Holy shit we’re in Massachusetts
Day 107:
Well if I thought yesterdays wake up was damp, today was damper. And it was almost a little bit chilly. Almost, but it’s getting there as we go north. It made it kinda hard to get out of bed, but I managed it in the end. I couldn’t bring myself to put my wet clothes from yesterday back on, so I put on my other set of clothes and got going. Unfortunately, I left my packs rain cover at the shelter. Hopefully it doesn’t rain before I can get that back.
The day, unlike yesterday, started with a nice pleasant downhill. But that didn’t last long. Soon enough I was climbing again. But the climbed have nicely transitioned from steep and short back to long and high and shallow. I prefer it this way. Better to climb 3000 feet over 2 miles than 1000 feet in 0.5. At least that’s my opinion. And the climb went pretty quick. I passed a nice lake on the way by, I swear I’ve seen one ever day since new jersey. It’s crazy.

The downhill on the other side of the mountain was much steeper than the climb had been. It was also through fields and fields of ferns, which made the mountain seem like it fell away for forever. It was kind of a cool sensation. But my quads were feeling it by the time I got to the bottom. I had a quick lunch at the campsite in the other side. Lunch has become easier to eat, which is good. I think I needed to get away from tortillas for a bit.
I found out at lunch that there was a snack stand about a mile after where I stopped. That’s annoying, I would’ve pushed on if I had known. But oh well, I may as well stop anyway. So after another brief climb, I landed at the snack shack. There was a pretty big crowd there, with some of the new friends me and Lindsey had made recently. So I hung out there and ate and drank for a good long while. I only had 5 miles left to do, so I sat there til probably around 2:30.
Eventually it was time to get going again. But the last 6.5 miles absolutely flew. It was super super easy, and I made it in about 3 hours. The shelter we were staying at tonight was cool. It was more of a cabin than anything, with fully enclosed walls and legit beds upstairs. There was a caretaker there who checked us in, which felt very official. Cool app to stay, would recommend.
After dinner, Me, Lindsey, and some friends of ours (shoutout Chappie Hawaii and Red Maple) decided to check out canoes and go paddle around the lake. Did I mention the shelter was right on a lake? Also that there were canoes? It was great. Not a much better way to end the day. After that the sun had set, which meant it was time to go to sleep.
As we were paddling back from the lake, I get this really intense, overwhelming melancholy feeling. It was like a feeling of loneliness, only I was with a whole bunch of friends. I’m not a stranger to this feeling. In fact, it’s an old friend at this point. But I’ve never really been able to figure out where it comes from. There’s no pattern that I’ve noticed as to when it happens. But yeah, I kinda hate it. It makes it hard to interact with people. Fortunately it was bedtime, so I didn’t have to do much of it today.
Quote of the day: “Steve Irwin died for this”
Today I’m grateful for canoes, crocs, and mattresses.
Day 108:
I woke up early today. Turns out when you have a bunch of people sleeping in really close proximity, when one gets up they all get up. Whoda thunk. I was tired, and I lay around for awhile before accepting that I had to get up. Fortunately, the caretaker was kind enough to make us pancakes, so that made the wake up easier. At least a little bit.
Lindsey and I hit the road around 7:15. We only had about 1.5 miles to go before we were stopping again to pick up our next resupply packages at a motel down the rod. We got there quickly enough, and got our packages. We hung out for a little bit, but pushed in quickly enough. There wasn’t a lot to do at the lodge, so we didn’t want to hang around long.
It was only 6 miles to our next destination; the cookie lady. Who’s the cookie lady? Well she’s really a cookie family. They live right next to the trail, and allow hiker to come hang out on their property, and provide snacks and cold drinks. It was very very lovely of them. We sat there for a long time, because it was such a short day and we only had a few miles left to do. Lindsey took off a little before me, but I left there around 3.
The next 6 miles were EASY. Like easy easy. I did all 6 or so in just over 2 hours. To be honest, it was a teeny bit boring. Most of today kinda was. It was pretty flat, and there weren’t many views. But it was still very pretty. I got to the shelter pretty early, which peeved me a little as I would’ve loved to have kept going. But that’s the was it go sometimes. Can’t do much else about it.

I woke up in a really bad mood today. Why? No clue. Was it a residual from how I was feeling when I went to sleep last night? Potentially. But this was a different feeling. Maybe I was just tired. But I really didn’t want to be around d anyone for a bit of the morning. But Lindsey and I went off together this morning, so I wasn’t getting any of that. I think that worked out better, because it didn’t really let me stew on it. By the time we got to the motel my kids he cleared, which was good. That’s the nice thing about the trail. Feel bad? Go for a walk.
Quote of the day: “Just don’t watch me while I sleep”
Today I’m grateful for cookies, hammocks, and anything that kills blackflies.
Day 109:
Well I tried to sleep in today, but it didn’t really work. I slept with no rain fly last night, so the light came pouring in pretty early. From there it was a short struggle before I decided to finally get up and get moving. The morning was a little chilly, but not exactly cold. The real problem was that I discovered my water bottle had been leaking into my shoes overnight, and there was quite literally a puddle in one of them. So that was a pleasant way to start the day.
It only took me an hour to do the 3 miles down to town. Once I was there I hopped off trail to visit the cafe and have a quick morning snack. I’ve got all the time in the world today, so I might as well use it. I had a smoothie which was pretty darn good. I also picked up a sandwich from the sun place next door for lunch, so I was pretty stoked about that. Got going again around 9:30.
The middle of the day was supposedly hard, but it really didn’t feel like it. There was a 7.5 mile climb up and over a ridge line, but the climb was super easy. I cruised up it in less than an hour. I stopped about half way through for lunch. To be honest, the sandwich was a little disappointing. Not great bread, the rest of it was fine. But anyway there was a nice overlook of the next town right as the down climb started, so that was pretty.
I met Lindsey outside an ice cream shop on the outskirts of town. Of course, I got ice cream, and then we headed over to a gas station to use the bathroom and get some snacks. We sat there for a little while, charged our stuff up and then got under way. We only had like 4.4 miles left on the day, but they were straight up hill, so they could take a while.

Except they simply did not. The climb was, again, quote easy. We cruised up that thing in no time. Even after 2 pretty lengthy stops we still made it to the shelter by 4. The rest of the day was super uneventful. Just sitting around, hanging out.
Today was a really ho hum day. The hiking was fine enough, and the first town stop was fine. But to be honest, I didn’t love just sitting next to a gas station for an hour or so. I would’ve rather been hiking. And even AFTER that, we still got to the shelter at 4? I really wanted to hike on, but we stopped. So a little disappointed about that. And none of our friends are really at this shelter anyways so there’s not many people to talk to or much to do. I’m a little frustrated about it. But it is what it is.
Quote of the day: “If I put a gummy bear in my water bottle I think it’ll taste like Lacroix.”
Today I’m grateful for smoothies, milkshakes, and quads.
Day 110:
Today, for the first time since Virginia, we cross the 3000 foot mark. That’s pretty damn cool if you ask me. I got
up pretty early, but we only had 10 miles to do today, so I sat around camp for a while anyway. Around 7:30 was when I started my climb.
We actually did most of the climbing last night, so it wasn’t super bad in the morning. I had about 3 miles to go before I finally reached the summit of Mt. Greylock. Like Connecticut, Massachusetts has no concept of switchbacks, so it was pretty straight up, but it wasn’t particularly steep. I summited in about and hour and fifteen minutes. The view at the top was gorgeous. I had almost forgotten what a nice view off the top of a mountain looked like.

I was about 2 miles down the other side of the mountain when I ran into lindsey. We spent the rest of the morning slowly working our way down. It was really killer on the quads. There were also an insane amount of bugs. Like, when I went to swat them away, the cloud of them gave my hand substantial resistance. Starting to think a big net may be a good idea, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Around 11:30 we arrived at the road crossing that would lead us to where we were staying for the next couple nights. It was about a 2 miles walk into town, but we had like 3 hours before our check in time anyways, so we decided to just go for it rather than try and call a shuttle. Plus we stopped at the super market to pick up resupply stuff. And half a watermelon each. That was crucial.
The rest of the day was very chill. We hung out at the motel, and then walked into the town of Williamstown to get dinner and see the fireworks! It’s a cute little college town, but REALLY small. Like,’one street tour small. But the fireworks were really nice. After that, we went back to the motel and crashed.
It was kinda nice to hop back into a town again after a while. And nice to go see the fireworks. It almost felt like we were normal people again. I think I’m ready to feel like that soon.
Quote of the day: “It so gay. Yknow, positively”
Today I’m grateful for turf, fireworks, and stop and shop.
Day 111:
Zero day today, so they’re really not much to tell. We walked into town again to pick up Lindsey’s new shoes, get me a new rain cover, and wander for a bit. After that we just went back to the hotel and sat around snacking and watching mythbusters on the tv. Pretty ideal zero if you ask me.
Today I’m grateful for Finding Bigfoot, natures closet, and watermelon.
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