Massachusetts

Other than confusion caused by a lack of white blazes on Tuesday (7-5), the morning went well as we reached Salisbury, CT by 11:30 AM.  We stayed at a person's house who rents out three rooms to hikers.  I showered, did laundry, resupplied, and stopped at the library to use the computer.  It was a short day in that we only went 10.5 miles.  We began hiking at 7 AM on Wednesday (7-6) with both of our backpacks weighing an additional 6-7 pounds due to all the food we bought in Salisbury.  The weather forecast was calling for a 90 degree day with possible thunderstorms.  It didn't seem that hot and we didn't have any rain so that was nice.  We had two 1,000 feet climbs and one 700 foot climb over steep and rocky ground.  In the late morning we crossed in to Massachusetts.

Since we weren't near a shelter at lunch, we ate just a step from the narrow path of the AT under a pine tree for shade.  We reached Glen Brook Lean-To (a shelter) at 3:45 PM and set up our tents for the night.  We hiked 14.2 miles.  We hit the 1,500 mile mark so that means there is less than 700 miles to go!  Thursday (7-7) started at 6:40 AM for us.  Pilgrim had arranged for us to meet Steve and Carol Ide.  They picked us up for breakfast in Egremont, MA.  They bought us breakfast (trail magic) at Mom's Country Cafe.  They performed professionally with Arlo Guthrie for seven years.  Steve played the guitar and bass and Carol sang.  It was fun to talk with them.  The trail had two climbs of 900 feet and one 1,300 foot one too.  We also enjoyed trail magic of Gatorade in the afternoon.  The trail had many boardwalks over wetlands.  We finished our day at 5:45 PM and tented at Tom Leonard Lean-To.  We hiked 14.3 miles.  Friday (7-8) was a very overcast day.  Once again we walked through several miles of wetlands.  Pilgrim accidentally stepped off the boardwalk once but fortunately, he was OK.  There were two 900 foot climbs.  It started to rain in the afternoon.  My clothes were completely soaked but thankfully most of my gear stayed dry.  We made it to the Upper Goose Pond Cabin at 5:30PM.  It is a two-story cabin with a fireplace which can house up to 20 hikers.  It is run by a caretaker named Bonnie.  The cabin was full although several people staying there were out-of-state friends of Bonnie.  We hiked 21.2 miles.  On Saturday (7-9) Bonnie prepared coffee and delicious blueberry pancakes for everyone at the cabin.  Pilgrim and I started our hike at 7:30 AM.  It was a difficult day because of tree roots and a great deal of mud caused by the rain on Friday.  There were many boardwalks over the muddy areas, but there needed to be many, many more.  My shoes had mud completely covering the laces.  The good news was that there was not much increase in elevation.  We had lunch at the house of the "cookie lady."  She gives hikers who stop at her house oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Pilgrim and I devoured four cookies each.  We ate lunch at her picnic table in the shade with a cool breeze blowing.  It was a relaxing and delightful lunch.  Then we hiked into Dalton, MA where we stayed at the house of Rob Bird who opens his home to thru-hikers.  He did our laundry and took us to Walmart and Price Chopper to resupply.  It was another long hiking day and we went 20.6 miles.  On Sunday (7-10) we felt the need to have an easy day since we had gone more than 40 miles over the last two days.  After breakfast at Rob's house (he calls it The Bird Cage) Pilgrim, Badger (a WI grad) and I were shuttled 8.7 miles north to Cheshire.  We then hiked on the trail back to Rob's house in Dalton so we could spend another night at The Bird Cage.  It was an enjoyable stay.  We hiked 8.7 miles.