The brief but memorable Massachusetts

Feeling in a bad mood

We woke up in Connecticut and finished climbing Bear Mountain. After descending the other side, we crossed into Massachusetts. It had been a while since we did some real climbs. The mass was reintroducing us into the mountains, and had multiples prepared and waiting for us.

I was packed and ready to leave in the morning and left early with Mash while the rest of the group was still packing. The group caught up with us as we enjoyed the view from the top of our first climb. We walked together, but the group kept stopping to talk to people. I eventually got tired of this and moved on when they stopped. I found that if I could get into a state of flow, and what I called «hiking hypnosis,» the climbs were easier. These climbs had some areas that were steeper and rockier than we had experienced so far. All the stops were breaking my concentration and making the climbs seem harder.

Not only me

Ranger expressed her discomfort because at one point she had been left behind. I was usually slower than the group and often left behind, so I had little patience for their complaints. After arriving in town, we were planning our resupply and our plan to return to the Trail the next day. Two people in the group were not listening. After discussion, they said, «We need to come up with our plan for departure and our resupply.» I considered starting my villain arc here.

In Ranger’s defense, her complaints weren’t about being left alone. She was nervous about some of the climbs and wanted her friends to be there to support her. The group was told this every time we split up in New York; I was not aware of this conversation at the time.

The trip to the city

After the climbs, we reached the road junction towards Great Barrington. Here we met Plankton, who joined us for the night.

Our trip to the city was memorable. We called a shuttle driver named Hank. I rode in the passenger seat and Hank commented how we all smelled and he thought I was the worst of the group. I hadn’t showered since arriving in New York, so I agreed.

Hank criticized That smell! and he belted it out while holding his head out the window as he drove us into town. We told him we got his number far, and explained that it no longer transports hikers. He did it at some point, but his business took off and that’s why he tends to visit businessmen and families who visit universities in the area. The kind of people who like a good smelling vehicle, He looks at us accusingly. The whole experience with Hank was phenomenal, he was a great guy who I would recommend if I was still driving hikers!

Great Barrington

The town was great. They have a community center that allows hikers to camp in the forest and field behind. The community center had showers there with hygiene products that were provided. The town also had a McDonalds which our group took full advantage of. It was while we were eating our small family friendly orders that we planned our restock. Plankton, Turtle and I decided to resupply after dinner and head out in the morning. The rest of the group decided to resupply in the morning and leave that afternoon.

Then we set up camp, the group that resupplied that night in the field, the others in the forest. I set up my hammock in a covered picnic area in the field. I talked to Plankton about how I can be in a bad mood and it’s something I don’t like about myself. She explained that she had been a team manager for most of her career and always appreciated grumpy people. «You can trust them. They’ll tell you how they feel and be honest with you. Grouchy is good.» This conversation made me feel better. It helped me think about things differently. Maybe instead of hating that I’m in a bad mood, I can focus on what’s making me in a bad mood and focus on communicating it, like Ranger did when she was left behind. It’s easier said than done, but it’s better than hating yourself.

Get out of town

The next morning, Frank’s friend drove us out of town and in fact excursion shuttles. He said he was waiting for our call and told us about his call with Hank the night before. Hank had warned the driver that we were the smelliest group of hikers he had ever met and that he had to stick his head out the window to breathe. We all thought it was funny!

We arrived at Trail and planned to stop at a Trail Magic that Turtle had read about on Facebook. It was several kilometers along the trail and some climbs along the way. We headed out, planning to meet up with Fresh, Ranger, and Mash in the afternoon.

We met up with other hikers on the way to Trail Magic. Princess Leah, Mighty Mouse, FyreFly and her friend whose name I didn’t write down. We were all planning to go to Trail Magic that afternoon.

SneakAttack and Paparazzi

The Trail Magic was just a short walk from Trail. We arrived at a chapel in a field. The couple explained to us that they lived somewhere else but wanted to do Trail Magic and that’s why they bought this property, almost next to the trail, which included a chapel some time ago.

Originally, the property was part of a school for troubled children. In 1996, a tornado killed three of the children and the rest of the children worked with the carpentry teacher and built the chapel from the rubble, as a memorial to their classmates. In 2016 the school closed and the buildings were converted into houses and sold. The chapel remained, but had become a landfill. They bought the property and cleaned it up.

The couple made egg and bean quesadillas and apple tortilla empanadas, both of which were fantastic. They also ran into town for dinner. They also generously invited us to dinner. We sat around the fire and told stories and talked about the Camino. Interestingly, they told us that they had already heard about our trip from Hank. We had left such an impression on the man that he was telling the whole town about it. They had enough space to camp in the field and some trees where I could set up my hammock.

Tonight was the highlight of the Camino for me and I think about it often.

Upper Goose Pond

The next morning, we headed out for a 20 mile day. Personally, I didn’t think I would make it and just planned to go as far as I could. Once it got dark, I would set up camp and go to bed. Of course, I made it to the shelter before dark and stayed with everyone else.

This shelter has a volunteer caretaker. Forest Gump was a former hiker who ran the shelter when we arrived. It was a two-story cabin. The first floor had a kitchen and community area; The upper floor was a room with bunk beds. It was hot the night we were there. I couldn’t imagine how hot it would have been in the bunks during the summer heat. There were several SOBOs here and we were making smoke over the fire.

The morning after we arrived, Fresh and Ranger bathed in the lake-sized pond. Turtle, Mash and I quickly paddled a canoe.

The road to Cheshire

We left late in the morning and visited Northern Cookie Lady; If you remember, I wrote about Southern Cookie Lady in a previous post. Unfortunately they told me that he had passed away. It seems your family continues the tradition of giving cookies to hikers.

It was dark when we arrived at camp at Kay Wood Shelter that night.

The next day, the group stopped in Dalton and had coffee. I walked through town not knowing they had stopped.

On the way to Cheshire, I ran into a hiker we met in New Jersey named D’Chee, who told me they had stopped. Then I came across SmoothRock, which passed me along with their new hiking companion Forecast. Later, Slaw and I met up and went on a hike to Cheshire together.

Cheshire

Once in Cheshire we stopped at an ice cream stand. A large group of us gathered and Cinderella was about to take our photo. A person passing by stopped and offered to take the photo. We accept the offer. He didn’t go off the path. He just stopped, got out and yelled, «What!?» to the person driving behind him, who was giving him the What the devil? Look and took the photo with Cinderella’s phone before leaving. Things like this seemed to happen all the time in Trail. The people really are great.

We then set up camp at Father Tom’s camp. We rode some bikes to Dollar General to resupply and then had Chinese food delivered for dinner. The next morning, Ranger was sick, so we took our first zero day since leaving Pennsylvania. We biked to Dollar General again. Mash was riding a bike without a seat or brakes and while we were going downhill he lost control and fell, scraping his leg, but nothing serious. Fresh and I continue to ride our bikes during the day, instead of doing other things…like working on this blog. We also met a hiker named Pebbles here.

Greylock and North Adams

The morning after our zero, a Trail Angel named BaconWrap and his dog Hannah made us a breakfast of eggs and pancakes. Then we began the climb to Mount Greylock. Greylock didn’t seem like a bad climb. I left before everyone else in the morning and reached the summit with Fresh. We ate at the hostel. I bought hot dogs because they were cheap, but I would buy them again because they were great!

Fresh told me they were planning to get a hotel room in North Adams with hikers we had met in the morning named Goldilox and Orangutan (Tang) and asked if I wanted to join. Considering there were already 5 people and the room was expensive, I opted out. We walked to North Adams in the afternoon.

How far have I come?

I went to resupply at the Stop and Shop in town. It was getting late and I decided to go to the store for dinner. I bought a sandwich, a yogurt parfait, 2 sparkling waters, and 2 Powerades. I then sat on the sidewalk outside the store and ate dinner while packing my resupply into my bag.

This moment was special for me. Before this trip I had never eaten alone in a restaurant because I was worried about what people would think of me.

Yet here I was, the closest thing to doing laundry I had done in about a month was rinsing my clothes in a river in Connecticut, wearing them in the shower in Great Barrington, and spraying them with a faucet in Cheshire. I had only showered once in all that time.

I was sitting outside the store eating dinner and surrounded by the trash from my resupply. People passed by and I noticed that some of them looked at me out of the corner of their eye and gave me a contemptuous look. But I couldn’t care less.

At home, I often felt like I was struggling to fit in wherever I went and no matter what I was doing. I never felt like this on Trail. I felt like being there I belonged. If I didn’t belong, I wouldn’t be there. I never really felt like I needed to prove anything. It could just be me; I could just exist and be happy.

I’m happy to say that I was able to heal a lot on Trail. Many times in life I felt broken, but I couldn’t say how. Sitting on this sidewalk I realized that the Camino had repaired wounds that I had, although irreparable, it had sealed cracks that I had forgotten.

An expected trip

Plus, I know he had given people the same look I was getting. I’ll never do that again. Everyone has a story, but even if they don’t, people deserve to be treated as if they were human.

I got up, picked up my trash, put on my backpack, and took my cart to the store, where I dumped my trash. When I walked in, a lady asked me how my hike was going and offered me a ride back to Trail, which I happily accepted.

That night I walked in the dark and set up camp at a short distance from town.