Southbound: episode 8
October 30th 2006
Written by: Bryan Wolf and Joe White
I know its only been 3 days since you heard from us last, but we made another pit stop. We are staying with a family that we had met coming down Mt. Washington 3 weeks ago. They have been absolutely wonderful, very hospitable. We had a great dinner and we got to watch some football too. Two days ago, we crossed over into Massachusetts , our 4th state. We had to hitch into North Adams to pick up our mail-drop at the post office. We didn’t think anyone would pick us up because it had been raining so hard and we were soaked, but we were wrong. While we were in the post office sorting our packages, two different people had come up to us offering rides back to the trail. We hit the trail and hiked another 7 miles to a shelter and called it a day.
It had been raining for the past 24 hrs and wasn’t letting up. A lot of our gear got soaked and to top it off, the shelter leaked really bad. The wind was also blowing rain into the shelter, so it was impossible to stay completely dry. There was some uno cards left in the shelter, so Ice Man taught me how to play gin with a deck of UNO cards. The following day, yesterday, we climbed Mt. Greylock , our last peak above 3000 ft until we get down into Virginia . There was snow, ice, and the winds were blowing around 80 mile and hour on top of Greylock.
It was definitely an adrenaline rush. We ended up doing 20 miles into Dalton that day. We are hoping to be in Salisbury , CT by Friday I think. The weather is suppose to be dry, but the nights are suppose to dip below freezing, gotta love it. Happy Halloween everyone.
This exert was originally published on atwishhikers.com. It’s content has not been edited from the original post.
Epilogue: by: Bryan WolfComing down from Mt. Washington is when we met the Matty family. At first it was our high spirits and large packs that caught their eye I’m sure. I suppose they could of just caught our stench coming down the mountain. When we stopped to chat however they were most intrigued about our work with the Make A Wish Foundation, since they themselves had worked with that group before. In just minutes they were giving us a business card with phone numbers for when we got to the Massachusetts and Connecticut area. Amazing that in minutes it all transpired, and weeks later the offer still stood.
The wind on Greylock was pretty amazing. 80 miles can be hard to imagine, but when we were up there it was tough to stand. The monument and area around it completely exposed us for a little while. You can drive to the top and I believe there is even a lodge during the warmer months. There was one man that braved the elements and drove to the top that day, and I would say it was very ill advised. He had a little girl with him, maybe 5 or 6 years old. She got out of the car and hit the ice around the monument, it a quick second she was being blown across the monument with her slippery feet still below her. Her dad chased her down as she began to cry and scream. We would of helped but Joe was bush chasing his pack cover into the brush. (Osprey puts a button tab there for a reason)
I feel like this was the most spoiled, and lazy part of the trail for us. You’ll see why in future posts, but this was the beginning of even more hot meals, bedrooms, and hospitality.
No complaints.