7/18/01
My tent felt like an oven this morning as the 8 a.m. sun beat down on Tom Lavordi's back yard in Dalton. Phantom was barely moving as I opened the vestibule zipper to let some fresh cool morning air into the tent while I packed up. The two other tents (TED and Storyteller) were already gone, so Phantom and I had the place to ourselves. We let our gear dry out some while we slowly packed up. By 9 a.m. we had hiked 1/4 mile down the trail to Duff and Dell's for breakfast. There was a crowd of retired elderly folks milling around inside and as I sat down at an empty table an elderly gentleman turned from getting his coffee and slid into the booth with me. Soon Benjamin Pastore, 83, and I were talking about the trail and his 44 year career with General Electric as a manufacturing engineer. Phantom joined us as we waited for a waitress to show. Ben had the inside scoop on how to get quick service; minutes later Phantom and I were chowing down on the $2.25 breakfast special including two eggs, a platter of home fries, toast and jelly. We then made a stop at the PO for Phantom to pick up a fleece blanket sent to him by his mom, and finally a pit stop at the convenience store for short-term re-supply for Phantom. (And no, I didn't buy anything to eat since I knew the next town stop was only 10 miles away!).
It was after 10 a.m. before we actually started hiking but we knew we could make it to Cheshire, MA by mid-afternoon in time for my visit to the PO for food, letters and gear pickup. The ten-mile stretch was a breeze with only one significant climb and a beautiful view overlooking Cheshire from the Cobbles, a rock outcrop just before the steep descent into town. We arrived at the Cheshire PO at 2:30 p.m. and I settled in for the typical routine while Phantom hiked about a mile to the convenience store. Condor had caught up to me while I was still enjoying myself on the sidewalk with my gear and food spread out everywhere, so he left to join Phantom at the convenience store. When I got there, of course I couldn't resist a pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie and a 20 oz. soda, so I joined them on the lawn as we all relaxed and enjoyed the moment. By 4:00 p.m. we decided it was time to take a walk in the woods again. The goal was lofty; climb to the top of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. The ice cream and soda must have done the trick, because 3 hours and 15 minutes later we had climbed 2,500' in seven miles and were standing at the monument on the Greylock summit. The 360-degree view from the top was maybe the best view of the surrounding countryside we've seen since the views in the southern mountains of NC and TN. There were lots of tourists up top and in the Bascom Lodge who had driven up for sunset. Condor, Phantom and I, along with thru-hiker Ryan from Raleigh, NC, scarfed down a cheeseburger at the Bascom Lodge grill just before it closed for the evening. We returned outside to watch the sunset and to take photos.
Our sleeping quarters for the night was the Thunderbolt shelter, just 300 yards from the summit. The shelter is the old ski area "warming room" where in the 1930's and 1940's expert skiers would hike 2 miles up to the summit, stop in the warming room, and then ski down the expert slope to the bottom. The old enclosed stone structure is not intended for overnight camping except in "emergencies", and all of us felt that we had an emergency and needed to stay there for the night instead of paying big bucks to stay at the lodge. So Condor, Phantom, Ryan and I settled down inside the protected shelter for the night. It was a great place to get out of the wind and cold air, plus we had an awesome view of the lights of North Adams and other towns far below in the valley. Despite burgers as an appetizer, all of us (except Condor) made our trail dinner. We then settled into the nightly journaling and reading until one by one we turned off our flashlights for the night.
A new dimension of the AT thru-hiking experience occurred today. Sobo's! We met four southbounders heading for Georgia who had started at the base of Mt. Katahdin in Maine back in May. None of them was actually able to start from the summit (terminus point) because there was still three feet of snow there, even in mid and late May. It was a lot of fun talking back and forth about our experiences. The communications on the trail just got better because now we can send info to those behind us on the northward journey. I'm having a blast and wishing the end wasn't so close, except for missing Red Pepper and home. Today's stats: low 58, high 80. Bright sunshine. Today's mileage: 17.0; cumulative mileage: 1567.3.
