Date: 2003-07-12
From: Kay Wood Shelter

To: Cheshire, MA
Miles today: 12.3

Stormin' slept in a space blanket bivy that crinkled plastic-ly all night. Every time he turned - CRACKLE!By 3 am, I was ready to kill him.So, I was up before 5 am, and packing. So was Itchy. We were walking by 5:30. Another urgency hastened our feet - a felicitous one. There was a town in three miles. Breakfast! Coffee!It's a sunny day, thank goodness. Those dark, wet days have imprinted themselves on my soul. We've had had our share this year, thank you very much. Please, send those rains along to those drought-stricken climes, we're doing just fine here...Itchy and I discuss a postal dilemma we've both gotten ourselves into. See, it's Saturday, and we have mail drops in Cheshire, where we are spending the night. We'll never make the post office before it closes this morning. Either we'll have to take zero day on Sunday and wait for it to open on Monday, a plan I am reluctant to endorse given my upcoming week off the Trail. Or...There is a bus system in the Berkshires - how intelligent of the local governments. Maybe we could get a bus to Cheshire, get our drops, and stick them in the Cheshire church hostel along with the guts of our packs, take the bus back to Dalton and SLACKPACK the nine miles to Cheshire... Self-slacking. I love the idea. Now, to find out about the busses.We walk into friendly Dalton and to Duff's Variety store, which was a great, short-order breakfast place. We ate all the usual suspects, plus some jelly doughnuts from the counter. I have to call Cosmo, but decide to wait until a decent hour, at least 8a.m. Hikers get up early, even on Saturdays.While we are eating, a tall fellow walks up, pulls up a chair, and sits down at our table. "Hi, I'm Cosmo," he says.Ha! Finally, we "meet." Officially. And then he performs the piece de resistance:"And you must be ItchyFoot..."Ha! Ha! I LOVE it! Itchy pretends to be dismayed, but I know that secretly he is enjoying all this attention. An ex- Marine would never admit this, however...Cosmo then performs a huge bit of Trail magic. He asks our plans. He'd even hike with us some today and check on the Trail (Cosmo is the uber-maintainer for all of MA). We explain our postal dilemma, and he solves it for us. He takes us the nine miles forward to Cheshire, then to the church to drop our packs, then brings us back to Dalton.The post office yielded some interesting surprises. An unexpected package from Pog (Karen Sousa) full of great goodies like homemade, vacuum-packed cookies and lip balm. And Walker's shortbread! What a brilliant idea for a thru-hiking snack - something so wicked fattening and so deliciously irresistable it is totally off limits when not hiking.Next, I find out that my new shoes, which have been bouncing around Kingdom Come since Boiling Springs, PA (to Bear Mt., NY, to Terryville, CT then BACK to the store, then forward to Cheshire, MA) have NOT arrived YET. P.O. says give them more time. Sigh...I have Shoo-gooed the hell out of my toe bumpers, and can only hope Da Shoes will hang on a few more days. I am sure they are breaking down internally after 650-plus miles. Cosmo once again leaps generously into the breech and offers to check back on the delivery and bring the shoes forward. The AT would be a different place without the kindness of others. Often, I am astounded at the outflow of goodwill from strangers.And once more, my dear fellow Carolinians, Chandler and Louisa, have sent me a huge box filled with treats. They haven't forgotten me, my paddling buddies. They send me Tarheel river news, love and encouragement. And lots of useful carbohydrates.Cosmo drives us back to Dalton and drops us off at the Duff's variety store. We go back in and order thick sandwiches and candy bars to go. We walk the streets of this peaceful town, folks waving from their porches, cars or yards. The flowers up north here are something to see, everybody is a gardener.We aren't hiking long when we run into another fellow with a camelback. "Are you Jan LiteShoe?"It's Richard, ATSomeday, from CT, out section hiking. Richard and I had e-mailed about the Long Trail last year, and he was hoping to collide during his section."And you must be ItchyFoot," he said politely, extending his hand.HA!We climb Warner Hill with it's lovely fern gardens blanketing the rolling flanks. It look like a farm crop, so even-topped are the ferns. On the crest of the "Hill" are three highbush blueberry bushes, loaded - berries still green, alas! Some future thru-hiker will be a happy camper. Cosmo says the local bears know about this spot too.About 12:30, we start hunting for a lunch spot, and pull out our fat sandwiches. THIS is the way to hike the AT - pancakes and eggs for breakfast, ham and swiss for lunch. A restaurant meal for supper. (Polite belch).Just a tenth of a mile further on, we meet Cosmo, who had come in southbound from the Cheshire side to meet us. "Everything looked different going this way," he said. He had his maintainer's pack on, been checking on the shelter, doing a little pruning. A maintainer's work is never done. We three hiked back together, Cosmo setting a stiff pace for our full bellies. He's explaining the land and affirming some of the flora I wasn't sure of. We picked blueberries on a rocky ledge, and lingered on the rocks of Gore Pond, admiring the beaver dam and the grassy pond below.We made plans to get me showered when I got off the Trail on Tuesday and to the rental car in Pittsfield, MA. Cosmo's help is huge, as he will be coming up to Bennington, VT, and I am embarrassed to need it so badly. But he is wonderful about it, understanding family matters.He encourages us to see the view from the Cobble Trail and we do, as MA has been stingy with the vistas since Race and Everett Mts.We agree and are descending to the side trail when a couple climbs up to meet us: "Are you Jan LiteShoe?" Well, this time it's Blue Jay Le Fey, who also has emailed me since the Long Trail. He thru-hiked in '98. He lives nearby, and was hoping to intercept."And you must be Itchy..."Itchy professes embarrassment, and Blue Jay teases him: "You're famous, man! Kind of like Robin to her Batman."BlueJay introduced me to his friend Alli, who has a great trail name: "Not So Helpless." She'd been backpacking twice and had caught AT fever. She was already researching into a start next year.We five all walk down together, to the cars where Blue Jay has brought beer. We sit around under a tree, in the afternoon sun and breezes, and laugh and tell Trail lies and eat fig newtons. I notice Itchy-the-antisocial is digging all this. "It's been a beautiful day," he says. Here's proof: Even cranky, old, itchy-footed curmudgeons can learn to kick back.Cosmo leaves for his home in North Adams, and we go back to the church hostel. Itchy even gets to 4:00 Catholic mass in time, albeit with a slight beer buzz.We go out to supper and dessert, and Blue Jay buys and won't take a penny. "It's karmic debt," I plead. He claims to be accruing HIS good karma for next year's hiking on a long AT section. How funny: Alphonse and Gaston tussle over karma.We four go back and Not So Helpless decides to hike up Greylock with us tomorrow, a stiff 14-mile jaunt. Blue Jay will slack us, so the load will be lighter. They have their packs and sleeping gear, so decide to camp with us in the hostel tonight. A good day with new friends. Much, much magic in the world.