Date: 2017-08-01
From: Pittsfield Rd.

To: Church St./School St., Cheshire, MA
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was another one of those unassuming but wonderful days.  The plan was to hike 10 miles to Dalton, MA, where the trail runs right through town, have lunch in Dalton, finish the remaining 8.5 miles of the hike, then go to Walmart to resupply.  It could have been a total rush and stressful, but somehow it wasn't.I left first shortly after 6:00.  I hadn't gone very far when I heard a white-throated sparrow singing.  This is my all-time favorite bird song.  It's pretty, and I remember hearing the song in the evenings in summer in Maine when I was a child.   So hearing it always makes me happy.  This is the first time I've heard  the white-throated sparrow on the hike.  It started my day off on a positive note.  Terri soon caught up with me, and we headed up the first big climb of the day.  Warren had told us that the hike was less difficult than most and that we'd have time to have lunch in Dalton and still finish in plenty of time.  I had set off at a quick pace and found the terrain much as described.  There was a flat section (!); the uphill was gradual; and the muddy parts were covered by bog bridges.  I felt like I was flying.  When we got to the top of the first peak Arlene caught up with us.  She felt like Warren had misled us because she had found the hill difficult.  However, when checking how fast she'd made it up the hill she changed her mind. The three of us hiked together for the rest of the day.We got to Dalton around 11 o'clock, which meant a pace of two miles an hour.  Dalton is a very pretty old town with some quite grand old houses, all immaculately maintained.  The trail followed the main street into town.  We went past a very old New England-style factory beside a dammed river that likely once was a power source for the factory.  On the sidewalk a large flowering of tansy dominated the weeds beside the road.  We passed a pretty house that had a sign over the front porch, "Appalachian Trail, GA 1545, ME 639."We had lunch at a sub shop, Angelina's, outside at a table with umbrellas.  A local woman stopped to ask us about our hike and to wish us luck.  Other hikers were sitting at the next picnic table, the group we saw yesterday with the little dog that looks like Asta (the dog in The Thin Man series).  We appear to have fallen behind StaPuff and Blue Smurf and are now with a younger group that's traveling about our pace for now. Now that we're this far along there's a new camaraderie among the thru hikers, almost as if we've recognized that we're all in it till the end and are likely to make it to Katahdin.  By the time we got up from lunch it was 1 o'clock.  We headed to Cumberland Farms, a convenience store, for ice cream.  There another woman stopped to ask us about our hike.  We left Dalton with an impression of a pretty town full of friendly people.  On one of the first uphill sections we stopped to figure out where the trail went over the rocks.  Arlene suddenly said, "What's that creature over there on that rock?"  Terri and I looked over and saw a small brown mammal with a long body and short legs.  The animal ran over several rocks, then disappeared under another rock.  A moment later it emerged and looked at us before again running inside.  It did not appear to be afraid of us.  We guessed fisher cat, otter, and ferret before giving up and going online to search for it.  Our search for "small mammal long body short legs" pulled up descriptions and images for weasels.  Sure enough, that's what it was.  Terri and I were very excited to see a weasel for the first time.  Arlene, a city person, was less impressed.  Later in the afternoon we heard several pretty and interesting birdsongs which none of us could identify  I recorded some of them with the video camera on my phone so that I can look them up later.  We arrived in Cheshire at 6:00 and stopped at an ice cream stand for maple walnut cones.  We did go to Walmart to resupply.We're camped tonight on the back lawn of the Catholic Church in Cheshire, MA.  The church allows thru hikers to camp here and to use the restrooms in the church until 8:00 PM.  Tomorrow we're headed up Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts.  Although the mileage is only 14.5, I expect it to be difficult.  One good thing though, there is a lodge at the top where food is served.