Date: 2008-07-20
From: North Adams, MA

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: haze

SUNDAY, well for some reason Sundays tend to be the tough day dont know why but when we are struggling we're usually like what day of the week is it? Oh, its Sunday. But today was different, stayed at the Birdcage in DAlton, leaving my full pack here today and just taking day hike stuff...slack packing so this means I got a ride about 21 or 22 miles north of here to NOrth Adams got dropped off and I'm hiking south back to DAlton where I started (back to my stuff) and will stay the night in Dalton again and tommorow morning get dropped off back in Norht Adams and continue north. Why all this crazy coordination you ask...well we had already hiked this section last summer backpakcing so we decided to just do it this way which actually worked our well b/c Shawna has been having stomach cramps and issues last few days and didn't feel up to hiking so I just went and hiked back so she could just stay in DAlton to rest. WEll it was a climb today in the morning up MT. Greylock (the highest pt in MA) last year it was rainy and overcast so no view and this year no rain but overcast so I don't think it is meant to be for me to seee the impressive view from Greylock, but okay though Im looking forward to the Whites in NH... so the crazy thing is all the territory I covered today we did in 3 days last year. There was a section I remembered of the trees that basically fell backwards or ripped out of the ground so roots were showing I didn't get pixs last year and really regretted it ever since so this year I took the time (about 45 min) to get pixs which is good considering usually I don't like to take pix of oudoor stuff usually just people, but this area of MA is just amazing sorta like what I've seen in small part of Maine dense forest losts of moss and pines, I was hiking pretty fast without the weight of a full pack but made sure to stop and enjoy the surroundings to breathe it in, its just marvelous. Also the trail went through Chesire a small town and right by a deli/ice cream place so of course I stopped for a turkey sandwich and COLD gatorade and then took off for the last 8.5 miles back to Dalton, the # of miles seemed like an overwhelming # in my head (22 or so for the day) but went pretty fast and felt good to move quickly. So back in Dalton about 5:30 or 6 to check on Shawna but she had been taken to get checked out at a medical facility, had to get IV for fluids and tests so wait till tommorwo at 4 to get the resuls pretty sure its giardia from bad water so on an antibiotic, more planning and discussing what I"m going to do either moving on or watiing with Shawna not sure how many days she needs to rest and figuring if I wait who will be around to hike with if Shawna needs more time to recover. so the plan was to meet back up in Benninton or manchester center but as I lay in bed thinking I reevaluated some thins, what is it to be a friend who leaves not knowing exactly what is going on with Shawna orto be around if she needs solmething you know its not always about me though inside I want it to be, if we are all honest with ourselves this daily battle of selfishness basically sucks. Come what may tommmorow, its about the journey...