After I crossed into Massachusetts I hiked with Chef Boyardee for a while over some neat rocky ridges. I lost him temporarily on a very steep uphill that was nothing more than bare rock with the occasional stream of water running across it. At the top I caught up to the Swiss and met a girl name Halle who’s out for a few weeks. I said goodbye to the Swiss because I planned to go farther than them for the day in an effort to catch up to Gold Bond and Drop a few days later.
Whistler and I then hiked together 8 miles and caught a hitch into Great Barrington, MA, with a girl one week out of high school who was the only person to stop and pick us up. After telling us that Baba Louie’s made the best pizza in the world, she dropped us off at the Gypsy Joint, which “also has great pizza.” The place was one of a kind! The first thing we noticed upon entering was a pan of giant (as in 10″ x 10″ x 3″) cinnamon buns. We then observed that everyone working there really was dressed like a gypsy (think Hunchback of Notre Dame) and they all had the same long red hair. It turns out they’re all family!
Whistler and I managed to each eat a cinnamon bun and half of a large pizza, which was very good! As he remarked after, “No normal people could have eaten all that.”
Quite full, we asked about a place to buy more food for the trail. A nice couple that was sitting near us offered to give us a ride to the local grocery store, so we accepted another hitch. After shopping, we somehow arranged a ride back to the trail even before we left the parking lot. Both of our last two hitches wished us well and told us to “pay it forward.”
After a couple hours in Great Barrington, a fun little hippie town (Jess, you’ll love it there), Whistler and I hiked the remaining 6.5 miles (of a 23 mile day) up and over a mountain. We ended up hiking well into the night and barely finding the shelter in the dark. After arriving later than 9:30, I was surprised to see Chef Boyardee show up just minutes behind us. Apparently he’d passed by the trail to the shelter and turned around to find it once he heard us talking.
I did snap a couple good shots as Whistler and I climbed in the evening.
The next day I was pretty lethargic and the uphills were hard for me. The climbs in MA are still small compared to those from the southern section of the AT, but it’s been so long since we’ve had any sustained uphills that it’s almost a shock to the system. Massachusetts should at least be a good warmup for the real mountainous states of VT, NH, and ME!
The highlight of that day was meeting my friend Peter at Upper Goose Pond Cabin. He parked a mile and a half north and hiked south to meet me after driving from his office in CT. Peter arrived with trail magic, which made his pack pretty heavy. I helped lighten his load by drinking a bottle of beer and splitting a package of hot dogs with him.
The cabin was maintained by Nancy, a woman from Maine who teaches physics at Gould Academy in Bethel. (This is the same school that the first two Afghan Scholars attended. Check out the project by two Colby grads: http://www.afghanscholars.org/) Nancy woke us up from our bunks (with mattresses!) early the next morning with the announcement that pancakes were cooked! I think Peter may have gotten the wrong impression of what trail shelters are like after being spoiled at Upper Goose Pond Cabin.
We hiked out of there and stopped partway up the one major climb for the day to have a beer and snack break (in the interest of lightening our packs of course). Peter and I discussed such high-brow topics as politics, religion, philosophy, and literature all day and pretty much solved all the world’s problems. (I’ll let Peter fill you in on the details.)
We stopped for a break at a beaver pond.
I think we may have been interrupting another couple that was there though.
We also stopped at the house of the “cookie lady,” but she wasn’t home, so we refilled our water bottles, but didn’t manage any free cookies.
After a good day of hiking, I think Peter was sufficiently tired. He should have been after 18 miles!
At the shelter, Peter and I enjoyed one last treat he packed in for me: a large can of Dinty Moore beef stew!
Thanks for joining me Peter! You earned your trail name Sherpa 😉
After my day with Peter, I hiked through Dalton and Cheshire en route to my goal of North Adams. I then summited the highest peak in MA, Mt. Greylock.
Finally, after a steep downhill from Mt. Greylock, I made it into North Adams on Sunday evening. I was surprised to easily catch a hitch from a nice math teacher driving a convertible! He dropped me off at the hotel where I saw Drop and Gold Bond for the first time in months.
We spent that night and all of the next day eating and relaxing in North Adams. I am thrilled to be back with them, and Antsy and Cliffhanger are meeting up with us here in North Adams today (June 12), which will be the first time we’ve all hiked together in a long time! Hopefully the Swiss catch up soon too!
At last I am caught up with my blogging! It’s just a big hike uphill out of North Adams today and then we’ll be in Vermont by this afternoon!
Slower Than That Bear, But Faster Than You 
Hey, you made it to my hometown (sort of)!! I grew up hiking Mt. Greylock so many times- it is so cool to see your pics there! Also, Great Barrington is a really fun town, I’m glad you had time to stop by to visit. It is really neat to see how quickly you went through this whole section, in the context of the rest of the trail- makes one appreciate just how far you’re hiking!! Good luck, keep going and enjoy the northern states:)