Day 46 - Thursday, July 28

Linda

Slept very well last night. The sky had been clear and the moon very bright. We got up and got going at 7:30, prepared for a steep 3 miles to Mt. Graylock. It was steep for a while, but then it followed the ridge, so it wasn't bad walking. The view from Graylock was beautiful. There was a World War II memorial observation tower on top, so we went up there. Also got some ice cream at Bascom Lodge and met several Northbounders and talked for quite a while. The descent from the top wasn't too steep, but pretty swampy in one spot, and overgrown in others. Stopped for a few minutes at Kitchen Brook Shelter and talked to a guy who has lost 76 pounds since leaving Georgia. Wow!

Cheshire was our next mail stop, and we headed there next. We enjoyed walking through its quaint streets on the way to get our packages at the Post Office. Lots of mail and a great care package from Tom and Marion, but still no sleeping bags. Went down to the Catholic Church to look up Father Dion who we'd heard was so helpful to hikers. He was nice, but not quite as enthusiastic a host as we had pictured him to be. He did let us repackage our food in one of the back rooms. We wrote some cards and tried to eat up the brownies Marion had sent. They were great, but like the summer sausage Mom and Dad had sent in Hanover, they were too heavy to carry very far. I went and called Mom and we had a good talk, but apparently I talked too long. When I got back I found out that Ronald had been waiting for me to get back instead of going to the Post Office. He had decided we didn't need the tent anymore for a while, that the fly would be sufficient as protection from the elements, and had packaged up the tent to mail the home. As it turned out we got there after closing, so, as my penance for missing the deadline, I got to carry the package to be mailed in Dalton the next day. We walked up to Gore Pond 4 miles away and set up camp and fixed dinner. Went to bed early after kind of a weird 15 mile day.

Ron

After a two hour hike from Graylock Lean-to, we made the summit of Graylock at around 9:30. We rested a while, took some pictures, climbed the tower and ate a couple of ice cream bars. I talked with a couple of through hikers about the trail ahead.

On leaving the top, we had a messy time going down the mountain. A long section was in a bog, and the bridges had sunk. It took a while to by pass the area without getting wet. The rest of the trail down was fair but much too overgrown. This made the trail hard to follow. At Kitchen Brook Lean-to we rested for the final push into Cheshire. The rest of the hike into town was over old dirt and paved roads and we arrived around 2:00.

We went to the Post Office and get the mail and the new sleeping bags I had ordered. It was getting too hot to sleep in down bags. I ordered some light summer bags for the rest of the summer. The mail was in but the bags had not arrived. We went to the store to resupply and get something to drink. After the store we went to the local Catholic church that is often used as a base for hikers while in town. I had some time to repackage the food and write some letters while Linda went out to call home. I expected her back soon, but she did not get back until 5:00. By then it was too late for me to call home because we still had four miles to cover before we could camp.

I had packaged the main part of the tent to send home. The weather is getting better. I think we will be fine with just the tent fly. On the way out of town we went by the Post Office to mail the package. I got mad when I found the Post Office closed and I'm making Linda carry the tent to next PO at Dalton. We finally arrived here at Gore Pond around 7:00 and setup camp. It was not a good day. Too little accomplished and too few miles.

(15 Miles - 596.8 Total)