When we started getting up about 7, Tom already had a pot of coffee and three boxes of donuts waiting on the picnic table. We sat and talked with him while our tent dried up. We had been wavering on whether to pick up our food drop at the post office, or bump it forward. Tom convinced us to bump it forward and not carry the weight. We’ll be passing through another town, Cheshire, in about 10 miles where we’ll be able to eat and get some resupply if needed. We’ll also be going over Mt Greylock which has a Lodge and restaurant at the summit.
We headed back to the Shamrock Motel to connect with Round About who is going to hike with us today. After getting our P.O. business done, we swung back by Freeman’s room to check on him. He was talking with his daughter and grandchildren and let us talk to them since they speak English better than he does. Of course, they are all worried about him but he’s doing better—much closer to his old self this morning, but still a little pale. We will miss him and hope to see him and Nonna again when we visit Switzerland to hike the TMB with Axel and Heike.
Bunny wanted another cup of coffee and some protein before hitting the trail so we stopped by the coffee shop. Sassy and Bear were in there so we sat at a table near them to spare their noses now that they are clean and civilized. Bear was trying to think of a name for his new mascot we found yesterday. I suggested “Ass.” Bear immediately liked it realizing that they would now be known as Bear, Ass, and Sassy. Bunny and Sassy weren’t as amused as the two of us were.
ORound About joined us at the coffee shop for one last mocha. After Bunny and I got our porcelain time, the three of us headed back to the trail. We had an ominous start—we missed the turn on to the trail, and then when we did get on it, Round About tripped over a rock and fell. Bunny got ticked at the rock and threw it off the sidewalk (barely missing an elderly gentleman who now has a chip on his shoulder for thru-hikers). Round About’s fall was not nearly as graceful as the splits she performed when she slid off the planks yesterday. You’d think with more falls under her belt, her scores from the judges would be on the rise.
Bear had told us that Sassy was making him go to the urgent care clinic to get his foot checked out. I encouraged him not to go knowing a doctor is going to cover his ass and tell him not to walk on it. We got a text from them telling us that Bear did not have a stress fracture and that they would be hiking out of town to rejoin us in a few days. Had they listened to me, they could have saved $80 and still walked out of town tomorrow. I guess I should start charging for my advice so people will value it more. I could use the extra $1,000/day it would generate and still be a bargain for all parties.
We met Flying Crow way back at the RPH Shelter when he was working and we were chowing down on free food. We ran into him again Saturday morning when he started a weekend hike. Echo invited us to join her and a bunch of other hikers for a beer last night and Flying Crow was there as well. He also camped in Tom’s yard last night. All this is a roundabout way to say Flying Crow and Mud Bug caught up to us on the trail on the way up Crystal Mountain this morning. We walked as a group all the way to Cheshire where we stopped for some food and ice cream. Flying Crow’s mom picked him up there (poor guy has to work tomorrow). He is going to be up at Mt Washington the weekend of August 25,so we might see him again.
Mud Bug and Round About decided that they were happy with the 9 miles we had already hiked today so they were going to stay at the local church that allows thru-hikers to camp for free. It’s also conveniently located close to a liquor store. We had met a little kid at the ice cream place that was collecting hiker autographs. Mud Bug and Round About were on the fence about going on until he told us he and his parents were providing magic at the church at 6. They both bailed at that point. We have to go on because we have reservations for a hotel tomorrow night. We really need showers and laundry.
On the way out of town, we decided to stop by Dollar General to pick up a few essentials: tortillas and bug spray. Cooking tip—Off works better than Pam for no stick cooking, but be careful, it’s highly flammable. Bunny wanted to use the bathroom. While I was looking around for what we needed, I was quietly carpet bombing the place (middle aged man, banana split, lactose intolerance, and the fact that we were walking with a group all day so there was massive build up internally make for a deadly combination).
As we were packing up outside, a local concerned citizen decided to perform a valuable public service. He came over to tell us that he was following us in the store and we really stink. Normally, this is followed with an invitation to come to their house to shower and do laundry. This concerned, obese gentleman did not extend such an invitation but emphasized that we stink so bad his eyes watered. 1) we are thru-hikers and do not shower as often as we would like (as in daily, and thanks to Bunny, we passed up an opportunity just yesterday); 2) we have hiked over 60 miles in the last 5 days of heat and high humidity; 3) obesity raises everyone’s insurance rates, maybe he should join us on the trail for a while to get his weight problem under control (we don’t say this because we think it’s obvious and possibly rude, but maybe our smell has overpowered our higher reasoning ability). In the end, we just thank him for his ability to grasp the obvious and state it so eloquently.
This does raise a few questions in our minds. How does the smelling process work? Do smells have to be so bad to overcome our own odor before we smell them? Does our own odor become the “odor threshold” that must be surpassed before we can smell something. We were standing next to a very smelly trash can that even we found mildly offensive when the concerned citizen approached us. Could he have just smelled the trash and thought it was us. If he was following me in the store, I was carpet bombing the place, as I mentioned. Maybe it was just my farts which bothered him. After a good amount of milk products, I even make my own eyes water. Could Round About and Mud Bug just want to get away from us because we stink so bad? They said they would catch up with us Wednesday evening—after we showered!
We had 5 angst filled miles up the side of Mt Greylock to get to the shelter. The only thing that diverted our attention was the confusion we felt when we encountered rocks in the trail. What in the hell is this? Did we take a wrong turn and circle back to PA? If this isn’t PA, how did these rocks get here? We passed 4 people on the trail up. We tried to step back to not overpower them, but we did watch their eyes to make sure they weren’t watering. We were surprised that we could smell another sobo over us. Are we odor blind to ourselves? Does this mean privies will no longer stink for us?
It cooled off quite a bit as we climbed up. Mt. Greylock will be the first time we have been over 3,000’ since VA. We decided to risk it and stay in shelter since it was cool and no bugs. Passenger was already in the loft. Tab was going to sleep in a lower bunk. Bunny told me the guy at Dollar General was right and she was going to sleep on a different bunk than me. She also told me people on trail are only nice to me because they don’t know me. I cried myself to sleep and vowed to be a bigger asshole so as to not get preferential treatment from strangers any longer.
EFG