Date: 2011-07-16
From: (99) Northampton, MA

To: (100) Wilbur Clearing Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: clear sky

After a breakfast of whip cream and maple syrup waffles, Papa Portrait drove the two of us back to the trail, dropping me off in Dalton and Portrait off in Cheshire where he had gotten off trail. Though nine miles ahead of me, I planned on meeting Portrait that night at a shelter some 20 miles from Dalton.I hiked through the remainder of the town of Dalton and entered the woods, where I was instantaneously ambushed by a swarm of mosquitoes. The hike was rather boring, and I found myself thinking that if the rest of the trail was going to be as dull a walk as this, I would rather it be over. I have begun feeling like my day¢s hike is a chore, and seldom find in it any of the same joy that I used to. The fun I have now is at the end of the day when I am in a shelter with other hikers. As for the hiking, I have seen all there is to see and greatly wish for a change of pace amongst the endless green walls that surround me. 9 miles in, I reached the town of Cheshire were I entered an ice cream shop and bought two sodas. Then I re-entered the woods and began to climb up Mt Greylock. Much to my joy, Mt Greylock was the break from routine that I had been looking for. A beautiful place, the summit holds pine trees, a stone lodge, a tower, and views as far as can be seen of Vermont, Connecticut, and even New York. I explored much of the summit, including the tower (took forever to climb the stairs because of an out of shape family I was stuck behind), an old ski shelter with a wood furnace in the middle, and then the lodge where I was going to buy a can of soda, until I found out that soda was 2 bucks a piece. ¢Soda costs more on the top of a mountain¢ said the man running the register. ¢Then I¢ll walk back down¢¦¢ I thought. Upon leaving the summit, I was intersected by some tourists in their car while crossing a road, who drilled me with questions about the trail, while I patiently answered them. Then, finally, I performed a disappearing act by descending into the deeply vegetated mountainside, leaving the tourist wonderland behind.I reached the shelter shortly after where I found Portrait setting up his tarp. Having neglected to refill my water the entire day, I filled up in a stream behind the shelter and then ate supper with Portrait. The Shelter was empty, but I still had a lot of daylight left so I decided to set up my tarp in order to figure out how to effectively cover myself with the rectangular piece of bug mesh that Portrait¢s sister had given me (maybe a yard and a half long?) The netting had a loop at the top for hanging, but my tarp did not have any extremities to attach this to. Thinking back, I remembered seeing another hiker with a store bought contraption where he formed a box out of tent poles and then clipped bug netting onto this frame, and then placed it over his upper body to sleep, his lower body being protected by his sleeping bag. Inspired by this, and with Portrait as my spectator, I took my two hiking poles and a stick, then lashed them together into a tripod (6 years in the Boy Scouts, thank you very much). I then threw my netting over the tripod. The corners of the netting hade small loops, so I pulled them out until the netting was taunt and then used sticks to stake it down. The end result was surprisingly successful; a large open area that would cover my entire upper body, and stretched tight enough and high and wide enough that I wouldn¢t even know it was there. I just might sleep well tonight! At any rate, I had fun making it, and take pride that instead of using a 400$ readily built tent made by someone else I have a rectangular tarp, cord, rectangular bug netting, and some sticks. Unlike others, I survive by my own design.