Date: 2003-11-10
From: williamstown, mass

To: wilbur clearing lean-to
Miles today: 3.0

this morning, my sleeping bag and bivy sac were covered in ice, my quart of milk was frozen, and my thermometer read 15 degrees. what a great way to start the day. i¢m serious. as soon as the sun rose i could tell it was going to be a good day.i packed up and stashed my pack at the outfitters. i left my sleeping bag out of my pack since it was covered in ice. when the laundry mat opened i would have to go and dry it out. i walked to the local coffee shop (which was one of the only places open at 6:30 in the morning and which was warm) to kill some time before the post office opened. the girl at the counter sold me on a blue berry muffin. it was very good. she tried to sell me something to drink, but i held up my frozen milk and told her i was set. i loitered at the coffee shop for as long as i could- watching the residents of williamstown come and go. i enjoy people watching. it can be rather fascinating, rather entertaining. what kind of stories do these people have to tell? what are they like? who are they? if i ran into one of these people out on the trail i wouldn¢t think twice about striking up a conversation with them. but, the thought would never cross my mind in the city. it is interesting how that works. what is it that makes a person seem that much more approachable in the wild woods than in the wilds of the city? how many strangers do you say hello to when your paths cross on the sidewalk? how many do you say hello to when your paths cross on the trail? why is that?i retrieved my mail from the post office- two boxes and an envelope. one of the boxes had mom¢s homemade chocolate chip cookies in it. could this day get any better? not at this point. the sun is shining and i¢ve got five zip lock bags full of chocolate chip cookies. in the other box was my food supply for the upcoming week. i called my dad about a week ago and told him to more or less double the amount of food that i¢d boxed up to be sent to myself. the hiker appetite will not go away. it is insatiable. so, now with the cookies and the extra food, my pack is rather heavy once again. (i ditched the snowshoes and crampons that i¢d been carrying at the merck center. i told amanda she could sell them if she wanted, or she could just hold onto them for me). i would say that the pack weight is back up to at least 55 pounds with all of this extra food. after the post office i went to the local jewelers to get a new pin for my watch. i lost one of the pins that hold the watch to the band when i was sliding down baldpate mountain in maine. my watch has been held onto the band with duct tape ever since then. it is nice to finally have my watch fixed.after fetching my gear from the outfitters, meeting a woman that used to live in west asheville, drying my sleeping bag, and eating an early lunch at subway; i started walking back towards the trail. of course, i had no luck hitching a ride to where the trail crosses route 2. so, i walked the 2 12 miles. road walking is not fun. pounding the pavement is a little hard on the feet. the sign for hitchhiking must be different in the state of massachusetts. i always thought that all a hitchhiker had to do was stick out a thumb to signal that he or she needed a ride. apparently that isn¢t the case in this state.once i finally got back to the AT i did a little more walking on the road until the trail finally found its way into the woods. so nice to be off the road. once in the woods, i started the long climb towards the summit of mount greylock. i wasn¢t going to cross the summit today, but i was going to head in that direction. actually, i was originally planning to cross the summit today and stay at the first shelter south of mount greylock. but, carrying that full pack and making the 2000 foot climb out of town quickly helped persuade me to change my mind. and, let me tell you- when oak leaves fall from the trees in autumn and lay on the ground for a long time, they are slicker than ice. that always makes for a fun climb up the trail. i got to a junction with the mount prospect trail and sat at a clearing for a long time. soaking in the afternoon sun, enjoying the views, looking down on the city that i¢d just come from. after my break, i started hiking again and spooked a deer. my first deer since this adventure began. the first big game i have seen. (other than the moose that was strapped to the trailer). before today, the biggest, most ferocious game i have seen is the fearless red squirrel. the red squirrel is definitely my new favorite animal. they were everywhere in maine. i would be hiking and they would run up to the edge of the trail and start scolding me as i walked by. they were afraid of nothing. the deer ran off into the woods, showing its white tail to me.i walked the rest of the way to the shelter. i am the only person here. it is a weekday, after all. ah, the week. the time when i have the trail all to myself.