Date: 2017-08-03
From: Glen Brook Shelter Tent Site

To: Homes Road/Hampton Inn, Lenox, MA
Miles today: 10.8

8/3Glen Brook Shelter Tent Site to Homes Road/Hampton Inn, Lenox, MA10.8 miles Total miles:  1523.5I awoke at my usual time of 5:45, but my body wasn't done resting yet, and I dozed back off until 6:15. We were traveling only 10.8 miles today to Homes Road to meet up with friends of Gravity who were driving from Indiana to see him. Unsure of the upcoming trail conditions, we wanted to make sure we arranged a meeting place that we could reach before too late in the day. I was on the trail by 8:00 and began by hiking up Mount Bushnell.  The trail conditions up and over Bushnell consisted of a great deal of rocky maneuvering, and I was only able to cover a bit over three miles in the first three hours. I was greeted with a tremendous view from the top of the mountain, as I was above the clouds.  Standing on the mountain, I was looking down on nothing but white, fluffy clouds.  Except for the trees and the standing on a ridge part, I could have been in an airplane.  It waa quite something to realize that I was standing in bright sunshine while the folks below were in complete cloud cover. I hiked along the ridge for close to a mile and met Sarah as I was beginning my descent. Sarah is a Ridge Runner, and I had a wonderful conversation with her. She is interested in conservation and conservation education, and she is passionate about sharing the concept of Leave No Trace. She particularly enjoys educating children. When the summer ends, she has a job lined up as an interpretive ranger in the Georgia State Parks. I shared a tip I use when teaching young people about the proper way to dig and use catholes.  Baby Ruth candy bars make great visual aids, and the mini size ones are great to give out at the end of the presentation.  Anything to help a fellow educator!  I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and walked away in a very fine mood.  Good luck, Miss Sarah, and well met! Just after meeting Sarah, I hiked onto Jug End, another overlook. The clouds were beginning to clear by then.The area to my right still had some cloud cover, while the area to my left was clear.  The view was quite impressive indeed.  Continuing along the descent I passed many southbounders and briefly talked with most of them as we passed along information about upcoming trail conditions, water availability, and good places to camp. I was told that the trail in Massachusetts would become much easier soon.  Such was the case, and I began making better time as I hiked through woods that were darker and fuller than in Connecticut. The land became quite marshy and there were many instances of hiking along boardwalks consisting of split logs. The land then dried out, and I found myself hiking along pleasant pastures, cows, corn, and sheep.  As I prepared to cross MA 41, I met Big Chicken and Monty as they were getting their backpacking trip under way. They told me they were  going out for three days, I believe.  This is Monty's very first backpacking trip. They both hail from Connecticut, and Big Chicken said he had considered planning their route to begin with the ascent of St. John's Ledges, but figured that would be way too mean to Monty. I told them about my cheeseburger/death dilemma I faced the other day.  We had a great chat, and we wished each other well on our respective journeys. Who knows, Monty may put a thru hike on his bucket list for after his children are grown. It was on my bucket list for forty years before it came to fruition.  Good luck, fellows, on this and all your future adventures!  I continued making good progress and soon crossed Sheffield Egrement Road.  Just prior to the road, someone (very likely Sarah) had left numerous bottles of water labelled for thru hikers.  I took advantage even though I probably already had enough and topped off my bottles, as the day had changed from warm to hot. Just past the road, I passed a monument commemorating the last battle of Shay's Rebellion in 1787. Daniel Shay, a Massachusetts farmer, led a rebellion that helped highlight weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation that led to the Constitutional Convention and our new government. I was really enjoying being able to walk without having to work my way around obstructions when I began to climb June Mountain. The ascent was much more gradual than usual, and I was able to continue to motor along.  I did come across a sight that really caught my eye. As I mentioned earlier, the tree cover in Massachusetts tends to be somewhat heavier than in Connecticut, resulting in a darker effect that makes the forest seem older and more somber. From quite a long distance, I noticed a small, brilliant bright light. Intrigued, I finally got close enough to recognize a single, white mushroom basking in a round circle of sunlight coursing through the forest leaves. It looked like the star of the play taking a curtain call at the end of a show. (Okay, maybe I have been in the woods a tad too long, but it did look pretty cool). I soon arrived at Homes Road and settled on a rock to wait for Gravity and for his friends.  I was never one for feeling bored, and I greatly enjoyed just sitting on that rock resting and chatting with the few other hikers who passed by. Gravity arrived first, followed in a bit by his friends, John and Sherri. As I mentioned, they drove from Indiana to meet up with him. They picked us up and took us to a very nice hotel in Lenox. We had a great dinner at the Old Heritage Tavern. As I entered the tavern, I was immediately accosted by a large, framed photograph of the 2004 Red Sox in the midst of their victory celebration.  As you may recall, the BoSox made history by becoming the first team to overcome a three game deficit when they roared back by taking four in a row to defeat the Yankees to earn a berth in the World Series.  They then continued their winning ways by sweeping the Cardinals four games to zero to win the series. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and walked quickly past the photograph.  I felt a cold chill wash across me as I hurried past, and then all was well again. We'll get breakfast tomorrow and then resupply before they take us back to the trail. We had a great time at dinner, and Gravity is blessed to have such good friends. Thank you Trail Angels, John and Sherri! At the hotel, Trail Magic of a very special kind happened today.  The hotel is over fifteen miles from where we were picked up and can't get much business from hikers. When I took our dirty clothes to the hotel's laundry room, I noticed that the machine was already in use. I glanced at the young woman in the laundry room through the little window in the door, and thought, "She looks a lot like Dory."  Imagine my surprise and joy to discover it was Dory. They had met a friend earlier in the day, and Dory's mom had gotten them a room in the same motel we are in. There was a joyous reunion with Dory and Splat, who joined us for dinner. They said they were planning on staying in their room and ordering pizza, so if we hadn't run into each other in the laundry, we probably would have been unaware we were in the same hotel. What a wonderful happenstance. It was so good to see them and catch up with their progress.  Chance encounters with friends you haven't seen for several weeks is part of the joy of hiking this trail.  Dory and Splat are a few days ahead, but that doesn't mean we won't see them again as we all begin to close in on Maine.