We wanted an early start, but considering it was still raining when we hoped to leave, we decided to wait a bit. It was 9a when we finally moved, 10a when we left the shelter. The day was misty and grey – one of my favorite kinds of weather for photos. We had a pretty good three mile push to get to Greylock, a mountain with incredible views and a military memorial. On the way we passed by a small pond with a cabin on the water. It was too beautiful to pass up taking photos.
A little ways further down the trail was Greylock, which is apparently a favorite place for tourists. There was a lodge on the top of the mountain with a restaurant. Sunny Hedgehog waved us all over, so we joined him for lunch – one of the most disappointing $9- ham sandwiches I’ve ever had. However, the restaurant was warm and had good views. So I was happy to stay for a bit.
After checking out the memorial, we continued on our miles. It was late in the day and we weren’t near as far as we should be. We hit a couple of overlooks in the afternoon. We went down and then up, just to go down again. We walked through a town, entering a neighborhood. The town we walked through advertised “bikes for hikes”. If you went to a specific business, you could borrow a bike to do any town errands you needed. We thought it was genius for increasing revenue from hikers. To exit the town, we again walked through a neighborhood, along a river, and then back up into the mountains.
We haven’t been meeting our mileage goals lately. It has us all a bit bummed and stressed to be honest. Today we will fall short again. To soften the blow, we decided we would push ourselves to the Massachusetts/Vermont border. Here the AT syncs up with the Long Trail for 105 miles. We would hit the border late – sometime after sunset, but an exciting moment nonetheless! Vermont means we only have three states left. Three states. It goes Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Each one is supposed to be more beautiful than the last.
We didn’t hike on much farther after passing the border. There was a campsite listed just a half mile passed it. A half of a mile or ten miles, it wouldn’t matter. We are in Vermont.
-ansel