Day 170, Tuesday, July 31. Williamstown Motel, Williamstown—9.6 miles

Now I remember why we don’t sleep in shelters that often. It’s not just the bugs (although if they are thick, forget it) but it’s also the luck of the draw on shelter mates. Last night, we lost the lottery. Tab could immediately fall asleep (which is good), but he immediately started to snore—loudly. I tried everything to fall asleep. I found the best result was getting up to pee and “accidentally” bumping into his bunk. After 5 times of using this trick, I just couldn’t even fake a pee any more. The next best result was to slap the walls. It worked, but also woke up everyone else in the shower (if they were lucky enough to be asleep).

The idea of getting up early to catch the sunrise on Mt Greylock went by without comment when Tab got up before 5. Maybe it was his alarm clock that turned Bunny off. Tab farted a lot and not the cute ones like me. I try to save mine for just Bunny as she does for me. Tab had no fart filter. When he started tooting before 5 (tooting sounds too cute, he was rip roaring), Bunny and I both turned away and buried ourselves deep in our quilts and tried not to make loud gagging noises. Being buried so deep, we fell back into deep sleeps that only became restful upon his departure. 

When we did finally get up, not only the dream of sunrise at the summit gone, but so was the idea of breakfast at the lodge. It was a little over 3 miles to the top, so lunch was still a possibility.  We were the last thru-hikers to leave the shelter, but not the last people. There was a group behind the shelter that looked to be struggling getting it together. We never saw them again. 

As soon as we got to the summit, I was ready to eat. We had skipped breakfast thinking we’d get to the Lodge in about an hour and a half—that was two and a half hours ago. Like most park restaurants, there is a food “dead time zone” and we nailed it. We got there in the half hour window between breakfast and lunch, perfect timing!  I accepted the situation for what it was, an opportunity. I bought an ice cream bar and attached to WiFi. 

We ordered our lunch when Bunny was ready, and not one second sooner. I was ready to place my order right at 11, but Bunny was dragging her feet as usual. We didn’t get our orders in until almost 11:05. I’ve learned in our 25 years of marriage that you can’t rush Bunny.  

As we were heading out, I saw Ambassador come in.  We had met her a couple days ago at Tom’s when she dropped by to drop some stuff off. She is from London and had tweaked her knee forcing her off trail for almost a week. Tom was supposed to pick her up and he hadn’t so she was worried that something might be wrong with him (he’s been a reliable trail angel for 39 years). It turns out that Tom was at the hospital with Freeman when they were checking him out for his heat exhaustion. We let her know what had happened. 

At the summit of Mt Greylock is a Massachusetts War Memorial. It’s a tower over 9 stories tall. It always amazes me that Bunny and her kids always question if it’s worth a climb up to the top of something—will the view be any better than what it is down here. The answer is always “Hell yes,” but they are all genetically afraid of steps. 

The views were more than 89 steps better. We could clearly see multiple steps as well as the mountains of Vermont where we are headed. It’s clear to see that we will be climbing once again.  The mid-Atlantic states have been pretty flat and easy (but that doesn’t stop people from creating the illusion that things are tough…Rocksylvania clearly comes to mind.  Damn crybabies!).  We will soon have to start climbing again and after 600 miles of level, everyone has forgotten what climbing is. The Whites are not as tall as the Smokies, but New Hampshire doesn’t believe in switchbacks, so it will be a bit tougher. 

Guthook does a great job of exaggerating climbs in the mid-Atlantics so people still think they are climbing. By Virginia definition, any grade lass than 500’/mile is level. Guthook displays 100’ elevation gains on the same scale as a mile of horizontal walking. This means the 2800’ we are about to descend over the next 6 miles looks like a steep drop. Bunny has started to psych herself out and gets upset with me when I tell her it’s not going to be bad at all. “How do you know? Have you walked it before?  You don’t know.”  The same argument she uses on me if I predict how a person is going to react. I listen and pay attention.  Past incidents predict future behavior. I have listened to several hikers who HAVE hiked this section and everyone says it’s exaggerated. 

We hiked down to town and then Bunny said “That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”  Is it any wonder I have no hair left? Just 2 short decades ago I had a full head of hair.  Now, between aggravation and overactive cerebral action, the forest has been thinned to the point that flying insects want to absorb the energy and knowledge directly from the source. Very similar to warriors eating the heart of their enemies to gain their strength. 

One thing that happened as we got closer to the bottom, the gnats returned to remind us what true aggravation is. I had almost forgotten the misery of NJ, NY, CT, and southern MA. It was a relief and gift to have them back with us. Bunny has been talking of yo-yo so their return has successfully killed those delusions of hers. 

As we were approaching MA route 2, we called the Motel we are staying at tonight. He said he’d be there in 6 minutes. We were still 2 blocks away and questioned whether we would be able to hiker hobble there in the same time frame. As it was, we arrived almost simultaneously. He took us right back to the hotel and our room was all ready for us. We have a king sized bed, a full kitchen, and a bathroom with a porcelain toilet that we don’t have to share. 

After being a week on the trail without a shower, the first order of business was, of course, food.  There was an “all you can eat” Mexican restaurant across the street. It wasn’t a buffet, but made to order with a choice of enchiladas, tacos, or burritos. The twist is that you have choice of what was inside your choice. I am a thru-hiker and I walked away full. It was great. 

Lastly, we would like to inform the concerned citizenry of Cheshire that, yes, we did shower and do laundry before we went to bed. Your concerns were real as when I went into the enclosed bathroom after Bunny got out of the shower, I noticed that having the door closed before she showered was enough to cause the paint to peel. We regret that our 1600 miles of hiking caused you inconvenience and created a delay for you when you took the time to tell us we stank.  We are sure this delay caused you to not be the first in line at the “all you can eat” buffet where you obviously dine daily. Our sincerest apologies. 

EFG