Date: 2021-06-05
From: October Mountain Shelter

To: Father Tom Campsite
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: overcast clouds

So other than a phone call from a parent around 9:15 last night, the Boy Scouts were good neighbors. I had my headphones on and fell asleep listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain channel on Spotify and was only disturbed from my slumber with the aforementioned call and when the boys came back after having their evening s¢mores. I packed up as quietly as possible and was trail ready at 5:45.  I talked with the troop leader just before leaving and their group was going to go 9 miles to Upper Goose Pond for the night. Hopefully there was a little more elbow room for them there. True to what he had told me, Just Tim was already on trail to cover the 12 miles to town on his gimpy foot. That meant no silk blazing for Sev!  I figured it would take me until noon to get to town and then decide about where to camp the next few days. The trail itself wasn¢t too taxing the first 8 miles though there were a lot of bogs and mud to work through. Most of the bog areas have raised boards spanning the worst parts, but the boards are of dubious quality due to age and exposure. You really can¢t trust them to be level or well secured, so it¢s ¢step lightly and be prepared¢ as you traverse them. On occasion you might find one that isn¢t actually nailed to its support and the opposite end pops up.  Good times!It was less humid than the last two days and temps were in the low 70¢s most of the morning.  There was a woman known as ¢The Cookie Lady¢ who lived just off trail about 3 miles from the shelter and she had given free cookies to passing hikers for a long time, but she sold her place two years ago.  There is a apparently a new Cookie Lady who looks our for hikers and they have water refills and allow camping too, but she and her husband wouldn¢t be at the house until next week. Alas. No cookie for me. I caught up to Just Tim about halfway to town and he was hurting. Just sucks to see someone with an injury and see the discouragement written all over them. I made really good time and came down the muddy hill into Dalton, Ma. at 11:15. Walking into town I came to the house of Tom Levardi who has been a Trail Angel to hikers for 40 years.  His home is directly on the trail and he happened to be outside when I came by. He invited me over to his picnic table and offered me a Coke.  We sat and chatted for 20 minutes about many things hiking (the ultralight equipment is the single biggest change he¢s seen - hikers use to come in with 80lb packs. I wouldn¢t make it).  He also recommended a coffee shop and sub shop in town and said if I wanted to stretch my mileage that the Father Tom campsite in Cheshire was nice. While there I called the outfitter in Cheshire to see if they had water filtration systems for sale but they only had the Sawyer Mini in stock, so I¢ll stick with my slow, leaky Katadyn for now.  I had thought about camping at Tom¢s for the night, but decided to move on as there was another camping area 4 miles out of town.  I did hit up the coffee shop (16oz Mocha, please) and the sub shop next door (12¢ triple cheeseburger sub with piles of veggies, vitamin water, bag of chips for $13) and then the gas station across the street (two Powerades and a chocolate milk).  Grumpy Cat, Captain America and Rapture all arrived then as well as Just Tim who planned to go the local urgent care and take two zero days to see what comes next.  Caloried up, I left Dalton (I thought it¢d be bigger) about two hours after I arrived.  Had about a 1000 foot climb out of town and I really didn¢t want to do give-backs with lunch, so I just plodded slow and steady up the trail. About halfway up a man came running past me down the trail - he wasn¢t quite outfitted like most trail runners. A little further on I found his wife sitting Trailside - she said they had dropped a car off and driven back in another so they could hike one way, but her husband had left the car keys back at the parking lot. Oops.  I¢m not entirely sure This Was Fine.Arriving at the side trail to the Crystal Mountain Campsite it was only 2:30 and the Father Tom camp was just 4 miles further.  Can you guess what I did?On the way down the mountain into Cheshire I stopped to talk to a man who was hiking up.  Turns out his wife has been the driving force in establishing the Father Tom site with a lot of community involvement. They have tenting space, hammock poles, a bear box, Port a John, water spigot, charging station, picnic tables, chairs and two loaner bikes for hikers. All free. Pretty awesome. I hit Cheshire at 4:30 and the ice cream stand across from the camp was still open. One chocolate milkshake later I was at Father Tom¢s setting up. (Strangely, the ice cream stand is only open Saturday and Sunday from noon until five. Bully for me on my timing!) There were three SOBO section hikers here and GC, Capt America and Rapture rolled in an hour later.  GC and I took the bikes to a gas station two miles away for some sustenance - my bike had the charming quirk of a loose handle bar so as I rode it would lurch about in exciting ways.  I bought two Gatorade¢s (gave one to Rapture) and splurged on dinner - $1.99 for some cashews. I was still full from lunch.  While we were sitting at the picnic table a local Trail Angel named Polish Hermit came by and handed out more drinks and some snacks.  He does this to honor his Polish Grandmother who would feed the hobos who came through town back during the depression when they had nothing to eat.  He¢ll be back in the morning with coffee for anyone who hasn¢t rolled out by 6.  I may wait!One other thing I did today was call and get a room at the Bascom Lodge on top of Mt Graylock - which I¢m climbing on the morrow.  It¢s going to be 90 and I don¢t have to do big miles over the next two weeks as I try to time my arrival in New Hampshire with my sister's planned visit there.  I have a room for $35 with shower facilities and I¢ll be doing some bum-laundry in there along with cleaning myself.  Grumpy Cat flies out Wednesday for his official Green Beret retirement celebration and Rapture and Captain America were making plans to fly to Atlanta Tuesday to pick up CA¢s van and drive it up to the northeast and then use that and Rapture¢s car to do self-supported slack packing through New England.  Hike your own hike, baby!