Another Day Walking

Today, we had a pretty short distance day and hiked a little over nine miles from just west of Pittsfield, Massachusetts to “The Writer’s Cottage” Airbnb location in New Lebanon, New York.

That’s right.  The big news of the day was that we put Massachusetts in the rearview mirror and have started our journey through New York.

We made it to the Empire State.  Two states down….only ten to go.

In other news, we spent about an hour at the Liberty Package Store at the base of Lebanon Mountain getting to know Bobby Jean, the owner’s daughter back from Bakersfield, CA helping her parents out for a spell.  Typical Dad, he went in for a chocolate milk, and came out thirty minutes later with a new friend. I’m beginning to think that he likes to talk as much as he does just to get a few (or more than a few) more minutes of rest.

We finished off by coming down the steep back side of Lebanon Mountain in to the valley town of New Lebanon on the New York Side of the border. It’s the last really high pass we have to clear in what I’m calling the East Coast mountains.  It’s basically all downhill from here into the basin of the Great Plains. There will be ups and downs, of course, but the high passes should be complete.

We finished up at “The Writer’s Cottage” and we’ll be holed up here for a couple of days while a relatively nasty line of thunderstorms clears the area.  The storms are what’s left of the system that hammered the west and northern Great Plains states with a significant amount of April snowfall. I’m not complaining.  Dad and I have separate rooms, and mine is a nice cozy loft where I can work on some reading and hopefully some writing.

“The Writer’s Cottage” Loft where I’ll spend the next couple of days.

The best part of today for me was that it was really just another day walking.  My blisters have healed. My back is feeling good. The weight of the pack has started to feel like an old friend.  The trekking poles go where I want them to go, and they actually help move me forward. When I’m heading down the road, I can get into this meditative place, and there’s nothing else but the road and the rhythmic sound of my pack riding on my hips and my shoulders.  It feels like I could keep up the pace indefinitely. Of course that’s not really true, but I’m beginning to finally get into the flow of walking the miles. It’s a great feeling to have just another day walking.

Push to Dalton, MA - Part II

Well we made it to Dalton, and we’ve set up shoe at the Shamrock Village Inn.  It’s a hiker motel, and it’s about what you’d expect in a place that caters to dirty hiker trash….like us.  It’s completely and totally glorious. Cheap prices, an easy walk to Paddy’s where you can grab a great cheeseburger or shepherd’s pie, heaters that work, hot water, and a soft place to sleep out of the rain.  Everything one could hope for in a place to crash.

Dad and I have a habit that we picked up from Mandy Lea of Mandy Lea Photography.  Side note….if you’re not acquainted with Mandy’s story, you should really go check it out at:

https://mandyleaphoto.com/

She’s a fabulous photographer and even more fabulous human being.  Roaming the country, and now internationally in a @TAB trailer bringing the beauty of the world to people who cannot go themselves and inspiring people to follow their dreams!  Check out her story. She’s the real deal.

Anyway, back to the pilgrimage.

The habit that Mandy suggested, and we’ve been following is to name the highlight of the day, the lowlight of the day, and something you’re grateful for that happened during the day.  We’re writing these down in addition to naming them, but today Dad noted that his lowlight was that the hills of western Massachusetts were still in the embrace of late winter. There’s a little snow along the roads and many of the lakes and ponds that we passed are still partially covered in ice.

Waiting for spring this lonely rowboat seems to be pining for warmer days as ice coats the lake that she plies in warmer times.

We covered a little over eighteen miles today at a little over two miles per hour.  The hills were steep going up and going down, and we had a pretty steep climb to the highest church in New England in Peru, Massachusetts located at an altitude of 2,064 feet.  Not in the same class as the western mountains, but hey, we’re feeling pretty accomplished.

These hills are going to be spectacularly beautiful in a couple of weeks, but if you look closely enough there’s beauty in the embryonic awakening that is just on the edge of becoming a reality.  The robins are out, and at the lower altitudes the frogs are beginning to chirp. Higher up, folks are getting ready for the maple sap harvest.

Sap tap on a maple tree awaiting the return of spring.

The signs of the rebirth associated with spring are all around, and the fact that they’re not quite here yet, the lowlight of the day, just serves to emphasize how special these things will be when they finally arrive in the next couple of weeks.  We’ll have moved on, but I’m sure the folks left behind will enjoy the awakening

The Push to Dalton, Part I

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.

Forty-two Miles of Dirt

My feet hurt and my legs are dirty.  Forty-two miles of dirt over the last two days to be precise.  The last two days have been a great test of conditioning and resolve.

Not Tan Lines - Forty-two miles of Dirt

I finally caught a reasonably good sunset in East Brookfield, MA.

Finally a Nice Sunset

Caught this about three miles before the end of a twenty three mile hike today.  Honestly, I could have done without the night hiking. It’s a little nerve wracking on the roads.  Long story short, it’s been a good two days, but I’m tired and headed to bed.

One State Down, Eleven to Go

Today, we passed out of the northwest corner of Rhode Island and into Massachusetts.  One state down, eleven to go. I’m pretty excited that we cleared our first state. I know, I know.  It’s te small one, and the rest are going to be quite a bit bigger and more challenging. Acknowledging all that, I’ll take he wins where we can get them.

Rhode Island-Massachusetts State Line Marker in the Background

There were and handful of other firsts today as well.  We’re camping for the first time tonight, and we’re breaking the rules to do it.  Stealth camping at its best, but we’ve already been caught.

It would not be camping if it wasn’t raining, and that’s a first for the trip as well.

We had our longest day walking today clocking in 19.22 miles.  Although we’re not quite on pace, I’m pretty pleased with the 14 miles per day we’ve averaged over the last five days.  We started off strong, and we're both settling into the daily rhythm of he road. Camping and moving was the net big hurdle to clear, and we’re giving that a shot as we speak.  More to follow on that tomorrow, but I’m optimistic.

Finally, it is hard to believe that  week ago today, I was hanging out with a great group of friends and celebrating the end of my Navy career.  it seems like so much has happened in those seven days. The travel has helped of course, but the massive life changes have been truly astounding in the bes of all possible ways.  I don’t know any other way to put it. I just feel that I’m on the right path right now, and I can't wait to see where it leads.