7/22/01
9:30 a.m. came too quick this morning after a second straight late night out on the town. At least I got in a second shower, not knowing for sure when the next one would come my way along the trail. Julie, Phantom and I set off on the long 3 hour car ride on the MA turnpike to US 7 where we would turn north to return to Bennington, VT. None of us ate breakfast since we were behind schedule with some big uphill miles for Phantom and me and a long drive back to Boston for Julie. I took advantage of car time to make an attempt at catching up on the daily journal (seems like I'm always two to three days behind with so much going on). We stopped for lunch at Angelino's Subs in Williamston, MA, not too far from the VT border, where I quickly walked to the drugstore for more cough medicine after having another rough night battling the persistent cough. We arrived back at the trail crossing near Bennington around 2:30 where Julie hiked a few yards on the AT with us until we reached the steep climb where she decided it was time to turn around to go back to her car. Julie was a fantastic hostess and I really appreciate her kindness and hospitality during the Boston side trip.
It was quite a culture shock coming out of the wilderness and entering the large city environment, then returning 48 hours later back to the familiar woods. The contrasts between the two are almost overwhelming to the senses! It only took five minutes of steep climbing to get the sweat glands flowing and we were back in the groove within thirty minutes. The ten mile stretch to the summit of Glastenbury involved 2,400' vertical ascent which seemed much easier to me than the same stretch going down two years ago when I hiked it with BSA troop 33. I think the major difference is the hundreds of miles of conditioning now vs. starting a relatively tough section of the AT after sitting at a desk job for months and months. Phantom and I stopped briefly at the Melvile Neuheim shelter to read the register to see who had passed us during our 48 hour hiatus. We were shocked and amazed to see that only two northbound thru-hikers had passed. Redneck and Mojo (formerly Mother Hen) were just ahead of us and we guessed that we would see them at the Goddard shelter near the Glastenbury mountain summit. Sure enough, when we arrived at the overcrowded shelter at 7 p.m., we found our compatriots surrounded by a plethora of southbounders and Long Trail section hikers. The news from Redneck and Mojo was that Beatle and Animal were a day behind us and the gap behind them was two to four days. So either a lot of the northbounders have slowed down or have left the trail temporarily or permanently.
Neither Phantom or I had any desire to sleep in a crowded shelter, despite its fabulous view to the southwest including a view of Mt. Greylock, so we hiked the quarter mile up to the summit to find a tent site. We were pleasantly surprised to discover no humans at the summit, so we had the choice flat spots to set up camp. We quickly made dinner, then joined two southbound section hikers at the top of the firetower to watch the sunset and eat our dinnr while we watched. It was nearly clear with good visibility in all directions and the 360 degree panorama offered one of the most beautiful views of the various mountain ranges of New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. If not for the strong cool winds at the firetower I would have considered sleeping up there for the night just to view the stars and watch sunrise. After sunset Phantom and I trucked it down to the shelter for a water refill at the spring, then trucked it back to our respective tents. After talking for a while with Redneck and a cell phone call to Locke and Red Pepper back home, I crawled in the tent for the night. I nestled into my liner bag and listened to some tunes on the radio as I looked out of the tent window at the vast expanse of stars above. It was good to be back on the trail after a fun diversion to Boston. Today's stats: low 70, high 90 (Boston weather); Glastenbury, high 78. Sunny to partly cloudy. Today's mileage: 10.4; cumulative mileage 1602.4.
