Date: 2008-06-21
From: North Adams, MA

To: Cheshire/Dalton
Miles today: 14.0

Today was my first slackpack, and a fun day of playing "chase" with my friend mike.Rob agreed to drive us up to north adams, and we would hike the 22 miles back to the birdcage, over mount greylock. That seemed to be a great way to do a big mileage day, with minimal effort. My friend mike had agreed to meet with me and hike from north adams to cheshire with us. So we agreed to meet at 9am, and if either was more than 15 min late, to just go on. Well, first, we didn't make it the 22. We only made it to cheshire. but more on that in a minute. Second, we didn't get dropped off until 9:30 and i don't get cell service up here, and mike doesn't have a cell phone anyway, and can you see where this is going???So we got dropped off at 9:30, and i didn't see mike, and i didn't see his car, so i figured he must have left... so gobbles and i take off up the mountain. We had a long way to go, and it was a late start. We get up the first part, and sign the trail register, and continue on. Gobbles didn't bring much water, so when we saw a sign for water down a side trail, we took it. Meanwhile, mike showed up, and took off up the mountain, saw us in the register, and then started to double-time it, shooting past us while we were trying to find water. Gobbles and i never found water, and continued on, unaware that mike had passed us... so we stopped at the greylock summit and had lunch and took pictures, and although we were moving to make good time, we weren't pushing too hard. We continued on down the mountain, and got to the next shelter, and went to get water. Oh yeah, so as we were coming down the mountain, we started talking to northbounders, who told us that mike was ahead of us and looking for us. what?!?!?When we got to the shelter, mike had signed the register, and had left 40 minutes before we got there. d'oh!!!So gobbles went for water, and i took off chasing mike. I never did catch him, despite almost running down the mountain. And that was because mike was almost running down the mountain trying to catch me. augh!So i got to Cheshire, and i couldn't find mike, and i was all mad... so i called him to leave a message so he would know i was chasing him all day, and i didn't ditch him on purpose. Just as i did that, he called up, looking for me. He was just down the road getting drinks. ha ha! So he bicycled back over (he had his bike in cheshire, and drove his car to north adams, and he would hike to his bike, and ride back to his car). So we hung out till 5 catching up. Thanks for coming out to visit mike!!At 5, gobbles and i decided to call rob to come get us. We didn't want to hike until 9pm, and we also figured that if we did another slack day, that would give knuckles and extra day to rest up. She was going to hike out with us no matter what, so we figured that doing the extra slack would kill 2 birds with one stone. So we got back to the birdcage, and washed up, and went to the misty moonlight diner for dinner. That was good.So it was a good day for hiking... good weather and good trail, and no backpacks. But my memory of the woods are mostly a blur, as i was in a hurry to get down... oops. But i got to see my friend so all is good.