Astrogirl

I walked 13.7 miles, not counting the shelter/water trails, which where probably .3.

Breakfast (Duff & Dell’s) the next day was very good, so the whole laundry experience seemed a little easier. Laundry was a one mile walk each way to and from the hotel, but it was all flat, and the weather was nice, if too windy. I got a sub at Angelina’s and left town with it to eat on my way to Cheshire.

It seemed like a looong walk on streets to get out of town. I’m sure it wasn’t more than a mile, but for some reason, walking in town seems farther. I climbed the first mountain, ate half the sub and moved on. Before descending into Cheshire, there’s a great view at the Cobbles. I ate the rest of lunch there, though it was really windy.

In Cheshire, I picked up and sorted my maildrop. The weather was fantastic, and there was a bench at the Cheese Monument, right across from the P.O. After sending back some odds and ends, I went to Diane’s Twist to get an ice cream before beginning the climb out of town. From this point on, I did not see any other hikers until I got to the top of Mt. Greylock the next morning.

I headed out of Cheshire in the latter part of the afternoon and had a few of those moments in the woods where it seemed a lot later than it was. The walk across farm fields and roads was pretty easy and scenic. The climb up to Mark Noepel was not too bad either. Finally, the trail was not mostly mud. I was just starting to think I’d missed the shelter and worry about the growing dark and my lack of water when the trail appeared. Off I went down to the shelter.

There was no one but me there. I got water, and no one appeared. I set up my hammock near the tent platform and still no one appeared. I threw the bear rope and ate dinner at the picnic table near the shelter. Inside was an unmolested Lipton indicating that there were neither bears nor mice about.

I took a little movie at this point. Either my camera battery didn’t give me a warning at this point or I failed to notice it, but it didn’t work after this.

I enjoyed my tea as the sun went down and the sky turned a beautiful pink. I heard two separate flocks of geese honking and saw them fly over with the fluffy pink clouds in the background. It was a really idyllic moment there, and the first time I’d been alone at an AT shelter in…I don’t know how long actually.

I was still alone in the morning after a very comfortable and quiet night. Time to walk up Greylock the rest of the way. I took this one with the iPhone.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 8:17 am and is filed under backpacking, Massachusetts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.