Astrogirl

I hiked from Mark Noepel up and over Greylock and down into Williamstown. The distance to the road was 9.6 miles and I think I walked about 2 miles into town and then out again in the morning. I walked in to town as far as the Howard Johnson’s. There was a Chinese restaurant across the street, and that was good enough for me. I was really looking forward to a shower, but while the bathroom it was permanently dirty and dingy. Appearances were not aided by the fact that the fixtures were that disgusting rosy brown color. I did manage to get a partial refund on the room. That place had really seen some hard use.

As I mentioned in the previous entry, my digital camera battery had given up the ghost at some point and I couldn’t get panoramas or movies from Mt. Greylock. I got a couple of images with my iPhone. This one was taken from Mt. Greylock:

I watched a couple of little planes land from here — this is the view from Mt. Prospect. I walked past the airport on the way into town.

North Adams was actually closer than Williamstown, but it had fewer options all together and no where to sleep. When I chose to do the longer road walk west, I thought that if I had any energy that night, maybe I’d take a cab in to the town proper and have a beer or something. HA! After showering and eating a pile of Kung Pao Chicken, I don’t think I moved from the bed until the next day.

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.

I hiked 20.6 miles to get here, not counting the .5 mile out of Upper Goose Pond Cabin (thought it was pouring down rain. I’d actually rather walk in rain than camp in it anyway). It’s not that I resent that .5 mile or anything, but I also had to walk another .5 past the point that *says* Dalton, MA (MA8 and M9), so by the time I got to the motel, it was dark, and I was really tired. The weather had improved a lot by the end of the day.

By the lunch time, taken at October Mt. Lean-to, the sun had come out.

At about 5pm, I crossed a road and started climbing Day Mountain. I had to have water here, so I stopped. This was a very tight valley, and it was already kind of dark, but then some fog blew in. I had a hard time figuring out where I was supposed to access the AT up Day Mtn. On the profile, it looked bad at the end of the day, but I thought it was really easy. It helped that I was made nervous by darkness, and once I got up to the top, I could see that it was still kind of light out. After that was the town descent, which seemed was pretty short but it was dark over there too — lots of tree cover, so the rock hopping was rough.

The owner was at the desk when I got there (7:30pm on a Sunday), and the pub was open until 8:30 (the ONLY close place to get food, other than a gas station).

After showering and changing, I went over to the pub. I was tired, and the lighting was weird in there. I was also very hungry, so the lighting mattered less that it otherwise might have. The food was not good, and I also picked a locally brewed beer that I didn’t like. After bed, the pub/offices sounded like they were moving elephants over there, but since they closed up early on account of it being Sunday, this was OK too. The bed was firm, but the TV remote didn’t work, and batteries didn’t solve the problem (I was carrying the right ones, I would not have bothered to buy them!).

I hiked from Mt. Wilcox South to UGPC, 14.8 miles. I hiked another .75 miles or so on the approach trails for Mt. Wilcox and UGPC, but I did make pretty good time. There was a lovely pond between the two Wilcox shelters. Benedict Pond was much bigger and more dramatic, but when I passed by, it was raining.

Today was warm and muggy with lots of mud, rocks and roots. I feel like I rock hopped for 15 miles, trying to stay out of the deep mud. Often, there’s evidence of someone else going ankle deep in the mire, so you can often see where the deep parts are. Other times, it looks firm and you step in and…yuck. I don’t really mind getting wet or having wet feet (though days of it generally causes blisters because it softens the skin so much), but when I took my shoes off, my feet were black from the mud.

The think about rock hopping is that sometimes, it seems to not be worth it. You’re doing the extra work to keep your feet out of the mud, but taking the risk of winding up on your ass in the mud, something that did happen to me this day.

When I got to UGPC, I immediately went for a swim. The pond was definitely cold, but not extremely so. I was a lot cleaner and the cold water is great for the muscles and feet after the long work out. Looking at my clothes, it occurred to me that putting them on in the morning would really, really suck. I hung them in the bunkhouse hoping for mostly dry clothes.

I’ve learned that generally, when I think my clothes are as wet as they can get, I’m wrong. You learn this when you decide that rinsing them out is a good idea, only to find them a clammy horror in the morning.

The cabin itself has a terrific porch facing the pond, though you can’t see much of it from there. In the bunkhouse, people were paranoid about getting wet from blowing rain, so all the bunks near the windows (which were just screens) were empty. Awesome — that’s where I’d want to be anyway. I had my tarp handy, and I figured that if rain blew in, I’d throw it over me.

I was pretty wiped out, so I put off taking pictures until morning. This was not a good plan, as in the morning, the rain was just pissing down. The caretaker had an Irish Wolfhound (cream colored, not grey), who was pretty awesome. She also had a smaller dog that looked like some kind of whippet cross. There were the legendary endless pancakes in the morning, and that was nice, especially with the idea that we’d have to trudge off into the rain, first completing the .5 mile trail BACK to the AT, but without butter…not as tempting as I’d thought.

I met several SOBO thruhikers, Boulder, Plank, Detour (I think) and Caveman. There were other long distance hikers completing a big section to finish their through: Second Chance and DC Turtle. They were hiking with a former thru, Late Start. I also met someone from Whiteblaze here, Wysteria and her two hiking companions…and I didn’t write down their names.

I was planning to get to Dalton on the 14th which is 20 miles, so I really didn’t hang around much in the morning.

I hiked from US 7 (Sheffield, MA) to Mt. Wilcox South, 12.7 miles

The hike starts out next to the Housatonic and uses some local roads before climbing.

This shelter is actually two shelters, one old and one new. It was pouring down rain when I arrived there, and no one could find the water source — everyone was backtracking down the AT. I eventually found it in the morning, and then I realized that I *would* have found it the day before, but I could not hear it running. It just looked like a puddle in the near dark, but the next day, I could hear the water running underground.

I elected to stay at the new shelter, not pitching the hammock because of the rain. When I arrived, there were two dads and four boys (age 10-16, roughly) wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Apparently they had changed because they were not wet. One of the dads informed me that they were “mail technicians” (postmen, I assume). I said that perhaps their boys valued sleep less than I did, and I asked if I’d be happier in the other shelter. They said the boys would be in their sleeping bags by 7:30 or 8pm, and I took them at their word. They were exactly right. I’ve never camped around boys that age who were so quiet. They got up really early (6-6:30, I think), but I have no problem with that. I was actually a little too warm in the shelter, but there were no bugs due to the pouring rain. By morning, it was just foggy.

In the older shelter, there was an older woman who I talked to much more the next day. She took one look at the boys and decided to stay in the older shelter, at that point, on her own. Another guy came in after dark, a southbound section hiker, and by the time he came to the newer shelter asking where the heck the water was, everyone was asleep except me. I explained that yes, supposedly it was here, but that we couldn’t find it.

I got going by about 8:00am, which is pretty good for me. Again, the boys were thwarted in their desire for a campfire.

I ran into Lynn (the woman at the other shelter) later on, and we both stopped and ate something at Finerty Pond and then moved on to Upper Goose Pond Shelter.

Now that I have completed the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia up to Sheffield, Massachusetts (where I stopped in 1999), I need to start doing my sections up there instead of in the south. I do not enjoy summer hiking, and spring in New England is mud season, I will be changing my AT section hike from Spring to Fall because of the weather.

I see no reason not to start *this* fall, so I’m planning on doing Sheffield to Bennington, VT in September. It should take me about a week of hiking plus I will lose two days to driving back and forth. If I can afford the time, I might hike a little more since it’s a long drive, but it’s hard to predict what might be going on in September. I’ve actually done Bennington to Danby-Landgrove Road, so I’d have to jump up north farther to add more Vermont mileage on to the trip.

Fall seems pretty distant right now as it’s been really hot the last couple of days.

8/16/1999 ~ Great Barrington, MA (7.2 miles hiked)

OK, this time I’m really done. I’ve had a revelation: I’d rather have a job and all the comforts of home than live outdoors. There is great freedom on the trail, and I’ll certainly miss that, but I now know why man came out of the forests into the cities.

I’ve been wet for a week, as has all my gear (the stuff that really needs to be dry is only slightly damp). I could probably deal with that for a little longer, but what I can’t handle is descending piles of slippery wet rocks. I wiped out several times coming down Jug End, and I keep having these visions of hurting myself and being unable to get off the mountain on my own.  I ended my hike at the Corn Crib on U.S. 7 near Sheffield MA. I celebrated by having a nectarine (OK), a plum (good), and a peach (maybe the best I’ve ever eaten) and some Berkshire Pumpkin Ice Cream, which was great. It’s also something I’ve never seen before, but pumpkin works really well for an ice cream flavor.

I have nothing but respect for people who can hike the whole trail. I can’t imagine the mindset necessary to do six months of what is very difficult hiking (any of you west coast people with your big mountains, I challenge you to hike 100 miles of the AT and then tell me it was easy). Ultimately what got to me was the deprivation, but make no mistake, the hiking is very hard. It’s tremendous work, and it’s virtually constant.

I’ve walked about 400 miles of the AT and I’m proud of that, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish the trail. I don’t want it badly enough for one thing. For another, I’d have to do sections over time, and I think that might be harder than thruhiking. You have to start cold every time, and by the time you get into it, it’s time to go home.

Anyway, best of luck to all the great people I met. Hikers seem to have better dispositions than any group with which I’ve ever had contact. Thanks again to all the people who sent me cards, letters and stuff. It means more out here than you can imagine. I’ve also learned that I don’t hate the East, I just hate Washington. The people in rural areas out here are just as terrific as midwesterners. Of course, I’ve never been to Boston, the largest city in New England, so it’s hard to make a gross generalization, as always. I do love NYC though.

Today, I’ll be taking a bus to Pittsfield, MA then an Amtrak train to Springfield, MA then another Amtrak train to Washington.

8/15 ~ Glen Brook Leanto (2 big miles hiked (Woohoo!) )

Well, I got it together and hiked out. I’d been avoiding Mt. Everett in wet conditions, but it wasn’t getting any drier today.

The ascent of .7 miles and 800 feet took me 45 minutes. That’s a long time, but I didn’t want to fall on those rocks. And it was all rocks going up — rocks like PA rocks. The descent was only rocks for 100 feet, then it changed to gravel. The descent was much easier than I thought it would be. I like when that happens.

I’m heading for Tom Leonard Leanto tomorrow, 13 miles, rain or shine. It’s supposed to be the "AMC Showplace" shelter in this trail section. This shelter is tiny and full. I’m on a tent platform, which works for me. The shelter is in a lovely spot, which is always a plus. It’s a big hemlock grove, my favorite kind of site.

I’m now trying to talk myself into cooking dinner. I’m hungry, but it’s wet out, and that just makes everything a little harder. I sure can’t complain about being hot. I sweated a lot coming up Everett (or maybe not that much — 100% humidity means all of it hangs around), but cooled way down on the descent. Now I’m actually cold. I guess cooking food would be a good idea.

8/14 ~ Race Brook Campsite (about 8 miles hiked)

Rumor has it that there is a brook here, one that has falls even. We couldn’t find it, but the boys were nice enough to bring me a couple of liters of what they did find. It’s filterable, so it will do for me. I have a bit to drink while I let the dirt settle out of this.

I met these two guys at Riga, Rock and Salty Bear. Rock has done all the trail from Springer, but Salty Bear skipped the middle third and is just getting back on. They are taking it slow, and they are good guys, so we hiked together today.

Today was a real bitch because the thunderstorm make the mossy rocks super slick. It’s like they were *oiled*. The climb up Bear Mtn (yes, another Bear Mt, this one is the highest point in CT at 2500 ft or so) wasn’t bad, but the decent was evil and wiped out a few times. It was godawful muggy all day. There was no view from Riga this morning and the long views today were all socked in pretty well with fog. Sages Ravine was very pretty, but with all the rocks and roots wet, it was tough hiking even though it was mostly flat.

It’s pouring again, but I’m now in MA, so I guess that’s something. I’ve never been here before, after all.

I’ve been unable to dry my clothes or pack for days, and the pack is so soaked with sweat that it’s getting through to my sleeping bag. I know that’s really gross, but it’s true. I’ll probably stay at this site as long as I can tomorrow and try to dry out my gear. Overall, the stretch of heavy humidity is making me miserable, and I want to quit.

Maybe things will look better tomorrow.

8/15/1999 ~ 9am, Race Brook

Things look slightly better. It’s raining again (it stopped for a few hours early this morning), but since I’ve decided to take the day off (or nearly so), I don’t care.  There is a privy here, so that’s pretty good. I couldn’t see it yesterday because it was dark and raining when we got here at 5pm. Also, I set my tent up on a platform, so I’ve got drainage for the rain. That is a very good thing.

I’m still amazed that I managed to pitch this tent on a wooden deck, but it worked out perfectly. I also got the best night’s sleep I’ve gotten since coming back out on the trail.  

Salty Bear and Rock took off about 15 minutes ago. I really feel for them. I know Rock needs to make the miles, but it’s a lousy day to hike over Mt. Everett. It’s like Bear Mt. yesterday - rocks all the way. Very hard in the rain.

I may go on to Glen Brook Leanto later this afternoon if it dries out a little. That’s only 2 miles, basically up and over Everett.

I want to hit Upper Goose Pond Cabin on a weekday, and it’s 3 hiking days away, and I need to get there before 5pm. I should be there Wednesday.