Christine and I are tenting in a back yard tonight. She says she feels like a drifter... And that it kinda feels good :-) We have walked 48.1 miles from Great Barrington to here, and it's awesome :-) We showered at the community center and drank Cumberland farms iced coffees and did laundry and ate pizza.
Our first night out we fought swarms of mosquitos up the mountain, but were welcomed by a spectacular sunset at our campsite. The next day, we walked 11 miles, and Christine got the hiker hunger. I made quinoa with chicken bouillon for dinner, and she devoured it with tremendous gusto and declared that now she LOVES quinoa!
Day three we hiked to Upper Goose Pond Cabin. We got there mid afternoon and took a quick swim, in our clothes to wash them of course. Then we borrowed a canoe and dried off on the sun-warmed rocks of the small island a little ways off from shore. In the evening, we got pizza delivered to the road across the lake, and two hikers canoed out to pick it up, and even though it was cold by the time they got it back, it was the most delicious pizza ever. We burned the pizza boxes in the fireplace when it got dark, and went to sleep. In the morning, there was coffee and blueberry pancakes.
Day four we crossed the Mass Pike on a pedestrian footbridge and I was very excited! Then our friend Sami from Brandeis, who is living in Pittsfield this summer, picked us up outside Lee and took us to Friendly's for lunch! Yay Trail Angel Sami! We packed out fries and onion rings to eat later.
We stayed at a shelter last night and made an excellent fire to cook over. Then today we hiked 11 miles again into Dalton. Along the way, we got great trail magic! Two through-hikers who summited Katahdin last weekend were driving back home and stopped to do trail magic. They gave us cookies and Doritos and fruit. We also stopped by the home of "The Cookie Lady," who has been baking cookies for hikers for 30 years. She wasn't home, but her husband gave us cookies and we also bought 2 hard boiled eggs.
My days as a through-hiker are over. This week I am hiking the section from Great Barrington to North Adams. I am not under pressure to do big miles. I am not calculating any more zero days. I know a bed and a shower are in my future. I'm no longer in my hiker bubble. But it feels okay. I'm a section hiker now. Still a hiker.
I want to share four hiker jokes I have learned. They might be less funny to non-hikers, but it's a peek into hiker culture anyway:
1) Q: What's the difference between a female through-hiker and Sasquatch?
A: One is covered in hair and lives in the woods, and the other doesn't exist.
2) Q: What's the difference between a male through-hiker and a brick?
A: You can lay a brick and it won't follow you around the rest of the summer.
3) Q: How do you know if a hiker has a hammock?
A: He'll tell you.
4) A day hiker, a section hiker, and a through-hiker go into a bar and order beers. The bartender wants to mess with them, so he drops a fly into each of their drinks. The day hiker sees the fly, and sends the beer back. The section hiker just picks it out and drinks the beer anyway. The through-hiker drains the beer, fly and all, and asks, "Do you have anything else to eat?"
That's all for now ;-) Three more days of hiking! Gonna make them good!!!
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