We did it. We covered our longest daily distance to date. A touch over twenty five miles from Hadley, Massachusetts to where we’re bedding down for the night in Worthington, Massachusetts. We’re within about seventeen miles of Dalton, MA where the famous Appalachian Trail crosses paths with the far less famous N2N-TCP Trail.
Let me just say it upfront. Dad was a beast today. He’s seventy-eight years old, carrying a twenty five pound pack, and he put in over twenty five miles with no complaints. He even found time to fool around in the snow at the base of a small ice fall on the General Lafayette Trail just on the east side of Chesterfield, MA.
Dad playing around in the snow at th base of a small ice fall.
His push to Worthington has put us in a position to be able to make an attempt at getting to Dalton tomorrow. I don’t know why, but Dalton, MA has taken on an importance as a milestone on our journey from my perspective. I guess it’s because we’ll be crossing through a town that will provide a much needed respite for the north bound, or NOBO, thru hikers of the Appalachian Trail later this summer. Those folks are still hammering away at the miles down in Georgia, North Carolina, and maybe Tennessee right now.
Though we’re all miles away from each other, I feel a kindred spirit with the joys and the struggles of what they are trying to accomplish. I’m also looking forward to spending one short evening in a “hiker town.”
Though tough, today was a good day and proved that we have what it takes to conquer some real distance coupled with some non-trivial hills.
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