START LOCATION: Mark Noepel Lean-to
FINISH LOCATION: Seth Warner Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 16.5
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,589.9
MILES TO GO: 589.3
Fantastic sleep at the M-No last night. I woke Fredo and Smokestack up
with some tunes from my phone. It was well received. I got some nice
spring water for Smoke and I, we packed up our stuff, had a quick
breakfast and hit the trail by 8AM. I'm proud to say that this start
time is now late for us. We had some extra spring in our step this
morning. We'd summit Mt. Greylock, we'd cross into Vermont and it was
our last full day of hiking before our nero and zero in Arlington, VT.
The 3 mile hike up to Greylock was a fun little stretch. It had the
ups, downs, twists and turns that we love so much. We got a bit ahead
of Fredo, but regrouped with him on a quick break about a mile before
the summit and headed up there all together. The weather was beautiful
as we reached the top. A large, distinctive tower sits atop the
summit. It represents not only the highest point in Massachusetts at
elevation 3,491' but also serves primarily as a fallen war hero and
veteran memorial. Adjacent to the tower sits the Bascom Lodge. It is a
beautiful, well-crafted and stout two-story stone structure that
contains a hotel, bunkhouse and small restaurant.
Arrival at 9:30AM meant the latter was our primary interest. We
strolled into the dining room and immediately got some unwelcoming
stares from the dozen or so retired-looking patrons peppered
throughout the small place. But, the head cook came out, immediately
tagged us as thru-hikers and warmly welcomed us in and congratulated
our arrival. At this, the sentiment in the room changed. The
customers' discontent immediately switched to curiosity and awe as
questions popped up from around the room. We told a few of our
stories, happily answered their questions and thanked them for their
well-wishes. A few of them even approached us after to talk more in-
depth. It was great to talk with them. We enjoyed delicious coffee,
eggs, sausage, home fries, muffins and toast all the while.
Outside, we headed to the memorial tower and climbed it's 89 sprial
steps to the observation deck. From this vantage point we could see
the towns of North Adams, Williamstown, Albany NY, the Taconic
Mountain Range, the Green Mountains, the Catskills, Mt. Monadnock and
a slew of other interest points. It was absolutely beautiful. The
three of us were stinky shutterflies up there.
After our two hour summit break, we made our way down another 3+ miles
to Wilbur Clearning Lean-to which would be our lunch stop and last
Mass. shelter. We spent another two hours there thinking we'd skip
past MA Route 2's Super Stop and Shop. But the heat, the steep 4.5
miles down and a late afternoon hunger proved too much for our
resistance. We stopped in and got deli sandwiches and some other high
calorie hiker favorites. As we wrapped up our binge eating, Mimi and
some sectioning brothers from Connecticut pulled in. We hadn't seen
Mimi in quite some time so it was cool to catch up with her goings on.
At 5:30PM we made our 1,700' high and 3+ mile push up to the Vermont
border. We arrived at 7PM and we took another long break to celebrate
entering what is the climax of every northbound thru-hiker's trip...
Northern New England. Our friends Mello-yellow and Turtle were there
too. It was a lot of fun talking up the excitement of the Green
Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This
spot also serves as the southern terminus of the Long Trail. It is the
oldest long distance hiking trail in the US and it's 273 miles tours
Vermont from the MA border to the Canadian Border. It shares AT for
it's first 105 miles.
We pulled into Seth Warner Shelter amidst darkness to find it
absolutely jam-packed. There's at least 20 hikers here... a stark
contrast to the three of us at last night's Mark Noepel. It turns out
that nearly all of the people here are Long Trail starters. So, our
late dinner conversation was answering questions on gear and other
topics to help the first day-er's. It was cool to help them out.
Early day tomorrow... We have 11 1/2 miles to VT-9 where Smoke and I
will meet my Dad and Panda for some well-deserved and much needed time
off. It will be great to introduce my new close friends to my family.
I'm especially excited to see my Dad for the first time since Day 0
(March 2) of this hike. The last time I saw him, he gave me a hug in
the middle of a blizzard in north Georgia and wished me the best on my
journey. Four months and one thousand six hundred miles later, I'll be
proud to show him that, thus far, his wish is granted.
-natedog
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