Day 112, miles today - 21.6, total - 1,596.2

July 7, 2013

Cheshire, MA. St. Mary of Assumption Church to Seth Warner Shelter.

Sundance, Garfunkel and I left the Church this morning at a little after 7:30. I had to stop at the post office, which was on the way, to send my defective inflatable Exped pillow back to the company. I had called them about a problem with the old one, and they sent me a new one. I caught up to the other two guys shortly after.

In the morning we had a long climb to the top of Mt. Greylock, the highest peak in MA. Overall it wasn't a bad climb at all. At the top is the Veterans War Memorial Tower. There are views of the Green Catskill Mountain Range. There is also the Bascom Lodge. I went inside to get something for lunch. It was 11:15, a little early, but it was convenient. I had a hamburger and drink. I saw ET and Java Man there too. 

War Memorial

                                                   ET                                                          Java Man

As I was eating, Moxie and B-Rocket walked down the steps to the area where I was sitting. They had spent the night in a bunk room at the lodge. I was surprised to see them. I had pretty much given up on catching them. I thought I'd stay with Sundance and Garfunkel for the next several days. I've know B-Rocket for over two months, so I hoped to hike with her again. All of us got back on trail at about the same time, except for ET.

We all bunched up at an overlook. We hung out there for several minutes. 

Six of us hiked together for the next few miles.  When we got to the road crossing that led to North Adams, Garfunkel, Sundance, Moxie, B-Rocket and I were going into town. I needed to resupply for the next four days. The stores were 1-2 miles away. We tried hitching as we walked. A city bus stopped to pick us up. Only Moxie, B-Rocket and I got on. Sundance and Garfunkel continued walking. They were going to one of the closer stores. 

Moxie

B-Rocket

Moxie and B-Rocket wanted to get something to eat at Mac Donalds, which had a grocery store next to it. So that worked for me. After I had got my resupply I went over to Mac Donalds to eat dinner with them. B-Rocket was sitting with people I didn't know. A guy named Bob had offered to pay for their meal. So he also gave me money to buy mine. We sat with Bob and a couple others talking about trail life as we ate. After eating we rode the bus back to the trail.

As we got off the bus we saw ET and Dutch walking towards us. I hadn't seen Dutch since Harper's Ferry, about a month ago. We all hiked together. After a couple miles ET took a side trail to a campsite. The rest of us continued on. We were going to hike another four miles to the next shelter. Before getting there we crossed into Vermont. It was a big moment for us all. It's hard to believe how far we've come. The A.T. follows the Long Trail for a number of miles.

We're staying at the Seth Warner Shelter. Besides Moxie, Dutch, B-Rocket and I, there are two section hikers.