Commander’s Report:
I managed to complete 3 of the daily reports I was behind on last night. That leaves 4 more to be drafted and all of them to be edited and uploaded and the posting automatons to be set up. In my head, this sounded like something that could be accomplished before getting on the trail. Well, I guess it was possible - just that the hiking will be commencing tomorrow.

I didn't finish drafting the diary entries until 3:30, and during the course of the morning I kept fooling myself into thinking that I was going to do some hiking today.

Initially, I thought I could do all the blogging tasks AND hike ~9 miles. (HAHAHA!) Then I told myself "at least get to the initial target yesterday" (Kid Gone Shelter, 4.3 miles north). Finally, it turned into "at least walk up to the top of Glastonbury Mountain" (0.3 miles). Around noon I realized I would be doing no hiking today. Around dinner time I doubted whether I could get everything uploaded. I was still uploading posts at hiker midnight (9PM) and was telling myself that I'd just get done what I could before I dozed off.

Turns out that I could upload everything and automate posting of these entries to my site. I also managed to get automated twitter notifications set for 2 of the posts before poor internet connection caused me to call it quits for the night.

Unfortunately, that was nearly (actual) midnight and I would like to be up early so as to be able to make up some of the ground I lost today.

Since this has been a pretty boring post about how the sausage gets made and not hiking, I'd like to leave you with a story. I couldn't remember which day it took place, so I didn't include with the daily entries. But it happened when I was hiking with Grimm, so it must have been T+39 or T+40.

Whichever day it was, I got ahead of Grimm during a climb and didn't see him again for hours. In that intervening time I actually only saw a couple other hikers total. So, I felt more than confident that I was alone when I released a most powerful forth into the wild. I'm talking loud, deep, almost guttural sounds that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I giggled quietly to myself, because I'm an overgrown 10 year old.

Imagine my surprise when I hear from the other side of the next hill the following conversation:

Woman 1's voice: Doris*, did you hear that?
Women 2's voice: Yeah! Was that a bear?
Women 1's voice: I don't know. Whatever it was sounded angry! I'm going to take it slowly for a bit.

* I’ve forgotten the name, so I'm going with Doris.

Of course, I met these two women about a minute later when they crested the little hill separating us. The first thing said to me upon meeting: "Did you hear that bear a minute back? We didn't see it, but it sounded angry! You should be careful, it sounded close!"

To which I responded (with a straight face),"Yeah, I heard something, but I'm not sure it was a bear. I've never heard anything like it before, but it sure sounded ominous!*"

* A masterclass in how to lie while telling the truth. Do I get my honorary JD now?

So apparently, my butt can sound like an angry bear while hiking.

I made a point to mention that this happened while hiking with Grimm. I did so because, he eventually caught back up to me and asked if I had seen the bear earlier. I said "no", but added that I'd heard something. He got excited and relayed the story of a bear encounter two women had told him.

In the tale told to him, the women encountered a bear at the top of a hill. The bear proceeded to angrily growl at them, but they stood their ground for a minute or two.
After this brief encounter, the bear just wandered off over the hill. Immediately after the bear disappeared, a north-bound hiker appeared.

​Grimm correctly assumed the hiker to be me. So, when I confirmed that I'd heard something Grimm got excited because he believed me to be confirming their story.
In the end, I told Grimm what really happened and we both had a good laugh at how my flatus morphed into a full-blown angry bear encounter.

Commander’s Report:
Today I spent in a mental fog worrying about how I'm falling behind again on my blog posts. I think my experience in Williamstown on T+36 may have brought this on. A big assist goes to my notes folder, which currently looks like this:

​Yes, that would be the upcoming 10 days worth of posts. Yes, that's 7 in preparation, one posted, and two drafted and waiting to be posted. At some point during the hike today I decided that I was going to catch up on those. My ideal would be to draft each of these the day in which I hiked them, but once I get behind it seems I'm always playing catch up. 

No longer! I'm resolving to get caught up in drafting the diaries and that starts today.

I was joined in camp last night by two guys just starting a section hike of the VT section of the AT, Adam and Matt were their names and they were VERY green (think first day, 2 mile hike in: green). I spent a bit of extra time in the morning giving them some tips and pointers. Thus, I was late getting out of camp again this morning. Plus, I found it impossible to finish the drafting of the diary entry I had hoped to complete in the morning. (Perhaps that also played into my decision to focus on getting caught up on the diaries?)

Once on the trail it was a quick jaunt north to a crossing with some power lines. I almost universally hate these intersections, but at least they can provide a peek at the surroundings. In fact, I quite liked the views offered at this power line cut.

Commander’s Report:
I shared the shelter with a guy on his second day of a section hike of the AT (from Williamstown to wherever he can get) and a lady on day 1 of a section hike of the Long Trail (The Long Trail runs MA → Canada through Vermont and is contiguous with the AT for its first half). The guy, Yusugi, was at Seth Warner Shelter with us the night before last, but he almost exclusively stuck to his tent, so I didn't get to chat with him at that point. That night was his first on the trail, Tonight will be his second. He said he got turned around on the trail today and ended up wandering in the wrong direction after a viewpoint. This mistake cost him 2 hours and a lot of walking. (Been there, done that!) All three of us are targeting the Melville Nauheim Shelter for tonight's stoping point.

​As always, I was the last person out of amp today. I really need to get better at getting out early, but I suppose that starts with less blogging in the AM and more eating and packing. Today was funny as a couple of Parks workers came in around 9:10 for a meeting of some sort. They hung out chatting while I packed. I met their colleagues hiking in on my way out.

About a mile and a half north of the shelter is a rocky local maxima that has a micro view. It doesn't show up well in the pic, but you could tell that there was horizon off in the distance in person.

​On the north side of this bump runs some power lines. With the really low ceiling there weren't to many views to be had.

​A mile north of the power lines the trail passes around a beaver pond. The pictures of the pond suffer from poor lighting (stupid overcast day), but the pond itself was really pretty. The beaver hut was also visible to the eye. It's pretty close to the far shore, so it just blends into the blackness of the pics.

​Where the AT crosses the outlet for this pond (currently) stands a tree half chewed through by the beavers.

​Just a few tenths of a mile north of the pond there is clear evidence of someone having driven some sort of vehicle on the AT. All of the trees at narrow parts of the trail were pushed over and had scrape marks that look like this.

​Perhaps 0.2 mile north of where the damage starts the AT intersects a backcountry trail / road at a weird T intersection, where the road dead-ends into the AT. I think someone went out on that road not knowing that it dead-ends and got themselves stuck trying to wedge their vehicle down a foot path.

Funny story, when I first saw the damage I believed it to be the result of deer / moose in rut. It seemed early in the year for that, but I couldn't think of anything else that could have produced such damage other than a vehicle of some sort. I completely disregarded this option out of hand. HA! Joke's on me. Some dumb ass tried to drive the AT.

I think I found the winner of "Saddest Sign" award. This was located on the top of a local maxima unnamed in the guide. Apparently it has a name: Consultation Peak. After consulting with the map, the location of this peak is at mile 1606.4.

​About 1/4 of a mile north of Consultation Peak the AT crosses an unlisted (on my maps) dirt road. I had one look at this and immediately thought it to be a good venue for a Gambler rally, which my younger brother is into. Yes, those tree branches are only about 3 feet from the ground.

​The stream at mile 1607.9 is the inlet for a swampy pond immediately downstream of the trail. The source of the water is Lake Hancock. I decided to get water here rather than the larger pond outlet stream a mile north. I kind of figure its best to get the water as far upstream as possible.

​While relaxing at the stream, after filtering water, another northbound thru-hiker came up behind me, Sunny. She was traveling with Taill Spin and crew heading into Dalton, MA and is headed into Bennington, VT tonight.

The trail runs adjacent to the pond for a bit and provided some interesting pics.

​The outlet stream looks exactly as one would expect of a stereotypical New England mountain stream.

​A half mile north of the large outlet stream is Congdon Shelter. I'm not sure that I like Vermont's propensity to have shelters so close to the trail proper. It can be a bit odd and surreal coming upon a random house in the woods.

​Some distance north is Harmon Hill. It is a broad, gently sloped peak that I presume at one time was the site of a homestead.

Pros: RASPBERRIES!

​Cons: Not terribly good for views.

​For the next mile and a quarter the trail descends quite gently. This is the prelude to a steep descent into the gap where Route 9 runs. When that switch to steep descent occurs, it occurs abruptly.

This section of trail is...interesting. Some areas have rocks clearly assembled so as to use as stairs other sections of trail are just a jumble of large stones that leave you looking for the stairs.

​In sum, not an easy hike to get down to Route 9. Once down you're greeted with the Green Mountain National Forest sign. Whomever designed these signs gets the Tedward seal of approval. They're just so iconic that, in my mind anyways, the sight of one immediately evokes scenes from around our great National Park system.

The parking area at Route 9 is huge with room for about 20 cars, plus a bunch of additional parking on the other side of the road.

​Here, I found Yusugi waiting for the bus. He took a swim in the big pond outflow stream mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, it was an unplanned swim. He slipped and fell in while collecting water. He said his gear also got wet because he was wearing his pack at the time, but I fail to understand why anyone would bend over to collect water with their pack on. 

Baffling. 

His plan was to go into Bennington and clean up and dry out. He certainly appeared to have a case of new hiker dejection. I hope he gets back to it after a short stay in town!

Once I got past the parking lot, the reason for needing a big parking lot became apparent: it's a swimming hole! Unfortunately, now wasn't the time for a swim for me.

​Just like headed down into Route 9, coming out of the gap proved to be quite the climb. More "stairs", but no more rubble scrambles.

About half way up out of the gap is a split rock. It sure is a huge rock that is split right up the center.

​After that the trail levels out a bit to more of a gradual incline, which my weary legs were very happy about. This climb at the very end of the day was a double tough challenge.

The lady from yesterday's shelter never showed at this shelter. I passed her early in the Morning, so logic dictates that she stopped at Congdon Shelter today,

Commander’s Report:
Today was one of those days that felt like I was fighting myself and the world to get anything accomplished. The paper cuts started early when I forgot to take toilet paper with me to the privy. (Don't worry, I realized this BEFORE doing my business.) Things really picked up in town though.

The problem, as usual, being internet access. I got the resupply done quickly and then attempted to upload a couple of blog posts. Poor internet put an end to that. I managed to get one post uploaded in 3 hours. Most annoying was the fact that every pic I uploaded was displayed upside down by default (a common glitch with poor internet connection). This necessitates an extra minute or two of right the ship for each picture and it was a pic heavy post.

During that time a small storm passed through This presaged a change in the weather as after that a series of storms passed through and this went on all afternoon. So much for the last forecast I saw for the day: Sunny with 10% chance of rain. 

Thus, I ended up hiking from town up to elevation in the rain. In a world's first, I actually used a bypass trail. I approached Eph's lookout during a thunderstorm, so I took the prudent approach: actually using the bad weather bypass.

In the end, I got to my intended destination in one piece and accomplished most of the things I needed to do today. So, a successful day in spite of everything. Do I meet the qualifications for the perseverance Merit Badge yet?

Now that I've spent my word quota on griping, let's get to the hike. Right after rejoining the AT is Mount Prospect Ledge. Pretty decent views considering the weather. Surprisingly. I didn't pick up on the high probability of showers from these clouds. There was similar clouds yesterday and they went away in the late morning and never returned. I assumed the same thing would happen today.

Nothing of note to report about the walk into town. It’s a steep downhill to get off the mountain, which only ended after getting into town proper.

I went to Stop and Shop in Williamstown (0.7 miles from the trail) to do the resupply. That part was super easy.

On the way out of town, the AT crosses the Hoosic River. I thought it deserved a couple of pictures.

​Initially, the ascent was going well. I made it up about 1400' without stopping for a break before hearing thunder and stopping to prep for rain. I got geared up and the bag repacked without getting wet, but I never did manage to get back in the groove the whole rest of the way to the shelter.

As I said previously, I took the site trail instead of traversing Eph's lookout in the thunderstorm. Therefore, I didn't expect to get any views. Instead, about 0.1 mile before the Bad Weather trail rejoins the AT is a nice view point. The views are of a sea of trees, but it beats the view from within the sea. 

​Less than a mile north of where I rejoined the AT is the MA / VT border. That means another state is behind me, and only 3 more remain ahead (VT, NH, ME).

​A mile or so into VT and the trail passes this beauty of a boulder. This beast marked the transition into a region with many such glacially deposited boulders.

​I struggled the last couple of miles into camp, but made it. 7 PM is significantly later than I would prefer to roll into camp, but I managed to get pretty much all of the post-hike chores done. It just meant that I got to bed later than usual.

I wanted to end with this:

Commander’s Report:
I slept terribly last night. There was too much light and noise pollution at the in-town camping location for me to get a good night's sleep. It was similar at Tom’s, but at least I was more in the dark there. Oh well, I'll be back sleeping in the woods tonight.

Started the walking at 9 this morning. I'd hoped for something a bit earlier for a starting time, but 9 is not terrible.

The beginning of the hike this AM takes me through Cheshire. As opposed to some trail towns, the trail through Cheshire largely avoids the main streets.

After the trek through town and a short climb in the woods, the trail passes through two fields, labeled as meadows in the guide. In these fields there was some nice sights of the surrounding hills and mountains, so of course I took too many pics. Here's a few of them.

You can even see the summit of Mt. Greylock from here!

OK, from that pic you probably can’t. Let’s zoom in on the gap in ridge line off to the right.

Can you see the monument on Greylock’s summit now?

​Right after the fields is this gigantic boulder. It seems many people have climbed it and it may provide some interesting views. So, I decided to go up and see for myself. Unfortunately, there weren't so many views from up there as the trees were in the way. Oh well, worth a shot.

​After the "meadows" there was a lot of walking to be done before the next purty view. During that walk, I passed a flying squirrel on the trail. It had a severely injured right hind leg. I thought long and hard about picking it up and bringing it to an animal rescue place, but decided against it. I figure it might become breakfast for a fox or raccoon, thus completing the circle of life.

​Just a little ways after seeing the flying squirrel, there is this boulder adjacent to the trail. The way it is positioned makes it have a nice overhang which provides protection from some of the elements. So, I hereby bequeath the name "Shelter Rock" to this boulder.

​About a mile north from that is a trail junction with Jones Nose trail. Supposedly, there's a good viewpoint about 0.3 miles down that trail. I decided that 0.3 miles isn't too far for a picture, so wandered down that way. It was a VERY steep 0.3 miles (it felt like more) down, and unfortunately the views weren't really worth THAT type of effort.

​After lunching at Jones Nose overlook, I got back to the AT. The next thing of note was the crossing with Rockwell Rd. This is the road that goes up to the top of Mt. Greylock and the AT crosses it three times during the ascent. The first of these happens at a switch back on the road. I think it makes for a nice picture.

​Just a half mile after this crossing, the AT passes a pond. It's quite a lovely little pond, complete with cabin and everything. Don't you think?

​After the pond, it is a short walk up to the Summit: I was here for my "warm up" hike in December, so I didn't go overboard with pics. Here's the memorial from afar.

​Approaching the monument from this direction takes you post a bronze topographical reconstruction of the mountain with all of the trails indicated. There's A LOT of trails on this mountain! (Sorry, the pic came out terrible.)

​Here's a couple views from the summit. 

​Just as you are coming down from the peak (headed north) you are treated with some nice views. I almost prefer these to the summit. There's just something about having so many people around and in all of the pics that I find very unappealing.

​About two miles north the AT summits Mt. Williams, a shoulder peak of Greylock. The summit is covered with trees, but I still managed to get some pics that were appealing - in spite of the general lack of views. The first being of a wind farm (and bird flying in the foreground).

Those were the last sights of the day. After that, it was just a couple mile walk down to the shelter, dinner, chores, and bed. While cooking and eating dinner, I chatted with the other hikers at the shelter, Taill Spin, Gray Man, Mage, and a guy whose trail name I missed. There was also a person in a tent who didn’t interact with the group of us.

​After dinner, I walked the 200 yards over to the stream to filter some water. In the process of filtering, I heard what sounded like someone eating in my general vicinity. When I looked up I spotted this fantastic beast. It b early moved when I made noise, instead it stayed focused on eating its dinner. I took this pic, then walked slowly away so as to not disturb it. I made sure everyone in camp know about it before heading to bed, so they'd be sure to use the bear box.

​We had no other interactions with the bear that night.

Commander’s Report:
Today was the day I was preparing for all week. The day I meet up with friends from MA and we walk a section of trail together. Two friends drove out from Worcester, a male / female couple. The woman is a work colleague. We co-authored each others' papers a couple years ago. She came out with her husband. Of the two, she is much more of the hiker / outdoorsy type. He tends to be happier when the hike is over looking back on things rather than in the moment during the hike.

I chose to do the Dalton to Cheshire section of trail today. This is a pretty easy stretch of trail with a pretty good viewpoint toward the end of the hike. I figure that about 9 miles of moderate hills is a better option than for instance, tackling the climb up Greylock (MA's highest peak).

The one thing I requested of them was a roll of toilet paper. I am finishing up what I obtained from Bear Mountain Bridge Motel, way back in NY, and don’t really want to buy a 4 pack or check in to a hotel in order to get a roll. Few people other than friends would play TP delivery service for a person.

To start the hike, we walked through Dalton, MA on the AT and at the other side of town we reentered the green tunnel. It didn't take long before my male companion slipped on a big, wet rock. He fell really awkwardly and landed on his hip and wrist. Afterwards, he seemed quite annoyed with the whole hiking thing, so took off ahead of us seemingly in order in order to get the whole ordeal over in as little time as possible. He's a reminder that those of us who actually enjoy stomping up and down mountains are in the minority.

The first picture opportunity came with the crossing of some power lines (mile 1576.7). Unfortunately, there were no views to be had at this cut in the forest.

​About a mile after the power lines, the trail runs adjacent to Gore Pond, providing a couple of spots from which good views of the pond are available.

​After the pond, the trail climbs up to the top of Cheshire Cobble, a popular view point from which the town of Cheshire and Cheshire Reservoir can be observed.

​It took about an hour to traverse the remaining two miles to the Cobble, so we were making pretty good time. Once we arrived at the Cobble it became apparent why it's a popular place. It's big enough to host 20+ people at a time and the tree-free area wraps around the mountain, providing a number of different views, I took a bunch of pics from here, this is a sampling.

I told you I took a lot of pics!

After the Cobble is a fairly reasonable downhill to get down into Cheshire. We met back up with the husband at Furnace Hill Rd. He appeared to be nursing his wounds and awaiting our arrival. We called Tom Levardi for a ride back to his place.

Of all the plans I had for today I think I made the correct choices for most of them, but if I had to do it over again I would opt to park their car at the far trailhead. Oh well, crying over spilt milk and all that.

So, we returned to Tom's had a beer and met four thru-hikers spending the night at Tom's. I only got the names of two of them: Tail Spin and Sunshine (female and male, respectively).

After the beer, my friends dropped me back off in Cheshire and I walked to the Thro-hiker camp in town. It's currently under construction (adding water and power), but camping is allowed. They drove up Mt. Greylock.

I'd say "and a good time was had by all", but I'm not sure about the husband. He didn't look to be enjoying himself before the tumble and looked genuinely annoyed afterwards. Apparently, he perked back up with the views from Greylock and a second brew at home.

[Ed. Note: I texted with my friend, all is well. He only suffered some bruising. He went off ahead of us during the hike because he was worried that if he stopped he would be unable to finish.]

Commander’s Report:
Today was my first zero of this leg of my trip. It was mainly necessary in order to coordinate my schedule with the hike I'd like to do with my friends tomorrow (Dalton to Cheshire). That said, I did laundry and took a hobo shower in the sink of the laundromat.

Tom allowed me the use of his bicycle to run to the laundromat, which was very kind of him. What wasn’t very kind of me was popping the rear tire. It wasn’t all my fault, hear me out. I was passing an area that had just had some work done on the curbing. I failed to notice that the manhole cover had been placed on in the wrong direction. The tire slipped in the hole and that’s all she wrote! I apologized profusely and threw him a bit extra upon my departure. Why do I always have to go and do goofy stuff like that?

I also got partially caught up in my blogging responsibilities. This was difficult to do during the day as Tom and I spent some time in the morning chatting and in the afternoon I spent quite a bit of time chatting with another thru-hiker, Matthew. He fell behind a group he wants to hike with, so talked Tom into giving him a ride up to VT to meet up with them. (For those in the know, he was yellow blazing in order to do some pink blazing.)

Anyway, because Tom was off driving to VT, he was unable to give me a ride until 8:30. But by that time the 24 hour store (in non-COVID times) was closed. Tom agreed to get a canister for me tomorrow while I’m hiking and give it to me when he picks us up from Cheshire.

I got 4 diary entries uploaded today and figured out how to automate the posting process. Now, all of my posts should go up around 7 AM whether I have cell service or not. I also automated the twitter notifications of said posts, so those should go up at 7:30 AM. This all adds time to the front end (and worries that I mucked up a link), but I hope this will allow me to better utilize the intermittent internet access I have out here.

[Ed. note: There's been some hiccups in the automated posting. I've mucked up URLs on two twitter notifications and had one twitter notification go out before the posts went live. It's a work in progress, but I think we can make this work for me.]

I feel like I underachieved today in only getting 4 posts up. Considering I had to draft and edit them before posting and manage the pics for all those posts (approx. 2 hours work for each post) I'd say it wasn't a complete mail-it-in job.

Still, I was 7 days behind coming into the zero day and had big hopes of getting caught back up. That'll have to wait for the future.

Funny thing about the weather, the forecast called for 80% chances of showers all day and we got a tiny little cell pass over. It rained for maybe 5 minutes, and I’m probably being generous there. Oh well, that wasn’t the main reason I was zeroing, so I may as well enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Commander’s Report:
Contrary to brand, I was up and at 'em early today. That's because the weather report was calling for rain tonight and tomorrow from Tropical Storm Fay. [Wait, we're already on the 6th named storm of the year? That doesn't bode well!]

Looking at the numbers also suggests I was extra motivated. I did 11.6 miles in 4 1/3 hours. That's 2.68 miles/hr, a really respectable average. Granted the first 5 miles was quite flat and lost a couple hundred feet in elevation over the distance. Still, I was clearly trying to stay ahead of the weather.

About a half mile north of October Mountain Shelter the AT crosses West Branch Road. There's evidence of heavy beaver activity here, though it may be subtle. Like this little contraption. Subtle, right?

​Highway Departments use such things in order to keep the beavers from plugging up the drainage pipes under the road. When the beavers manage to do so floods happen and they are a pain to deal with. Persistent little buggers those beavers are, anything less than such a box will be plugged up in no time!

The beavers have managed to flood the area, in spite of the highway department's efforts. They've got a nice little plot here and quite the abode too. Surprisingly, The beavers made their home quite close to land. Actually, they made it right next to the AT. Good pics of a beaver hut can be hard to come by, so I guess these guys must be show-offs building it so close to a human highway.

​I generally like to keep these diaries positive, but I have to share this beef with the world. I find that I get annoyed when planners do bizarre things and today I encountered a doozy. At mile 1564.7 the planners took the trail down and back up a 100' ravine, seemingly to demonstrate that they too have rocks here. Seriously? Just take us 0.2 miles out of the way to save the idiotic rocky climbs!

​Just south of Blotz Rd. I spotted a geosurvey marker. Most of these things are on mountains, so it's odd seeing one in such a location.

​About 1/4 of a mile north of Blotz Rd. is Warner Hill. It has a surprisingly good view of Mt. Greylock to the south.

​Just prior to the peak, there is a field of ferns that one gets to walk through. Not something one does every day.

​A bit over 2.5 miles north the trail crosses a power line cut. This one has glimpses of Dalton down below.

​It's a quick walk down to Kay Wood Shelter from the power lines. After the shelter is a 2.5 mile hike down (generally) to town. I barely remember any of this part as I was charging a heed at full steam in hopes of beating the thunder that I could hear off in the distance.

I arrived at, noted Trail Angel, Tom Levardi's place at quarter to three. We had just enough time to put up tarps around the porch before the weather rolled in.

I scheduled with Tom to stay tonight and tomorrow. He also agreed to provide rides to Walmart (gas canister) and the trailhead Sunday the 12th. I am sleeping on the porch tonight. It will be far drier and less drafty than the tent.

That afternoon Tom provided a ride to two young ladies, with whom I had been playing leap-frog with for the last couple days. They are doing the MA section of the AT. Kudos to them!

I went about busying myself with writing diary entries that afternoon. As soon as the weather broke for a moment, I popped off to grab dinner. I got a Reuben Sub with sweet potato fries. Gluttonous, but glorious!

[Ed. note: I went back there the following day for dinner, despite having other options.]

​Commander’s Report:
Last night before bed I did some laundry in the pond. I washed out the socks I had been hiking in for the last several days as well as my hiking shirt and underwear. This morning, early, I decided I would take a bath in the pond too. I didn't skinny dip, but I probably could have if I'd wanted to. Apparently there'd be dozens of people in the cabin on any given night in summer, but not this year. I guess I'll take that as a small silver lining for picking COVID year to do the hike.

Because my clothes still need to dry, I turned my bag into a mobile laundry rack. Classy, I know.

​I'd rather have clean, dry clothes then win some "classy hiker" award. Sue me!

Anyway, I took my time getting out of camp. The laundry was in the sun drying, so I used the time to make some tweaks and do Some maintenance. I got on the trail around 11. It seemed way later than that to me.

About a mile north of Upper Goose Pond, The AT crosses I-90 (Mass. Pike) on its very own foot bridge. I remembered to take pics of the crossing...I'm getting better at this documentation stuff.

​Immediately after crossing I-90 is the Berkshire Lakeside Lodge. Apparently they allow hikers to get water from them. Nice looking place, not sure why they'd want a bunch of smelly hikers milling about looking for water. Regardless, I still had 2L, so I don't need any water.

​After I-90, the trail steadily climbs up and over Becket Mountain over the course of about a mile and a half. About half way up the mountain, the trail crosses a small Brook. It was essentially dry when I passed, but I liked the looks of it so an obligatory pic is in order.

​At the top of Becket Mountain one is greeted with a trail register instead of a view. 'Tedward wuz heer'

​After Becket Mountain, the AT follows a bit of a ridge for about a mile and a half where it turns to go around Finerty Pond. There weren't any clear views of the pond, but there were a couple of partially obstructed views to be had.

​For over 3 miles after Finerty Pond 7h AT passes through a wet, low-lying area. About half-way through this stretch, the trail passes close enough to a beaver bog / pond to get a partially obstructed view.

​Following the low-lying section remained an easy 1.2 mile climb up to the shelter. No Grimm tonight, I'm sure he’s way up the trail from here. Physically I'm ready to maintain his pace of 15 miles / day. With a big exception: my feet and ankles.

I'm starting to get a case of the "New Boot Blues".

At first, these boots felt greet-especially compared to the last pair. It was all downhill from there.

I quickly realized that I needed to specially lace the boots so that room remains in the toe box while simultaneously being able to get the rest of the laces tight enough to prevent wiggling.

Then I realized how little cushioning there is as compared to the last boots - especially in the heel. Thus the need for the Dr. Scholl's in Great Barrington.

The issue is that when you're compensating for one problem, other areas get overworked. This causes overuse injuries such as tendonitis.

I'm definitely feeling overuse injuries developing in both feet. The right foot is currently more sore. I think the problem is the Extensor Retinaculum, a tendon running perpendicular over the top of the arch.

Due to the pain, I am unable to push off of the right leg as much as I'd like. This is unfortunate because as a person with a really dominant side (right), so this is causing some adjustment woes. I've noticed pronounced fatigue in my left hip and goad during climbs. Also most pronounced in climbs is a pain in the sole of my left foot, right in the middle of that "pad" by your toes. Sometimes, if I step on a pointy rock in just the right (ie wrong) spot it sends shooting electrical shock pains all the way up to my knee. When that happens it usually takes 15 minutes to get over the pain.

All of that is my excuse for my relatively sluggish pace. I'm hoping that pulling beck will allow things to heal up a bit, or at the very least not progress to something that could cause me to get off the trail.

I feel like most of my body is willing, but the sole is unable.

Commander’s Report:
Today is a resupply day for me. I have a package waiting for me at the post office in Tyringham, MA. Because of this, I got an earlier start to the morning and actually made it out of camp at 8AM.

Grimm beat me out of camp by about an hour. He was targeting October Mountain Shelter for today, which would make for a 23 mile day. I know that's not possible for me with resupply, so I am targeting the first shelter past Tyringham. This still makes for a 14 mile day (excluding resupply).

The first couple miles of trail are gentle downhills or largely flat, so I made good time here. After about 3 miles, the trail descends steeply into Fernside Rd. (mile 1541.2) and Shaker Campsite.

During that initial gentle downhill, the trail passes first a giant boulder and then traverses an area with beautiful, lush undergrowth. The trail passes immediately adjacent to the boulder, so it appears as a sort of wall as you pass.

​This segment of trail looks like it was cut and pasted from a movie. It's just so striking visually.

​The forest cut for a gas line provided the first views of the day. Here's the pics I captured from that stretch of trail.

​Following this is a 450' climb up to Tyringham Cobble viewpoint. While the views are partially obstructed, there is a nice view down to Tyringham. The town cemetery is prominent in this view.

​The other views from here tend to be the "sea of trees" type of view, which are so common out here.

After the Cobble, it was down to Jerusalem Rd., then left into town. According to the guide, the post office's hours are 8-12; 4-5:30. I arrived just in time to beat closing at noon. However, the guide is wrong, the hours are 8-2; 4-5. So, I had more time than I thought to make it there.

​I had no problems obtaining the package. The contents were repacked in about 30 minutes and I was ready to get back on the trail.

First, I had to take some pics of the library here. The old stone building is on the register of historic places. It now houses both the post office and library. 

​After Main Rd., the trail ascends about 1000' and bounces up and down by a couple hundred feet at elevation until the Upper Goose Pond Cabin. Not much to see in this part of the journey though.

On the trail to Upper Goose Pond cabin is this plaque commemorating the former private club that was responsible for developing the area and which turned over control of the location to the Forest Service in 1982. Thus, us hikers have use of a huge cabin (well, not during the COVID times...) and two docks on the pond.

Sorry, I forgot to take pics of the cabin itself, but take my word for it the thing is huge and impressive for a trail shelter. The private club did leave behind the ruins of an old hearth. I fear its no longer usable though.

​The views of the pond are quite nice as well. Looks like any glacial pond you can find in the region, but I never grow tired of such views.

​Also, I met Grimm in camp after I arrived. Turns out he struggled all day and cut his planned hike short.