Date: 2005-07-25
From: Campsite beyond Falls Village

To: Great Barrington, MA (Mountain
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Clean had us up early, I swear the man is a slave-driver! He did allow us to have a nice breakfast though. He and Bug enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and I had my tea. Then we were off on our first full day of hiking in Massachusetts. For the first half mile we walked along Sawmill Brook, a gorgeous stream with small waterfalls...if it had been warmer (temperature dropped some last night) and if it had been later in the day, I most certainly would have taken a dip. We were faced right away with 2 difficult climbs, but the views atop Race and Everett Mountains were well worth it. There were quite a few people out for the week.Around lunchtime, we sat between the Lean-to's eating and contemplating whether or not to go on into town and stay the night or whether we should wait and go into town tomorrow. Same old story...Bug didn't want to go, Clean did, and they were trying to make me be the toe-breaker. My final decision was that we should wait to see what the trail offered and let it make the decision for us. You see? The trail up here is not as reliable as down south. In the south, one could pretty much guarantee that there would be campsites near a stream; up here, if the guidebook says stream, it could very easily be a mosquito-infested swamp. As it turns out, the latter was the case. After hiking a steep downhill, across a road, and watching some farmers bale hay in a field (with a very large and fast John Deere tractor), we had a time of it for about a mile with the mosquitoes. They were blood-thirsty and we were prime targets! And sure enough, when we arrived at the "stream", it was! a bog! Therefore, the decision was made to head on into the posh town of Great Barrington, MA.It was interesting trying to get a ride into town though. We tried to hitch and all of these nice, brand-new Lexus, BMWs, and Mercedes kept zooming past and not giving us a second look. Finally, after we had hiked about a 1/2 mile, a junky beat-up car stopped to pick us up. I don't say this to criticize, but to make a point...the kind of car you drive doesn't speak of what kind of person you are. These two guys were headed home after a weekend at "The Cape". Their trunk didn't open, so the three of us had to pile in with our packs. These were two very brave young men. They dropped us in the center of town and were on their way.Great Barrington is a great town full of culture, but it is spread out, which is not the best thing for a hiker. This is part of an area known as the Berkshires and they have the Tanglewood Music Festival. Many famous musicians perform here: Boston Pops, Yoyo Ma, and Aaron Copeland just to name a few. We made our way to the Cumberland Farms Convenienve Store and gas station, where the clerk was nice enough to call us a cab. They had .69 any size, any fountain or frozen drink! We each had a super-large frozen drink and boy was it good on a hot day like today!When the cab arrived, she took us all to the Mountain View Motel. It was only about 2 miles (or less), but she told us the minimum fare was $8. Not too big of a deal, it was worth it not to have to walk in this heat. I do feel a little bad though, I have never ridden in a cab, and I didn't know you were supposed to tip in addition to the fare...oops. I do usually try to be a good tipper, especially out here, in order to make a good name for the hiking community.After settling in, showering, and resting for a bit, we made our way to the Chinese restaurant right in front of the motel, and was it ever good! Now that our bellies are full, I think we are going to settle in. We were going to make phone calls, but have no cell service and the phones in our rooms don't work. Oh well. Until the morrow...