Date: 2014-07-29
From: Bascom Lodge, Mt Greylock, Mile 1582.4

To: Seth Warner Shelter, Mile 1595.6
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, that's 11 down!I slept in to give my injuries a chance to heal and left a little before 8. My thigh seemed fine and my ribs only hurt if I took a deep breath.. or coughed. I did similar damage to my ribs years ago when I was leading a church youth group of sixth grade boys and we were playing tackle football in the snow. Don't know if it's a cracked or bruised rib or something less, but the treatment is the same - nothing. Just takes time to heal.The trail was wet and muddy and my left knee started complaining so I decided to keep the pace relatively slow, especially downhill. I was thinking the knee problem may be due to my walking a little differently after hurting my thigh. I only chatted with two day hikers today, but passed several Sobos headed the opposite direction. One was Soggy, out for a section hike, and we chatted a while at a scenic overlook and took pictures of each other. It was a soggy day, and most other folks were focused on their steps and not so much on meeting people. Soggy on Mt WilliamsWhen I got to MA-2, I took a left toward Williamstown and hiked a half mile down the road to a Stop&Shop to resupply. I got lots of food - more than enough to last the two day to my next stop plus a bunch to eat right outside the store. I'm trying to eat, eat, eat!A few miles later I crossed the border into Vermont! Yay! There was no one else around so I videoed the crossing by myself. Well... That's Eleven Down!When I got to the Seth Warner Shelter, Princess North Star was there and had his hammock set up. We chatted for quite a while while eating supper. He got the North Star part of his name because he's from Minnesota, and the Princess part was added after he had a cartwheel contest with a young girl hiking with her family. She made some remark about him looking like a girl doing cartwheels, and his buddies added the Princess part. He's a young guy with his own company doing web development: Action Upload. Seems very very sharp. Served in the Army in Iraq before finishing college. We talked about personalities, and I mentioned it would be good if Achilles met him and they talked. When he found out I was an astronaut, he was really excited. I told him I think someday not too far off, he'll be able to buy a ride to space - even if it's still expensive! :-)A while later, Kansas Express and Ben joined us. They met on the bus to Williamstown, and have both just started hiking. Kansas Express thru hiked the AT two years ago after college and is hiking the Long Trail this summer during his time off as a middle school geography/history teacher. Ben is section hiking south, but came north to the shelter just to set foot in Vermont before going south. They both planned to sleep in the shelter, and I headed off to my tent for the night.Trail Conversations and Thoughts: I haven't written much about what I think about when hiking nor what I talk about with others on the trail. There's so much that I can't really express it all - or remember it all! :-) I'll try to do better. For example, while hiking with the gang through NJ/NY, Slayer and I somehow started talking about the speed of light and the effect on mass and time when traveling at speeds in that realm. Bobcat was having trouble understanding it - like most folks do, including me! That led me to having fun introducing them to the book "Flatland" by A. Square (Edwin Abbott), written in the late 1800's. It's a great start to understanding what 4 dimensional space might be like, and I may get around to describing some of my thoughts on it later. I highly recommend it - you can get it free online or for a buck or two on Amazon. It also includes some social satire on the culture in England during that time that I don't fully appreciate. You can also skip over the explanation of why people in Flatland can see, and not miss any of the story.