"Anger is as a stone cast..."

"...into a wasp's nest."
-Pope Paul VI

August 13, 2001

Did Kent, CT.

I did my laundry for the first time since Hanover, NH -> 19 days.  It makes a big difference having clean clothes.

On the way into Kent, CT, I passed over Caleb's Peak.

The only thing I remember about Caleb's Peak was that as I sat down to eat a snack, a yellow jacket stung me.

This made me mad.  I followed it to it's nest, a hole in the ground, and poured the rest of my stove fuel down the hole and lit it.

Guess I would need to find stove fuel in Kent.

I was also trying to get new water drops, since I had been using iodine for awhile, and it isn't good to use it long term.  I had ordered Aqua Mira from CampMor and had it shipped to Kent...

CampMor sent my water purification drops to the post office via UPS.  Obviously, it got returned.

I told them to send it to Vernon, NJ and got the postage fee waived.

Rain, rain, rain.  Supposed to get sunny.

"You don't need to know how to work a telephone..."

"...switch to make a phone call, or how to use the Hoover Dam to take a shower, or how to work a nuclear-power plant to turn on the lights."

-Scott McNealy

August 12, 2001

A 21.6 mile day.  It rained from 6 am to 9 am so I slept in.

iron bridge over Housatonic River

Let me set the stage for what comes next.

I had not had a shower since July 25 when I was in Hanover, NH.

Being August 12, it has been well over two weeks of hot weather with no shower.  I'm even offending myself with my own smell.

And then I came upon the Falls Village Dam:

Falls Village Dam

And after crossing the dam I find an ivy-covered wall with a shower head:

I got a shower at the hydro-power plant.  They had an outdoor shower there.

Those are my socks and shirt hanging up there.  Don't worry, my shorts stayed on the whole time!

I wrung out my shirt about a dozen times before the water came out mostly clear.  It was so good to be clean again!

"Rest is not idleness,..."

"...and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
-J. Lubbock

August 11, 2001

Some nights it's where you stop.

Rand's View in Connecticut

I'm taking Ladder's advice [Ladder was a northbounder] tonight and camping on top of a mountain.  I'm on top of Prospect Mountain listening to Prairie Home Companion, eating creamy tomato Ramen and M&M, mixed-nuts gorp, looking out over northern Connecticut.

Camped out on Prospect Mountain

It's peaceful with cool air flowing through oaks bringing a desire to relax.

"The rebellion in Massachusetts..."

"...is a warning, gentlemen."
-James Madison, referring to Shay's Rebellion

August 10, 2001

I filled up the water bags at Benedict Pond, had breakfast, and drank a root beer.  

Hiked to US 7 where the Corncrib is (it's a plant nursery/fruit stand).  I had 5 plums, 3 peaches, 2 pieces of fudge, orange soda, and root beer.  It threatened rain but it wan't bad.

The Corncrib stand is in Sheffield, MA, near this monument:

Final battle of Shay's Rebellion

The monument is the location of the final battle of Shay's Rebellion in which 30 rebels lost their lives.  This rebellion set in the mind of many of our forefathers that we needed a stronger central government, leading to the demise of the Articles of Confederation and the birth of our Constitution.

At Jug End Road I filled the water at a piped spring, and then climbed Jug End.  It was straight up and felt like 2000 feet (I think it was just over 1000 feet).  I was soaked it was so humid.

View from Jug's End

Jug End's name came from the German "jugend" which means "youth" (see history here).  There used to be a barn and ski slope (with two rope pulls instead of lifts), but is now simply a beautiful reserve in SW Massachusetts.

Today, I did 19.7 Trail miles.  With the side trip to Benedict Pond it was 20.7 miles.  All on one of the hottest, most humid days of the year!

"When the well is dry,..."

"...we know the worth of water."
-Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1746

August 9, 2001

Very dry.

Dry swamp in Massachusetts (and camera starting to go bad)

The dryness that had begun this year, would lead to an official drought by October 2001 and result in water restrictions throughout Massachusetts (and other Northeast states).

Several springs were still flowing, but it would not be that way by the time I reached New York...

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way..."

"...To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day:
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!"

-excerpt from Blueberries by Robert Frost

August 8, 2001

So, I left off on August 7, 2001 arriving and staying at the Cookie Lady's place, a blueberry farm run by Rosalyn and Roy.  After sleeping in their yard under a beautiful sky of stars (the Eastern US was entering a drought...so no risk of rain), we awoke to the quiet that enfolds a field full of hundreds of blueberry bushes.

from here

I fired up my alcohol stove and cooked up some oatmeal.  As I was about to dig in, I looked around and grabbed a handful of blueberries and enjoyed them with my breakfast.

A little while later Roy came out, and I told him I had grabbed a handful of the berries and asked what I owed him.  He said, don't worry about it;  then he gave me two gallon-sized ziploc bags and said to fill them:

Roy had me pick a lot of blueberries to take to Good Pond Cabin because they make pancakes in the morning.  

Thank you Roy!  God bless him and the Cookie Lady.

Cookie Lady's place from this cool blog.

Goose Pond Cabin:

That's where I am now.  There are bunks in the cabin and I even got to take a canoe out on the lake during sunset.

Before I took the canoe out, I tried something I'd always wanted to try:

I took my Therm-a-rest out on the lake.

Yep.  Worked like a charm.  I floated out on the lake way out into the middle...just me and my Therm-a-rest.  When I realized all of the speed boats were starting to come back, I swiftly paddled back to shore and got the canoe.

I really wish I had a picture of me out in the middle of that lake on my Therm-a-rest!

Blueberry pancakes in the morning...

"The trees are God's great alphabet:..."

"...With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene."
-Leonora Speyer

August 7, 2001

Giants

I walk among Giants.

I tread across their toes,

Like a spider across my toes,

Yet they flinch not.

As I walk with head down,

At times I risk a look at

Their celestial heights

And beauty,

But I trip

Over their toes,

And land face-first

In the dirt.

Yet they do not laugh,

But with the wind

They applaud

not facetiously,

But like a best friend

They approve even in my

failure.

Old & gnarled,

Young & smooth,

Their faces change

As I walk,

But their hearts are the same.

They are the Giants,

And I walk among them.

I was inspired to write this poem after a literal hiking "trip".  One of my feet caught a root, sending me to the forest floor.  It was nice not to have others around to see, and I considered how the trees politely refused to laugh.

Dalton library was my source of email goodness today.  After that I walked to the Cookie Lady's place which is a blueberry farm run by Rosalyn (Cookie Lady) and Roy.  They let us (Dragon, Greensinger, and I) tent there as is usual for hikers.

"The first requisite of a good citizen..."

"...in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight."
-Theodore Roosevelt

August 6, 2001

Ah, the town of Cheshire.

I headed there after breakfast at Bascom Lodge on Mt. Greylock.  Met Ed there.

Bascom Lodge on Mt. Greylock (image from here)

I, honestly, forgot all about visiting this place.  I don't think I even expected to find it either, but I do remember the bench to the right of the main door.

Pretty sure I ate my instant oatmeal on that bench.

I must say it is a lovely place; however, I unfortunately did not eat a large cooked breakfast from their kitchens.  Not sure why I didn't, except I was likely in a hurry to make the Post Office in Cheshire for my food drop...

In Cheshire, I did "pack surgery" and a sleeping bag switch.

This is when I fully converted from human into "thru-hiker".  In my food drop came a felt sleeping bag that I had bought from Walmart weighing 2 pounds less than my sleeping bag.  I had planned to switch sleeping bags since it was now fully into a warm summer.

You cannot understand what shedding 2 pounds means to a thru-hiker.  Seriously.  Walk 100 miles with 30 pounds, and then another 100 with 28 pounds, and you will understand.

I got greedy...I started cutting off random straps off of my pack; I founds some pockets in the pack I never used, so I cut them out; I traded a fuel bottle out for a lighter-weight soda bottle; and I sent home a thick rope for some parachute cord.

All that extra weight was sent in the mail to my parents, and I left Cheshire about 4 pounds lighter.  This is like attaching 8 helium balloons to my pack filled with 60 cubic feet of helium!

In 2001, between 60,000 and 75,000 drivers..."

"...competed in at least one of the 2,000 demolition derbies held that year in the United States."
-Los Angeles Times

August 5, 2001

Intending to eat at Pizza Hut for lunch, Lemming and I walked into North Adams, Massachusetts.

However, something caught our eye.

We both saw a blue derby car on a trailer at a gas station nearby.  We both remembered hearing that a Demolition Derby would be taking place that day at the Maggie Fair, and so we walked over and inquired about it.

The driver of the car told us to hop onboard, so we did:

Lemming and the blue derby car

Into N. Adams and the Maggie Fair.  They have llamas, sheep, horses, and donkeys.  I learned the types of sheep:  Dorset, Romney, Hampshire, and Shropshanks (sp?).  Romney are for wool and the rest for meat.

It was lots of fun at the fair, with good "Carney Food", as my wife would call it. :-)

I even got a picture with someone famous:

Smokey and Viking

We have a Demolition Derby going on at 2 pm.  We skipped Pizza Hut for this.  Yeah!

Our blue car taking care of business in the derby

These guys were furiously trying to repair their vehicle to make the next round.

Our blue car would get hauled off by a tractor after too much damage.

Notice the fire extinguishers ready for use

Action!  All the cars go in reverse to keep their engines safe in the front.

Waiting for the final round.

Our blue car before it got demolished.

One of the final rounds

At the D. Derby, Lemming and I ran into the couple (Foot's Afire and Easy Does It [Nobos]) who told us about it.  They gave us a ride back to the Pizza Hut where L. and I then had supper.

After supper, I climbed up to Greylock's Ridge and camped short of the summit on a rocky overlook.  My first night really alone (not at a campsite or something.)

view from Mount Greylock

The ascent was steep - it felt like Katahdin!  On the way up I saw a porcupine coming down the switchback.  It got to the corner, stopped, sent a long and sideways look my way, and headed down off the Trail.

The next morning, I woke up to a growling sound and looked out a "window" of my tent and saw a porcupine rushing my tent!

When I say "rushing", it was about at the speed of one inch per second.  It was hard not to laugh at an angry porcupine stampeding this tent that had taken his favorite spot when he was barely moving faster than a snail.

I growled at the porcupine from my tent "window".  The porcupine immediately froze, looked at my tent in horror, slowly spun around, and headed back into the woods at his "rushing" pace.

It left me laughing, and it is one of my favorite memories of the Trail.

Porcupine on Appalachian Trail (from here)

"Camp fires are the..."

"...TV of the backcountry."
-Trail wisdom

August 4, 2001

Left Herman Melville Shelter and did a "short" day of around 14 miles so I can arrive at N. Adams for the above [all you can eat pizza lunch].

I was really pushing to get to Seth Warner [Shelter] before the rain hit.  I hit the road which is 3/10 mile before the shelter.

Seth Warner Shelter (from link)

When I got there, I found trail magic.  (like I did on this day as well)

I considered whether it was better to be dry or to eat food for one moment in time, and chose food.

I had a large chocolate chip cookie and the last can of Coke.  I guzzled it and belched my way all the way here [the shelter] before the rain hit.  Yay!

When I got to the shelter (along with Lemming shortly afterwards), we decided to quickly prepare a fire with the dry wood around the shelter before the rain came, and cover it with a plastic.  We did so, and sat in the shelter while the rain hit.  A good handful of other hikers came to the shelter during the rain, all planning on staying the night.  Many of the wet and sodden hikers bemoaned the fact that we would not be able to have a fire.  When the rain let up, Lemming and I dramatically lifted the plastic to reveal the dry kindling for a fire, and proceeded to light it.  Even better, a pair of hikers produced marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers to make Smores!

I also encountered the end of the Long Trail, as I was starting to exit Vermont and enter Massachusetts.

My apologies for the horrible flash glare:

Beginning or end of the Long Trail, depending on which way you hike it

My first day in Massachusetts would certainly be unique for my AT days...

"Ideas are like pizza dough,..."

"...made to be tossed around."
-Anna Quindlen

August 3, 2001

I got caught in a thunderstorm.  It was great!

It brought me back to Baldplate and Speck Mountains in Maine and Mt. Moriah in NH.

It washed me off a bit too.

There are four LT [Long Trail] kids here.  They gave me some Portable Aqua (iodine) so I don't need to go into Bennington.

beautiful Vermont countryside

I think I'll go 18.2 miles tomorrow so I can get into N. Adams [Massachusetts] Sunday afternoon for the All You Can Eat pizza lunch at Pizza Hut.

Alas, I would not make the Pizza Hut in time...

"It was a clear day, with a brisk breeze blowing..."

"...North and south, sharp peaks etched the horizon.  I felt as if atop the world, wih a sort of planetary feeling.  I seemed to perceive peaks far southward, hidden by old Earth's curvature.  Would a footpath some day reach them from where I was then perched?  Little did I dream..."
-Benton MacKaye, relating his climb to the summit of Stratton Mountain, VT, summer of 1900

August 2, 2001

On my fiftieth day I have done my first 10 by 10 and 12 by 12 (10 miles by 10 am and 12 miles by 12 noon).

Actually, 13.7 miles to Stratton Mountain by noon.

Stratton Pond at the bottom of Stratton Mountain

Salamander in Stratton Pond

Stratton is where [Benton] MacKaye supposedly thought of the AT.

Up on top of Stratton Mountain is an old fire tower.  I climbed up top to get a good view around and a picture looking back down at the ground:

The fire tower top is original 1950's.

Today, I did my first over 20-mile day, 21.1 miles.  I feel pretty good too.

I met this guy from Virginia named "Dig" coming off Stratton.  He's the only other Virginian I've met.  I told him how hungry I was today and he gave me a Snickers!

That Snickers was very encouraging...I can't explain well enough how valuable a Snicker bar is on the Appalachian Trail.  Considering supply and demand, it has to be close to the value of a bar of gold!

"The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds..."

"...-the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

August 1, 2001

Over Baker, Peru, Bromley.

Picture from top of Bromley Mountain

So, one of the interesting parts about living in the woods for several months is getting used to new sounds.

This evening, I camped down on the top of a random hill in the midst of the forest.  All alone, I settled into my tent at dusk, read my Bible some, and laid down to sleep.

And then I heard a breathy, growl (sounds like this) emanate from the nearby woods.  It immediately sent chills down my spine and I pictured some wild bobcat about to tear my tent and myself inside into shreds.

But nothing happened.

It took awhile to settle down, and awhile longer in the woods before I saw a scared deer make the same noise (see "wheeze" sound at this website).  Apparently, my imagined bobcat was merely a doe.

I've heard the noise from deer since, and it is still unnerving, but not so scary when you know it comes from a prey instead of a predator.

Getting to know the forest sounds...

"A pile of rocks ceases to be rock..."

"...when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

July 31, 2001

Stayed at Otter Creek Campground in Danby, VT.

Passed several neat places today.  This bridge across the Clarendon Gorge looks scary (and apparently it really is).

Bridge across Clarendon Gorge

Later, I came upon this pile of rocks stacked one upon another:

Rock statues near White Cliffs

The picture doesn't quite express how detailed the statues were, and how many hours upon hours it must have taken to build it all.

Danby, VT

I had a maildrop at the Post Office in Danby, Vermont (the plan was to be there on July 29th).  By the time I got there, I didn't feel like hiking back out to the trail so I stayed in a nice little campground called Otter Creek Campground.

"May your days be many and your troubles be few..."

"...May all God's blessings descend upon you.
May peace be within you.
May your heart be strong.
May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam."
-Irish blessing

July 30, 2001

To Killington and beyond.

Got a free Gondola ride down Killington and back up!

AT hikers get a free ride down and up the Gondola on Killington

Probably the reason AT Hikers get a free ride down the Gondola is because there is a store at the bottom waiting to sell food to hungry hikers!

Today was a nice day.

I got a great view on top of Killington.

On top of Killington Mountain

I got 2 chocolate milks and a Crush [in the store at the bottom of the Gondola ride]  I got a free ride down the Gondola (& back up).  

I got to see wonder in a child's eyes as I told him about hiking the AT.

There was a kid and his grandfather on top of Killington.  After I described thruhiking, the kid got that look meaning he would probably hike the AT someday.  Just like that boy scout troop.

I got Trail Magic - Dr. Thunder in a brook.

I built a good campfire, and I'm staying in a nice little shelter with free lollipops, bunks, and a window.

Cooper Lodge (link)

Thank you, God, for these blessings.