Date: 2009-07-20
From: Dalton, MA

To: Mt. Greylock
Miles today: 17.0

I didn¢t get any sleep that night, partly due to Mr. Pink¢s snoring. It was an interesting night. He had taken my hand and held it, draped over him, and I thought the unspoken message was, ¢I get you. I care about you.¢   He got up early to go have breakfast at the diner with Tom. I thought a group of hikers would be there, but when I arrived, it was only those two. Tom let me have the last bite of his breakfast before mine came, which was cute. He eventually had to return to the house to make a phone call, leaving me and Mr. Pink alone. His only comment was that I looked tired and made no mention of the previous night. I knew his plan was to stay in town and watch movies all day at the theater. I was going to climb Greylock. After Squeegie and the twins stopped in to say hi, we walked back to the house to pack up. Halfmoon helped me make the bed again. I brought my pack outside, as Mr. Pink remained on the couch, watching TV. Was he even going to say goodbye to me? I told him I was leaving and he came out a few minutes later, but didn¢t have much to say other than he¢d see me in a few days. He didn¢t even give me a hug.   I hiked through the town of Dalton, and back into the woods. All day, I hiked alone. I stood on a rock ledge, which I thought was ¢The Cobbles¢ and looked out over the town. A little ways later, I saw a blue-blazed path leading to a big rock outcrop and wondered if that was actually The Cobbles. I didn¢t know how far off the AT it went, though, so I didn¢t take it. I needed to get to the Cheshire Post Office before they closed for lunch, or I would be stuck there until after 2pm.    I did make it, and found Sunbeam, Halfmoon and their group sitting outside the P.O. They were going to go into Cheshire to see a movie and invited me, but I wanted to get to Greylock. I received a surprise package of chocolate granola and an angel pendant from Erik¢s mother, as well as my regular maildrop. I sat on the concrete outside the P.O, and ate some food, as I repackaged everything. Several nice townspeople came by and offered me rides if I needed anything. The people of western MA impressed me as the nicest I had seen on the trail so far! It is an incredibly good feeling to have people both recognize and appreciate what you are doing, as well as offer help. (One lady just laughed when I answered her question of was I walking the trail alone...) I talked to Erik on the phone and told him of the recent happenings. He warned me to stay away from Mr. Pink, adding that his behavior is psychotic. I, however, kept defending him. Sure, some of his behavior is weird, but everyone seems to like him, he seems well connected on the trail, he had this sad thing happen to him, etc. I thought I knew what was going on better than Erik did, as I was actually on the trail. Erik informed me that someone that is well-liked by everyone is a warning sign in itself...   After an hour and a half, with an extremely heavy pack, I made my way out of town and started the long climb up Mount Greylock. I had to put down my pack many times to rest my shoulders, but I didn¢t think the climb was all that bad. The rocks were slippery however, and a couple of times, one leg would slip directly under the other like a speed skater! I managed to stay upright, though. I passed a couple of southbounders, made my way passed the roads on which you can drive to the summit, and then saw some buildings. I continued on to the tower, climbed up to see the nice views on all four sides, and then went over to the lodge, which I found closed for renovations. I set my pack down at the picnic table to have dinner and along came Freefall and Johnny Thunder! It was nice to see some familiar faces. They both thought I made good time, which surprised me. Last year, they both hiked the AT, and now they were hiking the Long Trail. Freefall remembered that her pack was also too heavy as she climbed Greylock. They informed me of the secret shelter, where they planned to spend the night. I thought that sounded like a good idea. I went off to look at more views, and when I cam back, I was very surprised to find Blessed (along with another hiker named No Name). I thought I would not see Blessed again because he planned to take 10 days off when he got to his home town of Adams. He had decided to spend today working on the lodge renovations in exchange for a night there. We all had dinner together, and afterwards, No Name and I dropped off our packs at the secret shelter, and Blessed took us on a blue blaze path to watch the sunset. He was very familiar with the area. I was having a hard time keeping up with the guys, even though Blessed was hiking in flip-flops! I really wish I had his athletic ability. He asked me how it felt to not have a 40 pound pack on my back. ¢Not good,¢ I replied. I didn¢t have my poles with me, and I felt that my balance was really bad. I preferred my pack with my poles. We finally got to our spot and watched a red sun set (the color of which none of our cameras could capture). Then, Blessed lead us back- partly up the same trail we came down, and partly on the road. He kept saying how happy he was to be with his friends!   Freefall and Johnny Thunder decided to stealth camp, so it was only No Name and I in the shelter. Around 11 pm, the door to the shelter opened. I heard a man ask, ¢Are you mad at me?¢ and in my state of sleep, I thought it was No Name talking to me. ¢Oh, no¢ I responded.   ¢Oh, there¢s people in here!¢ the person at the door said. ¢Let¢s get out of here!¢ At one point, someone urinated in the shelter. Outside, I could hear a girl screaming and a man yelling at her. Not again... I can¢t take anymore of this abuse happening all around me! I was scared, and I was also scared for Freefall and Johnny Thunder who were out somewhere in the middle of it. The yelling went on for about an hour. Finally, one of the drunk guys announced that he was taking off. The other guy told him he was not going to drive. A few minutes later, car lights came on, an engine roared, and they were gone.Another night of no sleep...