Date: 2005-08-03
From: Upper Goose Pond

To: North of Dalton
Miles today: 21.3

I awoke at 5:45 and packed up all my gear. I went to the cabin a little early to see if the caretaker needed any help. The young lady there said she had it all under control (a system she called it) and offered me a cup of coffee. Evidently a SOBO brought in a bag of "Huge" blueberries so it was to be "Blueberry Pancakes for Breakfast". As I waited I went and sat on the porch. I was finishing off a short story from the book I borrowed as my fellow hikers began to awake and get their own coffee. What a great breakfast that was. We did our own dishes at the end of the meal and helped clean up the rest of the mess.      I learned there at the breakfast table how and where the cabin received their Blueberries for their pancakes. It seems that a little further north (off of Washington Road) at the home of the infamous "Cookie Lady", a SOBO would purchase the blueberries and carry them south to the shelter. It seems that there in the Cookie Lady's fields are some of the biggest blueberry bushes ever seen. I noticed that the berries themselves were the size of nickels (even sometimes larger) and they tasted great. Some kind of hybrid bush I was told, hybrid with what I do not know. Regardless they were good darn berries.    As NOBO's, ever since the northern part of VA , we have come upon different types of berries (blue, black caps and even red raspberry). A snack along the trail indeed. My favorite snack once again was the peanut butter and raisins on a potato roll so, sometimes I would include the wild berries. A warning though, never eat the berries at the vistas, that is where everyone takes a break as well as relieving their bladders (trust me on that one).   I departed at 8 AM and made this note in my log, "Nice place, a must return to". Another location added to my ever growing list of future day hikes. A little over a mile north I found myself about to cross over the Massachusetts Turnpike I-90. I stopped and waited for another hiker to come by so I could have my picture taken. I recall driving under this footbridge many, many times. It is clearly marked "Appalachian Trail" on both sides and I remember saying to my self every time I rode under it, "some day". Well some day was today and I wanted a picture of it. The first time I remember seeing this particular bridge was in the fall of 84. The first time I thought about doing the trail was in 83 when a friend in the military asked me if I wanted to join him on a thru-hike. Then, I did not even know the trail went as far as it did. I thought it would be something "cool" to do. I will never forget what he said, "we will just load up our Rucks (back pack) with C-rations and hike". The idea never left my head and this bridge was a constant reminder of that day. I must have drove under it a hundred times. Now I was there to walk across it, finally.   It wasn't long before a NOBO named Clearwater came hiking towards me. I met him the night before at the Cabin. He is from Marion MA and since he was from this state I believed he felt the same way as I did. I was so enthusiastic about it all he said that I had "the best attitude he had ever seen on the trail" and that "it was good to see someone so excited about doing the AT". Too true, after all, it was a dream about to become a reality. We wound up taking a number of photos (I took one of Clearwater as well and posted it in the journal).   We hiked together for a while and ended up stopping in to see the "Cookie Lady" and to check out those "Blueberry Bushes". "NO COOKIES FOR YOU", I said out loud. Unfortunately the cookie lady was not home. When the berry bushes were first pointed out I thought they were hedge rows. Seriously they were huge. Imagine thousands of berries upon row after row of hedge like bushes. I had to try at least a couple. We signed the log and thanked the family there for the use of their picnic table, their water spigot and the berries we consumed. What a great place, it even had a landing strip for an airplane in the back yard.   I wound up walking in to Dalton later that evening with Clearwater and one other NOBO named Stilts. Stilts is from Newport, Road Island and got his name because his legs were so long. He hiked the trail as one hiker put it, "as if he were on stilts", so it took. Unfortunately for me all the friends I wanted to see were there together as a large group in Dalton. As I wrote earlier large groups take up all the mojo of the town, most were spending two nights there as well so, I ate a meal and reluctantly moved on. I found out later that Clearwater and Stilts found a lawn to set up their tents on.    Just before leaving I finally met "Cup of Joe" (we may have met before however, I could not recall), also there in town was Roamer, Camel, Gypsy Lu Lu and her sister Touk (plus quite a few others). They did not recognize me at first because I was clean shaven. I assured them it was I and we said our hellos. Later I looked in the mirror after using the bathroom and noticed I had a huge piece of food stuck to my chin. Now there was a good impression that I must have made (yes, I am a hiker slob).    I moved on and met a day hiker walking his dog who told me of some level ground, just outside of town, where I could pitch my tent. I settled in on top of a small hill where there was a good breeze. There was a lot of bugs out that night so it was time to use the earplugs. When I say a lot of bugs, I am not talking about mosquito's only. There were creepy crawlies there I have never seen before. I was in my happy place inside of my netting and got a good nights sleep. It was a long day with a late start.