Date: 2005-08-13
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Tom's House-Dalton MA
Miles today: 20.6

Today Mileage and I proved to ourselves that we have become hiking machines. We woke up at 6;10 to the smell of pancakes cookin. The Goose Pond Cabin knows how to hook it up. When we got downstairs a neaat line had formed all the way out the back door. I saw Bulldawg and he had a crazed look in his eyes, others licked their lips with tired faces glazed over. 6AM is early these days. Us old schoolers wake late and hike later. Anyway they served us pancakes and coffee, we said thanks, we donated$ and took off.      Elf, Mileage and I were the first of 16 thru's that stayed at the cabin to take off. We basically jogged up the first 800 foot climb and got to the top dripping in sweat. The 3 of us cruised the first 11 miles in 4.5 hours. At that point we did a .1 mile road walk to a blueberry farm just outside of Beckett Mass, this stop is also known as "cookie lady". The owner has been known to bring thru hikers plates of cookies. It's true, and they're great! We also picked almost 2lb's of blueberries and ate about the same while we picked. This gave me a huge boost. Holden, Bulldawg, and History pulled in just as we were wrapping it up. We decided it would be best to chill and eat more berries and cookies.      Mileage and I were first out of the farm and hit the trail at about 3MPH. This lasted a while and before we knew it another 9.6 miles melted away just like that. 20.6 miles in 7.5 hours, sweet! We came out of the woods right into a cool New England town. We crossed some RR tracks and went down the street. White blazes marked the telephone poles as we moved along. We came upon the house we were looking for, Tom Levardi's place. Smushed Flat (a fellow thu hiker) welcomed us from the wrap around porch and we crossed the front yard.       Tom came out immediately and welcomed us to his home. He then asked us if we liked ice cream sundays. Oh my gosh. We sit down at the picknick table and he comes out with 2 huge sundays served in silver cups on a shiny platter. Holy @$#%, who does this stuff? So we ate the ice cream and then he brings us out hot pasta with bread and seasonings that are delicous. By the way, we were totally nasty, sweaty, and smelly. Never met this guy before and he did all this for us. As all our friends rolled in(Moonshine, Bulldawg, Treetop, Holden, Elf, History and others) he showed them the same kindness and gave them the same treatment.      Tom let us go online and I saw that a lot of people thought we were getting off trail. Everyones messages lifted us even higher than we already feel. I just hope I didn't scare anybody. Toms backyard is now a tent city. We all just got back from the chinese buffet that Tom took us to. Can you believe this guy? We are all having a great time here and enjoying each others company.      I wanted to talk a little bit more about the trail and how the forests have changed so drastically. We are finialy going above 2000 feet again. The majority of the day you walk thru thick pine forests and swamps that are so full of life. If you look into the bogs you will see plenty of different animals from frogs, toads, and salamanders to snakes and cool fish. There are lots of flowering plants growing in the thick swampy areas also. The forest floor has become much softer and is a rich dark colored soil, very nice. Tomorrow we go above 3000 feet for the first time since the Priest. Very exciting. That Mtn. was back in Virginia.                                  Talk to you soon,                                       Piker