Aug 8, 2021

On the eve of returning to the Trail, we are at a motel in New York state. We will be arriving back to Jackson, NH tomorrow, our taking off point to hit the Trail on August 10.
I am apprehensive, not about the hike, but about my right foot that has been giving me problems all summer. I have seen numerous doctors and specialists, X-rays, and MRIs and blood tests and two cortisone shots. Still achiness, arthritis in the foot. All I can do is go out there and see what happens. My old feet have bothered me throughout this, whether neuropathy or blisters or pains of various sorts.
Well, we’ll just have to see maybe my new Keen boots will save me.

Aug 10. Mile 1860-1866
Back on the AT in New Hampshire! Oh my gosh the rocks! So we got back to the area yesterday staying the old Eagle Mountain Inn, very nearby.
After we packed up the backpacks, for a two day outing, my Sweety drove us up the top of Mt Washington as she also did in 2019. Driving up a black bear scampered across the road in front of us! Don’t really want to see bears while hiking, but from the car ok. The weather on top was perfect. No wind, warm and no rain. In fact cloudless for a time. They typically have very bad weather so we were very fortunate. Our goal today was to hike 6 miles down to the Madison Springs Hut, which gets us about half way off the   
Mountain. Mt Washington is huge and has many peaks called the Presidential Range. Even though we are hiking “down” the mountain, there are numerous back ups to get over around the mountains named for Presidents-like today’s Jefferson and Adams, to name a couple.
But the rocks! 6 miles normally any where else would be a pleasant entry hiking day. For me it was grueling. 

This certainly was one of the hardest days I have ever had hiking. Probably cause I had no prep, and every step of the way was over big rocks. Really, no kidding! No nice sandy trail! I was exhausted by the time we finished at 6:00 pm after hiking since 9:30 am. So 8.5 hours to hike 6 miles? Never so slow! I am in my bunk in the Hut at 8:00 pm. Hopefully I’ll be good tomorrow for the 7.0 mile hike down to the highway to be picked up. I sure hope those rocks end soon.
Every story needs a villain and in this story it’s the rocks!

Paul

 

Paul Burks <paulrburks@gmail.com>	6:10 AM (26 minutes ago)
to me

Aug 24-31, 2019 hike NH

Aug 14, 2019, So on August 14, 2019,we returned to the

 wild, though Hanover, NH,  isn’t that much a wilderness there.

 Home of Dartmouth, it’s quite an urbane college town. 

 picked up where we left off on trail on a main street 

in Hanover. It’s very civilized walking down the city street, 

and seeing the AT white blazes on the telephone poles.

After a couple of miles, we are out of town and into 

the woods again.

1. Aug 15-NH starts like a lamb, but then turns into a 
2. snarling lion-monster of a hike. I had read all about it
3. “you do 90% of the trail with 10% of the  effort and 
4. 10% of the trail (meaning the 160+ in NH and
5.  60 or so in Maine) with 90% of the effort. 
6. Yes! Absolutely true going through NH in 2019. 
7. Straight up mountains , no switch backs here. 
8. Rocks rocks rocks, 
9. And people complained about Pennsylvania rocks? 
10. NH makes 
11. PA look like a crushed gravel trail by comparison.
    

        

Aug 15-16- Hiked the mountains near Lyme, NH. 

Could only think of Lyme 

disease. Here the going gets tough- 

up rocks, climbing rebar and wooden steps 

sometimes nailed

 into stone, but sometimes missing. 

Aug 17-19-Tough climbs up and down and more rocks. 

Why am I here I ask myself, is this really fun?

Aug 20- Big day- Climbing Mt Moosalacki- 

this was a milestone mountain to climb. At 4800  feet, it 

was 2 mile climb up 3000+ feet.

 And straight up and straight down. 

But beautiful on top! 

Above tree line and we had a gorgeous day with 

stunning views. 

While it is the toughest hikes, it is the most scenic. 

I feel sorry for SOBOs as they will not get views

 like this again for a thousand miles. 

And then they have to peer through leafy trees. 

Coming down you parallel a waterfall for forever.

My Sweety was to meet us on this side and began 

to hike up to meet us. Poor thing! It was an 

incredibly hard 

hike up and it took her a while to meet us. 

Then she had to hike back down! Is

Certainly hard on the knees. 

There is a sign at the bottom that says,
 “Trail extremely tough, if you lack experience 

do not attempt.” Very true! We ran a 

cross a couple who were day hikers and not at all 

equipped to hike. 

I told them to turn back, not sure if they did.  

And quite a day! One I won’t forget. 

Aug 21-22. A two day hiking plan, but one that require

 us to outrun the weather-a rain storm expected 

about noon the first day. Off we went as early as we 

could from the motel, made decent progress,

 but as expected, the bottom fell out and we were 

drenched.

 Finally made it to the shelter-and 

to our surprise it was filled with about a dozen 

college kids 

on their freshman orientation hike and camping trip, 

getting them ready for the rigors of college life, 

I suppose. 

Or just trail bonding. 

Anyway, didn’t know what to expect here, 

no place for us 

to sleep and the grounds were a boggy mess.

 Later learned that they had to move out and l

eave the 

shelter for us hikers. Glad for their

 adherence to the rules. 

Next day hiked out and back to the hotel. 

August 23-25 The trip through Franconia!

This is definitely the crown jewel of the AT. 

But first straight up a several mile trail with

 plenty of rocks and a camping area on platforms. 

Luckily got 

there early to secure a spot. As it was all on a very 

serious slant! 

Slept well and 

Whenever they show a photo of the trail, this is it.

 5000 ft +, above

 tree line for miles and a ridge walk plus mountains 

that last an afternoon. 

Rocky, but beautiful and we lucked out in the e view. 

Just stunning. 

But there are many trails up to the top here.

 This mountain has been a climbing destination 

by the local

non native population for over 200 years. 

Since it was a pretty day and a Saturday, 

the top ridge was 

swarming with day hikers.

 Shod with flip flops and thin summer clothes, 

they were quite the contrast to me in my 

long distance 

hiking attire. 

After a long day we reached our camping

 shelter for the

 night and while eating dinner met 

Beast, a thru hiker from NY. Very nice guy and 

we shared 

stories as we often do with fellow travelers 

of the trail. 

Aug 25- hiking down from Franconia was crazy! 

For the

 first time 

I had to hike 

down a waterfall, coming off 

Mt Garfield. I had heard a hiker talk about how difficult 

Garfield was 

going up. 

I went down and it was definitely nuts.

 It was an 11 mile hike off of Franconia to get to our 

stoping place 

for the night -Galehead Hut. 

A place for dinner and a restful night-our first hut of the trip. 

Huts are nice/ they are hiker hostels with dinner 

and breakfast. Expensive but very comfortable after a long day 

hiking. 

They dinner would be served at 6 pm 

and don’t be late. We scurried down the mountain at the end of the 

day rushing to make dinner time. 

I was starving! We are just past 6 and I will say it was one of the top

 ten meals I ever had in my life! 

Maybe it was hiking 11 miles or just super hungry-it was a pasta 

dinner 

with the best red sauce! Yum yum!!

Aug  26-A good night sleep-aching knees as usual, but they were fine 

by morning and then a very pleasant 

(unusually so) and uneventful 8 mile almost flat hike out to the road to 

be picked up. An amazing 4 day stretch! 

1. Aug 28-29- After a zero day staying at the wonderful 
2. Eagle Mountain Inn in Jackson, NH, and enjoying 
3. the local creek, we headed out for our last big
4.  adventure for this year-hiking down Mt Washington- 
5. Southbound! We have always headed north, 
6. being very traditional in our hiking ways. 
7. But Mt Washington is notorious for killing people. 
8. Worse weather in America, they say, 
9. at only 6200 feet in elevation. 
10. Cold and windy on top year round, 
11. and rain and snow anytime. 
12. They have a big wall poster at the top giving 
13. the names of all that have died on the mountain. 
14. A dubious honor for sure. Most of exposure or 
15. cardiac arrest. 
16. I was determined to try not to tempt the fates- so, 
17. with rain predicted, let’s hike down, 
18. not up, and cover the south side this year and 
19. north side 
20. next time out. 
21. This we did. And only because there is a private auto 
22. road that goes to the top! 
23. It was first constructed around 1860.

They said something like, “leave in the base of the mountain in 

summer and arrive on top in November.” And

 they are correct.

We left the bottom at about 70+ degrees in the early morning, 

my Sweety drove us to the top on a 

fairly treacherous road, and we got out to 50 degrees and

 high winds! Ran to the tippy top for a photo,

 then headed down southbound. And it was no easy downhill.

 Like a moonscape.

 Above tree line and a billion rocks all around.  

My Sweety 

was such a trooper she decided to hike with us

 part way, and went down the mike and a half to the 

famous

 Lake Of The Clouds Hut.

 We paused there a a break-she went back up 

with only cairns to 

light you way and we headed on down, 

which is definitely a misnomer as I felt we were going up 

more than down. 

Only a 6 mile day for us, but it was long and hard.

 Made it to hike to our Mizpah Spring Hut by 

mid day and then the rains came. -

A nice place to be inside, but not as good a dinner

 as before. 

Still, very nice to be dry and warm. 

Next morning, out to finish our hike down to 

Crawford Notch 

and if was not easy. 

Had to navigate the Webster Cliffs, a series of ledges going 

down that I was sure I was going to fall off! 

Took all day to get off the mountain, but finished our 

two week adventure

Did not go as far as hoped, only did 109 miles in two 

weeks and was hoping to complete NH.

But it was very tough each and every day.

The rest of NH will have to await another year and 

in the meantime 

we will stay at the top of Mt Washington in our minds!

Completed to Mile 1860!

 August 10- 2017-Back on the Trail

After 5 years of dreaming of the AT and relaxing on the couch-Cisco and my Sweety returned to the AT today where we left off in 2012-Bennington Vermont.  Alot of things happen over 5 years-my Mother passed away at 95, my father in law, a WW2 vet of B-17s passed away, but happiness also comes, as we had our first grandchild. Life does go on-but these New England rocks go on forever!

Our goal is New Hampshire-Hanover actually. Driving to the start up point, I missed the parking lot but eagle eye Cisco who always saves me from disaster, saw our error and got us to the right place...to climb up Glastonbury Mtn. This is not an easy start with no training other than walking the flat terrain of Santa Monica and Boston. So off we go with 25 pound packs- not bad- but for an out of shape 66 year old it was very tough from the beginning! I wanted each day to be a slack pack day-we walk 10 miles or less with only water and a sandwich- and my Sweety follows us in the car. But it is not to be for much of Vermont, unfortunately. It's a very rural and rugged area with not enough strategically placed road crossings. Alas! We have to start off with a 10 mile and 12.5 mile day with pack over very rough ground- much harder than I expected! In fact it was some of the toughest hiking I have done, made more challenging by being in no shape! The hike up Glastonbury is very steep. In my old days I could average overall about 2 miles an hour-but now was going no more than 1 mile an hour on the uphills.
We started at 11:20 in the morning and didn't reach our shelter area for camping until 7:10! 8 hours to cover a little less than 10 miles! I was pooped!
For some reason I was expecting some magical North Woods forest- lots of evergreens and spectacular lookouts. Nope- just the same view and forest I've seen over and over again for the past 1600 miles. I got to hike in the lead and very slowly, with much pausing to rest, inched my way forward throughout the day. Cisco is very patient with his Pops-I 'm wanting to zoom on as a very fit 33 year old. But he stayed with me. We did see several thru hikers- flying by at fast speeds. The are the sports cars of the AT, and I am my old Ford Truck. The Trail in this area is mostly rocks and roots and muddy bogs. Exhausting to get through. Much harder than I ever expected. Anyway, we made camp before dark, but ate our dinner, in the dark, put up our bear bag, and got in  in our tents to sleep. But during the night Cisco's air mattress went flat and it got surprisingly cold. So we both shivered in August! Not something we do in Georgia.
And I broke my pole in boggy Trail.


August 11
We got up early, for me at least, around 7:00, had our coffee, a little cereal with powdered milk and packed up and left around 8:40 am. We climbed to the top of Glastonbury Mtn where there is an abandoned fire tower. We climbed to the top and had great views of the mountains all around. This was a treat! We had 12.5 mile day ahead of us, which is long for me, and out of shape and it was indeed grueling! Climbing up boulders that were supposed to be trails, negotiating bogs that were supposed to be trails and generally slogging our way along. I swear the miles in Vermont are longer than other places! Also we saw our first wildlife today-a tiny orange salamander inching his way up the Trail. We had hardly heard any birds since coming here. Maybe they went north for the summer.
We did pass through a few fir forests and they are very nice. But as the day wore on and the bogs became more numerous my patience and energy were wearing out. I thought we would never get to the end of the day! I was worn out!
I don't think I have ever been this exhausted! O for a packless day out here! Anyway my Sweety met us at the end around 6:45 and had beer in the car for us! Heavenly. We love her so much!
Then a motel and rest!
Fell twice. Once almost in front of high schoolers.

August 12:
Oh my!! I was so worn out from our 22 miles in 2 days I was literally sick this morning. No hiking for me. Couldn't even eat my breakfast at the motel. No appetite, like I was sea sick or coming down with something. Felt terrible. Cisco said I shouldn't hike today. After some thinking I went back to bed and slept for hours. Another day in this motel, but it's nice and Cisco and my Sweety got to spend the day getting provisions for us and allowed us to regroup, which we needed. May not make it to Hanover this trip. Will try again tomorrow. My calves really hurt and can barely walk. Hopefully it will improve by morning. Got my appetite back and had a spaghetti dinner, always a favorite with me. I am hoping 66 is not to old to continue this trek. I guess I will find out in the days to come if I can continue huffing and puffing.

August 13

We went to bed early last night in the motel. I slept pretty well but was worried. My calves were so tight I could hardly walk on Saturday. Would I be able to hike today? And all of a sudden I got a lower back pain. I am concerned. They have a delicious breakfast here at the motel, but I was nervous, as I often am
When going from a motel to the Trail. Don't know why. I ate half my blueberry pancakes and drank barely any coffee. Not like me. We got sandwiches at the local market and my Sweety drove us to the trailhead, so we could climb up Mt. Stratton. It was a cool morning and no rain. It had poured the night before as well as the night before that, so we were very lucky to be in a cozy motel. Cisco had suggested to my Sweety that she hike up part way with us. Our total hike to the top at about 3.5 miles. She did hike with us and it was fun! And I got to use my new hiking poles she bought me. My calves were sore, but I was able to hike! Hurray! We said our goodbyes about 2 miles up she went back to the car and we continued on. Soon after the forest turned in the forest I expected for Vermont. Fir trees throughout, soft hiking floor and the smell of Christmas everywhere. After not too long a hike we were at the top and there was a fire tower there to climb with breath taking views of the entire area. And it was windy there on top above the trees. I would not want to be there in the winter!
We ate our lunch and then hiked down the other side of the mountain, about three miles to one of the prettiest scenes: Stratton Pond, actually a big lake and a real lake too! Cisco had been through here before and scouted around until he could find us a campsite with water view. He found us a place to camp and we pitched ours tents and had our traditional afternoon tea.
The camp ranger came by and said we really couldn't camp here, but let it go as we were already set up. We paid $5 per person to camp. Then ate dinner and watched the sunset over the lake. In all our hiking days about 140-we rarely see a sunset. This was very nice! Now to bed and hopes that my calves will feel even better tomorrow.

August 14

10.5 miles-Stratton pond to Manchester
Fell down

August 15-

5.5 miles-Up and down Bromley With Sweety and day pack. Easy day. Staying in Tollway Inn.

August 16-

Peru Peak
Baker Peak rocks
Vanessa hiked to meet us

August 17
White rock cliffs
Hiked Down to eat lunch on cliffs
Vanessa hiked way up
Made cairns
Staying in Rutland

August 18
Zero day-drove to Irasburg-ancestral home of my Sweety
Staying in Rutland where we enjoyed the state fair!

August 19
Hiked over Bear Mountain
Very hard -2 straight ups
Knee hurt in the downs
Slipped and fell on the slippery rock
Hiked separately
Man drove by and warned of bears
Staying in Rutland
Contemplating Monday pick up
Climbing Killington tomorrow

August 20

Climbed Killington
Little Killington
Tough climb with steep hike up high on edge of the world
Little harder than big
Very tough .2 mile crawl to the top
Ate lunch in crevice very windy
Lots of people on top lots of questions
Crawl down harder
Long hike to bottom
Longest hike of the trip 13+ miles
Down to Inn at Long Trail
Great place-perfect for hikers and not to be missed. Lose the miles, gain a great experience. Great food and lodging as envisioned by the AT founder.
From here on Terra Incognito for Cisco

Lots of people

August 21
Long day hiking the continual green tunnel of Vermont.


August 22
Ups and downs
13.4 miles


August 23
Rock walls
Old roads
Where are we?
Close to Hanover
12.4 miles
Flat frog-he wasn't hoppy any more

August 24
On to Hanover. Finally made our hiking goal of this trip! We are now in New Hampshhire hiking in front of Dartmouth College!
Hope to return soon to continue the adventure!

Postscript after two weeks in the woods:

August 5, 2011

After spending 3 lovely days with my cousin, Cisco and I rented a car to return to the NYC area about 300 miles south, to go our separate ways.  We drove back by way of Route 7, that from Bennington to Kent paralleled our hike to some extent.  So we could see some of the mountains we hiked over. Funny to drive 4 hours by what it took two weeks to walk.  The best sighting was seeing Mt. Greylock, with its distinct tower, picking it out easily from the hiway below. I will say the Berkshires, which is the name of the Mass mountains we hiked over, are much prettier from the road than from the Trail. Nice towns, green valleys and comfortable mountains to view. I could see why it is a popular area, but it went by like a flash as we drove at 50 MPH.  As we came back into Kent, CT, we drove past the B&B I stayed in for a few hours with my swollen foot in 2010, not a happy memory, but the people at Cooper Creek B&B were surely nice to give me a lift to the hospital 20 miles away. Luckily, no infections today.

Flower in Vermont-Don't know the name, pretty though

As we went through the town of Kent, we looked around for hikers on the street, but didn't see any. Then I mentioned to Cisco, "You know, we were here almost a week later in 2010 (Aug. 11)."  This is a very nice town, but I hope this is the last I see of it. Been here too many times. Especially in my memory. Ready to move to the Real North Country. Maybe in 2013.....

August 2 Mile 1606
Bennington, VT, Hiway 9

Slept well and got up early as ever, even though it wasn't necessary. In fact, last evening, as it was starting to rain and we had nothing to do, we went to bed at about 6:30! Only 5 miles to go today to get to Route 9 to Bennington, VT, where my cousin is picking us up.  Kinda of cloudy, muggy morning. Only had two cool dry days in the past two weeks and I had expected more from New England. Interesting that the forests up here are just about as warm as our Southern woods, at least in July, anyway.  Pretty forest today, lots of ferns, mostly a ridge walk with a big downhill of 1000 feet at the end of the morning when we came down to Route 9.  Very steep with lots of steps. Better than going up I suppose. My left knee felt a little twitchy the day before and I had the same feeling today. Maybe good this is our last day. Maybe 145 miles and 2 weeks is my limit? Plan to finish, but over a period of years.  I think the amount left is 578 miles, this year anyway.  They are sure to continue to lengthen the Trail.  Cisco says Vermont gets prettier as we go and the boring parts are now past.  And New Hampshire and Maine are billed as spectacular. Can't wait. When we return to the spot we left on Hiway 9, it's straight up a couple of thousand feet in just a mile or so.  Tough beginning. I definitely need to get into shape before I return-Stairmaster is best, Cisco says.
Got down to the road about 10:30, and we were five miles from town. While trying to hitch a ride standing by a Trail parking lot, a guy sitting in a red truck came over and said. "I'm here on vacation, do you need  a ride into town?" "Yes!" we say.  "OK," he responded, "I'll do it for $5, to help pay for my vacation." $5 for 5 miles? Sounds great to me! So we said, "Great! let's go."  On the Trail your city reservations and fears fall away. Maybe, unwisely. Yes, I suppose this guy could be a serial killer, but with a ride to town, we'll take our chances.  Pleasant ride to town and the guy driving us talked about wanting to move to Vermont from Pennsylvania.  Dropped us off in the picturesque town of Bennington. VT, where we found a pub open to grab an early lunch while we waited. Even though we were only out for two weeks and had several town eating opportunities, it amazing how good city food tastes out here. I guess it's something about the deprivation, and knowing you can't have it on the Trail.

Fern Fields along the VT trail

Coming down near Bennington

Foggy Vermont morning

Picked up by 12:30 and in the car for a 130 mile ride to Burlington, stopping along the way at pretty VT towns to explore bookstores and ice cream shops.  Can't see this from the Trail, and I know the distance would take me almost two weeks to hike. Looking up from the road, I see all of the tough tall mountains we will have to climb on our return, whenever that will be. From southern Vermont the AT doesn't go that far north, but bends east at Killington about 90 miles north of where we got off, and goes into New Hampshire at Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, but we leave that for another day.......

August 1 Mile 1601

Broke the 1600 mile mark today! A milestone of sorts. Almost 75% of the way to Katahdin, but of course, the other 25% will have to wait.  Our shelter area was pretty noisy last night.  The thru hikers at the shelter itself were carrying on and playing music. Not sure how they could do that. Must not worry about battery life like I do! Then, after we were in our tents-after 9:00 PM, and it was dark, a family arrived  and began to set up camp.-it seemed like right next to me!  I couldn't see them, but I could sure hear them. That went on for a while with all of them talking about how to set things up. Only one of them, a daughter, seemed to know what to do.  We left this morning before seeing them, but saw the daughter later in the day at our next shelter. She thought we were mad at them. I said, " no, we were fine." It was just startling. She is going to hike the Long Trail to Canada from here, like Cisco did two years ago. It's a tough hike.
When I came out this time, I decided not to wear my contact lenses. I like to remove them at night and that is an impossibility out here.  So, I brought my glasses, and I need to wear them all of the time. The problem has been that almost every day it has been hot and humid and wet or damp. My glasses are continually fogged in the morning or in the rain. Hard to see. This morning we woke up in a real fog on top of the mountain.  As we started walking, I had a cloud stuck to my glasses and couldn't see to clear it, making everything fuzzy.  Also, Cisco on this trip has let me go first to set the pace, as I am so slow. If he went first, he would probably be in New Hampshire by now. Going first is nice, and I appreciate what Cisco has done, cause going slower than your normal pace can be frustrating. But going first, you also get spider web duty.  Today was amazing.  Our first full day in the Vermont woods and there was a web across the Trail continually, catching me in the face.  Just don't want a spider bite!  The forests in Vermont get prettier as you go.  A different look from the states previously.  Fir trees, less scrubby undergrowth and lots of ferns.  Came by a few large beaver ponds and in the ponds the bullfrogs were croaking.  But the sound of each was like someone plucking a string of a guitar.  Very cool, with 20 frogs croaking at the same time.
Another ritual Cisco and I have is to buy Pop-Tarts and share a pack of two at 10:00 AM after about two hours of hiking.  Calories and fat don't count out here! It's a nice treat at mid-morning.  This morning for our Pop-Tart break we stopped by this beautiful creek and really enjoyed the scene.

Camping in Vermont:  Food bags go up in the tree to keep the bears away from us!

Pausing by a beautiful creek for a Pop-Tart break

Vermont Pond

Too often, as a thru hiker you rush through, as you have to make the daily miles. No rushing for the section hiker, especially for us today, as we have a very short day planned. Only about seven miles from our break spot, my wonderful cousin is picking us up on Thursday.  We were hoping for a little longer in the woods, but the mountains really rise from this point on and roads become more remote, and  the next road for us to exit the Trail was washed away by Hurricane Irene in 2011, so it's either out tomorrow, or hike 15 miles a day for 4 days, which isn't an option either physically or time-wise. But that's fine-we are having a great hike, will have completed  145 miles-about 10.5 miles a day, not bad for just getting off the couch and coming out here-and we are in   Vermont!

July 31 Mile 1594

Mt. Greylock is stunning! It is the most beautiful spot we have seen in almost 1100 miles since we left Mt Rogers in southern Virginia. The views from the top were fantastic for us. On Greylock this morning, when we awoke in the Bunkhouse, out the south facing window we could look down 3000 feet to the valley and towns below and a huge cloud blanketed all the lowlands halfway up the mountain. It was like the ocean or a great snowfall. Quite beautiful. When Cisco came here two years ago, it was totally fogged in. What a shame for a hiker or visitor ( a paved road comes right to the top).  When we pass a southbounder now, ( and there are lots of them) and they ask about the trail below, I don't have the heart to tell them that after Greylock it will be 1100 miles before they see the pretty South. From southern Virginia to Georgia it's glorious, not so  such till then. But then, they would probably tell me how tough the going is from here north, so I guess we would be even.
Met a neat Sobo (Southbounder today) as we were descending Mt. Greylock. A guy about my age (haven't seen too many this time out).
His trail name is "Earl Grey", like the tea. A former Marine and retired. Told us to remember "When you are on the Trail,  every day is a holiday and every meal is a feast." Good advice.  He left us with
"Semper Fi" as he went up the north slope of Greylock.
This would be a long day for me: 13 miles. We left Mt. Greylock at about 8:30 AM, passing by a warming hut for hikers, and once upon a time for skiers, too. It was built in the 1930's. A sign said that back then this was a premier ski area, with trails down to the towns and valleys below-about 3000 feet. But no more-they couldn't work out good ski lift arrangements, so skiers moved on to better locations.

Looking down on Williamstown, MA.

Hiked down for several miles to the valley and and through the outskirts between North Adams and Williamstown, MA. Crossing a major highway, we thought, "this would be a great place for a hamburger stand." But, nothing--just houses. Williams College is nearby and North Adams is a noted artist community. But we are heading for Vermont today and I don't want any distractions.  The Trail takes us straight up the mountain and  4 miles later I finally make Vermont! A long time goal for me.

Welcome to Vermont!

 Vermont!

3 miles later through a very different forest with ferns, little other undergrowth, and birch and beech  and maple trees, we reach the Seth Warner Shelter, water, dinner, of instant mashed potatoes, salmon in a pack and Snickers-Yum, and to bed with only two more hiking days left.