platform, and it's dark and I'm too lazy to walk the half mile back to the AT in the dark and look for a place to pitch.I must say, though, the swim in the pond was very nice.  Some of the haze had cleared and there were some white clouds against blue sky.  It's very pretty here, and things are starting to look "moosey".  Pretty soon...