Day 31 on the Trail

I received an envelope from Pyro the Wise today.  It had a CD of pictures and one of videos he made while he was hiking with Dave.  Here's one of the first pictures;  Kelly must have taken it.  Look how clean they are - clean clothes and clean shaven.  Thanks, Pyro!

As of 7/14/11:

Miles today - 15.5
Miles to date - 377

Dave couldn't call until about 9:30 as he didn't have cell service.  He was already in his sleeping bag, dog tired.  His 15+ miles today were up and over Mount Greylock which is the highest point in Massachusetts at 3,489 feet.  From the summit, you can see 70–135 mi. into five different states: Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

There is a Veterans War Memorial Tower at the summit.  It has an interesting history, as does the whole Mt. Greylock, and you may want to look it up on wikipedia.  Dave told me the story he heard about this monument and the nearby lodge.  It was supposed to be a lighthouse on the coast, but due to some problem, it was built on the mountaintop instead.  I wanted to know more of the story. Wikipedia had a slightly different history - it was always meant to be a war memorial but was originally intended to be erected in Boston's Charles River Basin, before plans were changed to build it on Mount Greylock.  It takes the form of a perpetually lighted beacon to honor the state's dead from World War I (and subsequent conflicts). The light used to be the strongest beacon in Massachusetts, with a nighttime visible range of up to 70 miles.

Dave said the climb up wasn't so bad, but the descent was awful - very very steep.  He said he had to have his "breaks on" all the way down and his legs were tired.  Then, to get to this evening's campsite, he had to hike another mile uphill.  I cannot imagine.

Cloud Walker decided to get off the trail in Adams and may not come back.  He was having some marital issues that were overpowering his enjoyment of the trail, and he needed to deal with them before he went any farther.  So, it was just Country Gold and Dave making the hike up and over Mt. Greylock.  As they were starting up, they came across a guy camping under a rock outcrop.  He was wearing tight black studded jeans, sunglasses and a knit cap.  Very unusual camping clothes, Dave thought.  They could see he had gear stowed back under the rock.  As they walked on, Dave said, That was a nut case.  Country said, That was Vermont.  (Sorry for the confusion, but their "Vermont" is my "Packer"! He didn't give a name, but had said at one point he was going to Vermont, so that's what Dave and Country called him.  I had dubbed him Packer.)  Dave hadn't recognized him with the complete change of clothes and disguise of sunglasses and hat.  They wondered how he got ahead of them, as they knew it took him 6 hours to go 3 miles a few days ago.  They walked on, summited Mt. Greylock, Dave had lunch at the lodge, and did the descent.  They stopped at Sherman Brook Campsite for the night.

Five people ended up there - Dave and Country Gold, Bennie, and two women, Mother Goose and Clover (whom Dave had met earlier in the summer).  The two women, much to their disappointment, had ridden down in a car from the top of Mt. Greylock rather than walking down, but there was a good reason.  They told Dave and Country there was a weird hiker at the summit that followed them around, kept asking for food, money, gear, etc. and would not leave them alone. They decided to ask a complete stranger for a ride down, to get away from him, and he even followed them to the car as they approached someone in the parking lot.  They said he was creepy, with tight black studded jeans and sunglasses. Yep, it was Vermont/Packer.  Dave could not believe he had made it to the summit, but decided someone must have given him a ride up.  He sounds dangerous the way he was following the women, so they all will be reporting him to the first ranger or ridge runner they come across.  I assume they will leave warning notes in the log books, too, but I didn't think to ask.

Country Gold has no money on him, just a food stamp card.  He was getting low on fuel when they were at Tom Lavardi's, so Dave bought him a fuel canister over Country's protestations.  There was a town and grocery store about a half mile off the trail and close to the Sherman Brook Campsite, so Country went into town to get food.  He came back with strombolis and sandwiches and told all the campers "dinner is on me."  Dave commented on how some of the most generous hikers he knows are the ones that have the least - and yes maybe they have the least because they are generous - but they also seem very happy.