Date: 2013-09-13
From: Jerusalem Road

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: light rain

In the morning I drove to Pittsfield, MA as there is a WalMart there and I was pretty sure they would have propane for my cooking gear. Before I got there I saw a Dick's Sporting Goods and they had what I needed. I went back to Tyringham and parked on Main Road. From there I walked without my pack to Jerusalem Road (where I left off the night before) and back, 1.1 miles one way. Returned to the car, got my pack, and headed North again. For the past several days there was an awful lot of toads, frogs and salamanders along the path. The salamanders were cute, little orange things. I was careful not to step on them, cruel if I did and it might be bad luck. Lunch was an individual serving of peanut butter on a small pita. I noticed the peanut butter while resupplying, it's convenient not to carry a full jar. It was Jif. Too bad I didn't have jelly, I should snag a few of the small servings they give you with breakfast when you have toast. My destination was Upper Goose Pond Cabin. The site was formerly owned by the Mohheckennuck Club, founded in 1909, and transferred to the National Park Service in 1982. There's a brass plaque beside the blue-blazed trail to the cabin, also the remnants of the lodge, consisting of a chimney. Reaching the cabin, Bambi the caretaker was there, as well as Fisherman, Floss, and a young couple who arrived later and tented. Bambi served pasta with mushroom sauce for supper. I was carrying a small package of Chorizo which I contributed, a little bit of protein and spice to liven it up a bit. The cabin is in very good condition. There is an elaborate fire escape on the front, with the USG as owner it is up to code, two means of egress from the second floor. Bambi was telling us that when the inspector came, he was worried that the threshold was a little high and it might not be wheelchair accessible. Somebody pointed out to him that you can't get a wheelchair down the trail to the cabin and he calmed down. There are three privies, one conventional and two composting. The composting privy has two seats - one labeled #1 and the other #2. The aerobic decomposition that makes the mouldering privy work won't take place properly if it's too wet. So the urine is kept separate, you pee in #1 and shit in #2. I'm sure you always wanted to know about that. According to Bambi, a Japanese hiker who was connected with his country's park service was very enthusiastic about the privy design, looked over the plans and made notes, to take the idea home with him. Fisherman left Maine in a group of 11 hikers southbound in January. He's the only one still on the trail. He's been taking a lot of pictures, in an effort to fully document his hike. He took a bad fall on Bear Mountain (in NY) while night hiking, smashed his camera, and lost a lot of pictures. So he was redoing part of the hike to get more pictures. There was a fishing pole there, which he used to catch a few sunfish. There are bass there, but they weren't hitting. Floss and I were talking about opening a hostel, I keep getting back to the idea, and the farm I saw in Tyringham got me going again. We built a small fire, as there was only a limited amount of dry firewood and we wanted to leave some for other hikers. There wasn't much on the ground outside, and most of it was quite wet. The bunks were clean, with plastic covered mattresses. The night was chilly, with some rain, and it was good to be inside, dry and comfortable.