Jul 11 - Massachusetts

DAY #115
START LOCATION: Kay Wood Lean-to
FINISH LOCATION: Mark Noepel Lean-to
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 16.7
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,573.3
MILES TO GO: 605.8

Smokestack, Fredo and I started breaking camp at 6AM. This was clutch.
Like I mentioned yesterday, we were passing directly through not one
but two towns today... Dalton and Cheshire. I knew we'd get hung up
longer than we'd hope in both towns. We were on the trail by 7:15... A
great start.

Dalton is 3 miles north of Kay Wood, so we'd be there in less than an
hour. This allowed us to just pound the last of our water and not
carry any... The rarest of occurrences. Between that and the zero food
left in my feedbag, my pack was by far the lightest it's ever been. It
felt glorious. The mountain was shrouded in a light fog on the way
down to town. The morning sun shone through the trees in some places
like the stained glass windows of a church. It made for some fantastic
photos. Even stopping to take some pics, we were down to the road by
8:05. Smoke yelled up to me as he arrived... Trail magic. It was sodas
left in a cooler for us. This was the first trail magic I'd seen since
New Jersey. I had a ginger ale as I sat on a railroad track, Smoke got
out his map of Dalton and strategized our breakfast options.

Dalton is home to the Crane papermaking company. You may have seen
their work... Just open your wallet. The little Crane Co. produces the
paper for all the US currency for the entire country. You'd never
guess it from all the dumpy factory buildings. We met a local trail
angel, Tom Levaldi, as we walked past his house. He directed us to a
little coffee house that served hot breakfast. We all got breakfast
burritos. Smoke and I had two each. A cool thing happened here too.
Smoke allowed a woman to cut in front of him in line. The waitress
came by later and gave him a little envelope. The woman bought him a
$10 coffee house gift card for his good deed. Smoke shared it with me
and we had some delicious smoothies to wash down our burritos. It was
a really nice gesture on both their parts.

Smoke and I did some awful resupply at a Cumberland Farms convenience
store. It was expensive and not very hiker friendly. But, we only
needed a little bit for our 1 1/2 days to Bennington, VT. We pushed
the 8 mile up and down to Cheshire in about 3 hours. The weather was
nice and sunny but the trail was very overgrown. It was still a nice
hike anyway. Met some nice folks dayhiking that section too.

We pulled into Cheshire and stopped at a little ice cream stand to
cool off and ask directions to our lunch spot. It was a little Italian
bar and grille where we knew we'd find Fredo watching the World Cup
final. I opted for the Red Sox game. We enjoyed a small pizza each and
as we finished, Smoke announced a cool surprise as he was talking to
Panda on the phone. Her and Jenn were pulling into Cheshire
momentarily. They were fresh off moving Jenn into her new apartment in
New York near the Mass border. We had a few drinks and a few laughs.
It was a nice surprise. Jenn and Panda dropped Smoke, Fredo and I back
at the trail at 6:30 PM. We were dreading the remaining 4+ miles of
the evening. It was an 1,800' climb to Mark Noepel.

The climb was steep initially. We took it quickly because the bugs
were miserable. The weather was on our side though. It was cool and
the sun was setting. We pulled into Mark Noepel by 8:15. This was a
1hr 45min hike over 4 miles and 1,800'. We were ecstatic to learn we
hadn't lost our climbing ability... This considering we hadn't done
this big of a climb since Virginia.

We have the shelter to ourselves. But, it's empty. We opted to camp at
the area tentsites, whch are posh... Fire rings and wooden tent
platforms. Pure luxury.

We'll be summitting Mt. Greylock by 9AM tomorrow morning. I'm excited,
because I've always wanted to climb this mountain and see the highest
point in Massachusetts. I'm told it's a nice summit. Then, we make our
descent for Vermont. The excitement continues to build!

-natedog