Date: 2011-06-26
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Cheshire MA (St Mary's Church)
Miles today: 30.1

I got up and packed up and waited for the pancakes. They were good and worth the wait. I did my dishes and was on the trail by 7:30. That¢s pretty late for someone my speed to try for a 30, but I decided to go as far as I could. I started fast and felt pretty good, but that soon wore off. I think the trail had something to do with it, because if possible, it was worse than yesterday. This section really seems unfit to have a trail run through it. It is basically wet lands that connect several ponds and swamps. As soon as people walk through it, it becomes a muddy, slippery mess that is impossible to walk through without getting mud up to your knees. I met the Colonel at the October Mountain Shelter and we both ranted and raved about the mud. He started out again and I had my second breakfast of a bowl of cereal and a candy bar. This was a brief pick me up, but within about 4 miles I was struggling again to keep going. At the next road crossing I met the mom of one of the hikers from last night and she offered me a drink and a snack. I accepted a coke and drank it while we chatted. I thanked her and left, this seemed to be just what I needed; suddenly I was cruising along again, and powered my way to the first 20 miles right into Dalton. I passed Tom Levardi¢s house. He lets hikers use his home for tenting and hanging out on his porch. There were lots of hikers there and I waved as I passed, but did not stop, as I was concerned with eating and getting fouled up with my next leg. I went to the sub shop and got a sub, French fries, and chocolate milk. On the way out of town I hit Cumberland Farms for a couple of sodas and an ice cream. I met a couple of thru-hikers there getting munchies, as I came out I met the Colonel. He was all clean and said he had stopped at Tom¢s and couldn¢t resist a shower, and had decided to stay. He also said Snifur and Enzed were there and that they had zeroed in town. I told the Colonel to tell Enzed that she had done her 30 miler, so now I needed to get mine done. With that I started out of town on a caffeine and sugar powered tear. I actually felt quite good once I got going again, and the miles check off quickly. I had thoughts of going right through Cheshire and halfway up Mt Greylock to the Mark Noepel Shelter. As I came to Cheshire my energy began to fade and I realized I would be doing Massachusetts¢s highest peak at the end of a long day, in the dark, and not arriving until around 11:00. So I headed for the church hostel to crash. When I got there the Father wasn¢t in, and the other hostel was a long way down the road. So, I crashed on the lawn to wait. Inchworm & Sprocket came along also looking for a room. They also told me that the other hostel was closed for the season, so I was glad I didn¢t walk down there. Shortly thereafter a gentleman and his wife came riding by on bikes. They informed us that the back door was open for hikers, and to go on in. Once I got in I realized Dreamwalker was already there and asleep in the chair. I am thankful I stopped here because I was able to use the bathroom to scrub all the mud off my legs and at least wash the bug repellent off the rest of me. All in all I¢m happy and proud that I finally got my first 30 mile day. This may be the time to address the fact that I use AWOL¢s guidebook to do my mileage and my wife uses a 2010 (now 2011) Thru-Hikers¢ Companion to do my mileage. There are some differences in the mileage due to the 2 extra miles this year. She will sometimes adjust my entries to jive with the book she has. Ultimately it doesn¢t matter because it¢s only the totals that are off a few tenths, not the distance between points, unless a re-location took place this year. What I¢m getting at is my guide shows Upper Goose Pond to MA 8, Cheshire as 30.1 miles plus I had to walk the .5 miles out of Upper Goose Pond Cabin, plus another .5 in Dalton to go to the store, so I¢m very comfortable that I walked well more than the required 30 miles. Tomorrow is up and over Mt Greylock and hopefully into Vermont. They say Vermont is muddy (Vermud), if it is more muddy than Mass, I¢m going to be disappointed with Vermont also. On a side note, this state has nearly taken me down several times. One time yesterday I slid off a rock sideways and the only thing that saved me was my pole that wedged in between two rocks. The lower section of the pole bent slightly, but it held me from crashing over. I was able to straighten the pole. I¢ll never hike with a pack again without poles; did I mention how much I love these poles? Today I had an incident where I leapt from one rock to another to avoid the mud pit. When I landed on the second rock it flipped up and dumped me forward. I was able to catch myself on my hands though, so I didn¢t classify it as a fall. Think football tackle, if no body part other than feet and hands touch the ground, you¢re not down. So I technically didn¢t go down, but this didn¢t prevent my pack from sliding up and rapping me in the head. I¢m knocking on wood as I write this, but I haven¢t fallen but once, and that was back in the Smokies in the snow. Well off to bed because I have to climb the biggest and baddest Mass has to offer tomorrow.July 9, 2011 - Earl Grey is making his way through NH. I apologize, the next journal update will not be until Monday the 11th. Have a great weekend! - Mary