Date: 2008-06-11
From: Crystal Mtn Campsite MA

To: Wilbur Clearing Lean-to MA
Miles today: 15.6

Day 115 ¢ Wednesday June 11 ¢ Wilbur Clearing Lean-to MA ¢ Miles Today: 15.6 Total Miles: 1576.9We did not get a lot of sleep last night because thunderstorms rolled through at 9:20. Luckily, the storm lasted only about a half hour and it wasn't directly over us - perhaps a mile away. We had a thunder and lightning show from 2 different directions ¢ perhaps 2 different cells passing near us, so it was pretty neat. We did not get a ton of rain and the way we pitched the tent on the hill also helped in keeping us dry in the tent. Along with the storm came a breeze and the rest of the night cooled off beautifully. We slept well once we finally were allowed to sleep! We awoke to a nearly dry tent on the outside, which made breaking camp that much easier. As we headed down the trail, it was a nice cool 60 degrees. It actually felt a bit chilly after the warm 70+ degree mornings that we've been used to. Very early this morning we walked through the town of Cheshire, and unfortunately the ice cream stand that was right on the trail was closed! We never quite seem to hit the ice cream places at the right time. We didn¢t even have the right change to buy a soda from the vending machine!We hiked to the summit of Mt. Greylock today and had beautiful cool temps and a breeze as we ascended and descended. It was wonderful. When we looked at our thermometer mid morning, it was still only 65! WOW, such great conditions for hiking to a summit! A good breeze stayed with us all day.There is a tower and a lodge at the top of Mt. Greylock, both of which are closed until 2009 for renovations. The tower looked quite nice. From the summit, we could see vistas of various mountain ranges in the distance. We're getting back into some of the bigger mountains, not huge ones yet, but definitely bigger than what we've been in for the last few states. A lot of the trail today reminded us of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We actually climbed to 3491', which is the highest elevation we've seen in quite some time! The trail was a little rocky, rooty and a bit eroded - just enough to give us that feel of GSMNP. We met a section hiker who's doing New York through Maine. His name is WD-40 and he seems to be averaging about 12 miles per day. He went past our campsite today and we're doing a short day tomorrow with our resupply, so perhaps we¢ll see him again in a few days.   His name is a combination of his initials (WD) and his age at the time he took his name (40). He¢s probably in his mid 40s now.The bugs today were not nearly as bad. We still wore DEET in the morning but the mosquitoes were bearable ¢ not good ¢ just bearable. We arrived to camp at 3:30 and have a nice little tent platform overlooking a treed ravine accompanied by the sounds of lots of birds calling out to their friends. Very delightful. However, the black flies are out so we¢re relaxing in the tent for a couple hours before we take a snooze. We call the black flies, ¢suicide dive bombers¢ as they like to dive bomb into our ears and in doing so, they basically commit suicide and we¢re left with cleaning the remains of their dead bodies out of our ears. Not sure why they do that. Chris left a message for us in the register - he said he was hoping that he¢d see us further up the trail. He's 6 days ahead of us but is getting off the trail for 4 days to take his test for the Ohio Game Warden position. Unfortunately with his 4 days off the trail and us being 6 days behind, we still will not be able to catch him. Tomorrow we resupply in North Adams or Williamstown and then head on up the trail again. It¢ll be just a 10-mile day plus about a half mile off the trail to resupply and then back on. But the big news is that tomorrow we enter Vermont, which means 11 states down and 3 to go! It's 6:22 and a beautiful 72 degrees in the tent. I think we're just going to lie back, relax and maybe catch some Z¢s. Goodnight from nearly done with MASS-BUG-MUD-CHUSETTS with less than 600 miles to go!