Father Tom Campsite 1582.1 to Seth Warner Shelter 1603.6 (21.5 miles, 578.2 total miles)
It was a really great morning, because I got up at 5:30 and saw a small paper bag perched on the chair next to me with my clean, dry, folded clothes inside and a few snacks from the Polish Hermit. My tent was also the only one that had been under the big tent all night, so it was dry as well. It was a big morale boost to start today.
I was the first one of the Cult to start packing, and I had some leftover Chinese food from the night before, pop tarts and an energy bar for breakfast. Jedi hiked out a little before me, wanting to complete the 8 miles up to Mount Greylock, get his resupply done, and hit camp quickly. It was going to be a 21 mile day including Greylock, and I just knew it was going to be a long day for me.
There was a little road walking through Cheshire, and then the trail took me through several fields. My socks and shoes that had been previously dry were soon soaked from walking through the wet grass and brush. Fog was lifting over the mountains around me, and the sun was just coming out. It was going to be a hot, sunny day.
As I climbed up Greylock, I remembered why it had hit me so powerfully when I climbed a portion of it last time on the Appalachian Trail. I climbed Greylock last year, however I took a totally different trail. Something about being on the Appalachian Trail on this mountain is incredibly special. The trail seems to change into a different world after you’ve been hiking it for hundreds of miles, and then see nature change around you so suddenly as you hike.
Mount Greylock is more of an alpine zone than anything we’ve done in a very long time on this trail for everyone else, and for me the first time since I’ve been on the trail in 2016. The trail turns into a plethora of pine forest, and it actually smelled like Christmas while I was hiking. There were still ferns and little brush here and there, however stunted pines trees began to appear as I climbed higher.
I passed the little pond near the summit, and the road up a couple times, and caught everyone but Jedi, who was ahead, and Piñata who was behind, for a few minutes up top. I had made the 8 miles uphill in four hours, which I was pleased with. It wasn’t steep almost at all, just a long ascent. There was no real view at first, though parts of it could be seen through the clouds.
I sat and ate some snacks for a bit longer, and all the day hikers/drivers appeared at once. They all stood in front of the view, but the clouds finally cleared and I could see the whole view. I had an enjoyable moment listening to a really good song, watching the clouds dance and lift over the town and mountains below.
It was 6.3 miles down to the town of North Adams, which is a really nice place I’d been a few times before, to Stop n Shop to resupply half a mile off trail. It was a very easy downhill, and I didn’t see any other hikers after a quarter-mile from the summit. My food bag had almost nothing in it, and I found myself jogging down the trail in a couple places, feeling like nothing was on my back.
I descended into town, and passed Mismatch and Catfish on my way to the road that would take me to Stop n Shop. I called Platinum and found out everyone was at the store, and most of the group hadn’t been there for too long. I had made pretty good time.
It was a half mile walk into town, and I held out my thumb as I walked when cars passed by, just save myself as much of the walk as possible. When I was about .2 from the store, a man in a Ridgeline stopped and picked me up and drove me to the parking lot, where I saw my friends hanging out. His name was Jack and he was very nice, and even gave me a small bag of harvest cheddar Sunchips.
I did my shopping with Neon, for a four-day resupply. I tried to do like I had last done and get just enough to last me to town. I also grab some turkey sliders and a caffeinated seltzer for second lunch.
The whole resupply process took a while, unpackaging and bagging everything for my food bag. Piñata arrived, and everyone headed out shortly after except me and Neon. When I was just sitting down to eat my sandwich, a young man yelled to me across the parking lot, under the impression I was another hiker that he knew.
He found out I was not that hiker, but we had a short conversation and he told me he was starting the Long Trail that day. The AT follows half of the Long Trail through Vermont, and the rest of the Long Trail goes another 160 miles or so to the Canadian border.
As I was sitting with Neon and Piñata, and finishing my food, the Long Trail hiker, whose name was Easy, pulled up in his car and asked if we needed to go anywhere before he parked it at the trail head. We said it would be great to get to the trail, and we helped him shake down his bag a little.
It was a tight squeeze, but we fit our gear and ourselves into his small sedan, and he drove us a half mile to the trail head. It was 4:45 by the time we were back on the trail, and we still had 7 miles to go, including a long, steep 2000 foot climb. All of our bags were feeling very uncomfortably heavy, and my bag was at least 8 pounds heavier with food than it had been in the beginning of the day. I fully expected the rest of the evening to suck, and to arrive at camp very late.
It felt like it took forever to get up the incline. Although I had my buff covering my ears and my sunglasses on, there were gnats just absolutely clouded around me even after applying copious amounts of bug spray. The day had become very hot, though cooler in the woods, and I was only going a mile and a half per hour, so it took me almost 2 hours to get to the top of the ridge. There was a bonus super rocky area right before the top to navigate as well.
It was 6:30, and I still had just over 4 miles to go, which meant I would indeed be getting to camp around sunset, if I was lucky. I whined to myself in the woods, but all things considered my feet and ankles were still doing very well with the extra weight, the fact that I had run on the trail earlier, and also that I was now on my third 20 mile day in a row.
My phone battery was dying because I had listened to music and podcasts all day, but I didn’t care I just had to get through the day. After resting on the ridge for a few minutes, I made my way past the 1600 mark, and to the Vermont border. I’d been to that sign one or two times before, but I had to stop and get a few pictures while I was there. It is also the southern terminus of the Long Trail.
2.8 to go, and I just wanted it to be over with. It was relatively easy, with barely a couple ascents and descents on the map. I watched the sunset obscured by trees to my left, and listened to my ankles protest their abuse. Carrying the full food bag had been quite a job for them.
It was definitely getting dark around 8:45 when I finally finished the bonus .2 to the shelter. I saw Speedgoat, Pinata, and Neon, the latter two having arrived over a full hour before me. My ego took the hit just fine, too tired to care much. Neon helped me set up my tent, and I let him use my micro pump to blow up his sleeping pad.
I was on the fence if I would eat dinner or not, knowing I should, but feeling lazy and not wanting to cook in the dark. There were two nice older women section hikers staying in the shelter very close to my tent who said they wouldn’t mind if I cooked.
So I got everything set up, made and ate ramen with a packet of chicken and an oatmeal cream pie sitting on the ground outside my tent by headlamp. I was still hungry, but my meals were planned, so I put my food bag away in the bear box.
It was 9:22 when I was settled in my tent, I had rushed everything. However, the day was over so I was happy. I had climbed two very large mountains, one with a full food bag, I’d completed Massachusetts, I kept up with the group for the majority of the day, I had made it to camp safely, and knocked out another big day. I’d let myself sleep in a smidge in the morning, and eat a big breakfast to rebuild my energy. Tomorrow looked easier terrain wise, and just four more days till a day off.