6/16/08 17 miles to Kay Wood Shelter, 3 more to Dalton, Mass.
The day is not yet done, but the monstrous thunderstorm that has overtaken the skies provided a good impetus to rest awhile at this convenient shelter. Maybe it was the coffee and early start I had this morning, but thus far time has really slipped away in effortless labor. Perhaps this cool weather is making things so easy or perhaps I’m a crazy child of nature!
6/15/08 28 miles to Upper Goose Pond Cabin (Berkshire county, Massachusetts)
What a change in fortune this day has been. After waking up at 4:00am from my fitful greenhouse shelter sleep, I quickly scrambled into the world of new obstacles and rewards. Before noon I had already completed 12 miles and felt confident in the prospect of being here tonight. However, Massachusetts has certainly doled out its punishment with insects. The mosquitoes in this region are so bad that I can only hope to outrun and outmaneuver them as my chance for not being devoured. Hiking has become frantic—I cannot stop to pee, drink or even adjust my load without being swarmed! My strategy has been reaching each road crossing in an unbroken movement, because the insects cannot reach me there. By the end of the day I was saturated with sweat, DEET, Goldbond powder and bug carcasses as well as past-exhaustion.
But reaching this cabin, a free service of the Massachusetts AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) has restored all efforts. New company—Pickle and Garlic—and old friends, Longstep and Sleepwallker—have certainly restored most of my energy. I felt adventurous to take a moonlight swim in Goose Pond and now I can sleep easily with the luxury of screened windows. On to Dalton, MA tomorrow.
6/14/08 16.8 miles Disarrayed empty greenhouse by the CornCrib Farmstand on the side of Route 7 (near Sheffield, MA)
Truly this is the most fitting image of a bum I have yet attained. I practically outran a lurching thunderstorm to make it here, only to find the farmer’s market closed. But tired after nearly 17 miles of rigorous climbing and battling families of mosquitoes, in addition to seeing a black horizon ready to storm, I realized this would be home for the night.
6/13/08 18.1 miles to Brassie Brook Lean-to (Northwest corner of Connecticut)
No complaints for this tranquil day. I was blessed with both moderate terrain and moderate weather. I wish I could resolve this entry with more clearance, but it has to be abrupt or the mosquitoes will eat me.
6/12/08 19.5 miles to Sharon Mountain Campsite
Once again I have neglected my precious inner voice but fortunately this time it was not a product of stress, but leisure. In Kent, Connecticut, I stayed with my friend Jillian Sawyer and her family. In fact, I stayed two nights, accepting their wonderful hospitality and enticing company. The image that best depicts my voyage back to society is navigating White Plains, NY at the direction of Herman Furman, Jill’s blind friend, to recover his guitar from a music shop. It truly cannot earn its traumatic justice in my journal alone, because it was such an irreplaceable journey. Herman is a very brave man and Jill is and has always been a mystic spirit.
To bring the final atonement to the universe, the heat wave finally expired, in one final violent storm. Only the two tornados I have lived through could surpass this storm in intensity. But after finishing its course, the fireflies came out to dance again, to let us know that everything is fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment