It’s amazing how some days on the trail can just drag on forever, each mile seeming to go slower than the last. Then there are other days that just breeze by, the miles passing by effortlessly. Today was one of the latter.
We awoke fairly early at the cabin, and we were treated to coffee and pancakes for breakfast. I’d highly recommend the Upper Goose Pond Cabin for every thru-hiker as a stop. Very soon after leaving the cabin we crossed over Interstate 90, another highway that we’ve driven many times over the last few years, and it was gratifying to cross it.
The first 10 miles flew by, even though we had a few climbs. We just chatted most of the time, which passes time much quicker than music or podcasts. We arrived at the famous Cookie Lady by 11:30. The cookie lady is not a store or a bakery or anything like that. It’s pretty much just a house where a lady gives hikers cookies and sells sodas and ice cream. It was a great place to take a short break, and to refill our water.
We only hiked about 4 more miles before stopping for lunch on top of Warner Hill. We didn’t break for long though, because we wanted to get to Dalton. By 4pm we were down into town, 21 miles or so from Goose Pond, and we still felt great. We stopped into the ice cream shop first thing and got something cold, as it was another pretty hot day. We then made our way through town to the gas station to pick up a few snacks and drinks.
Before we started the trail, I worked one town over from Dalton, so I knew there was a chance I’d run into a former Co-worker. We ran into one in the gas station. He had seen us walking up the street and stopped in to say hi. It’s nice getting back into an area where people know us. We headed over to Jacob’s restaurant, where a few more co-workers joined us for dinner and a few beers. I really enjoyed catching up with everyone. Thanks very much to all of you who could come out and say hi. Knowing that people are still following our adventure makes it that much easier to keep on going. I apologize for anyone who wanted to come out, but we want to keep on moving, so we really could only take the one evening.
A bit after 7 we hit the trail again for about 4 more miles to Crystal Mountain campsite. We arrived right around 9pm, and the last part of the hike got so dark we needed lights. We quickly set up and got settled. It’ll be another early morning tomorrow, and we’ll be going up and over Greylock, the tallest mountain in Massachusetts.
