Dalton MA, 1555 done, 620 to go

Hello everyone from Mass.

http://dalton-ma.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={2896A805-FD93-4F62-A290-AF8C4E721E6D}

Since I last posted, Patty and I have finished off New York and Conn. and are just about done with Mass. I should probably update everyone on Patty's Lymes disease status. She is doing fine and hiking like mad. She is doing so well that I thought I would start on the medication also. Actually I was watching a rash on my leg that continued to spread and I had a number of the other symptoms of Lymes also, so I was able to obtain my own prescription. After 3 days I am also feeling much better. I have posted a picture of one of the posters warning of Lymes that are along the trail.

Since it has been a while since I last posted, I will use our journal to try and update everyone.

July 6, we were dropped off at the bridge on the Hudson by Art and Susan, (See Photo). We hiked 15 miles and camped with a group from a girls camp. All were Jewish and the leaders were from Isreal. They shared their supper with us and I spoke to them about hiking the A.T., (See Photo). It was a little loud, but, we enjoyed talking with both the kids and their leaders.

July 7, was a 20 mile day for us. See Patty is feeling better. Weather was in the 80's with humidity around 100%. We were both soaking wet by 10 am. We met some old friends we had not seen in almost 2 months. It is nice to be able to hike with other people now and then as it adds to the conversation.

July 8, Still hot and muggy, but a decent trail. I keep telling Patty, one of these days we are going to have an easy day of hiking, but, it just has not happened yet. The trail still has an awful lot of ups and downs. We had a great lunch where the guidebook said there was going to be a hot dog stand. The hot dog stand was gone, but a restaraunt owner who also caters was set up for the first day with his portable kitchen. He had ribs and pork sandwich's and all kinds of great food. He also had free drinks for hikers. It was great and beat the normal lunch of tortilla's and tuna or peanut butter.

July 9, Only did about 13 miles today, but, walked into Conn. It is still very hot and humid. Saw another huge rattle snake and shot some pictures. Just picture the last one only a little bigger. We arrived in Kent Conn. which is a very upscale town and resupplied and then decided to spend the night. We had a very nice room at the Fife & Drum Inn. Patty finally bought a hat, so check out the picture of her picking blueberries to see it. We received several inches of rain while in town during a huge thunderstorm. We stayed dry once again.

July 10, Finally a cooler day with lower humidity. We hiked along a larger river for about 5 miles and really enjoyed the trail. Still quite a few ups and downs, so it was not an easy day, but, we only did 15 miles.

July 11, Another 20 mile day, but the weather was still great. We are walking through some old growth spruce and it is an interesting forest. We camped at plateau campsite.

July 12, A big day for us as we hit the 1500 mile mark, (See photo). We also entered Mass and a very beautiful area with many small creeks and rivers. We hiked across Bear and Race Mtn's and also a mtn. called Everett where we picked a lot of blue berries. The low bush blue berries are really in full swing and the high bush are just starting. It has been good eating for the past few weeks. We also had an offer to go home with a guy who we thought was rather well to do. We found out later he was a commodity trader on Wall Street. The only problem was he was heading south and we would have had to go back down what we had just climbed up and then climb up it again the next day. We stayed with our rule of not hiking what we had already hiked and had to turn him down. We tented with a group of other hikers and met someone who used to swim with one of our neighbors while in college at Carlton who would be known as "Beaker" by our neighbor.

July 13, Hiked 8 miles into Great Barrington Mass and resupplied. I also picked up my prescription for taking care of the dreaded Lymes. After having breakfast, doing the resupply and having lunch, we caught a ride back to the trail and hiked another 7 miles where we camped.

July 14, It started raining after midnight and rained all night long. Everyone had a difficult time of getting out of the tents in the morning and we did not get going until 9 am. That is our latest start of the trip. We hiked 14 miles and camped on some town property that was adjacent to a small secluded swimming beach. We did not see anyone and it was a great opportunity to clean up.

July 15, We did an 18 mile day to get to the Cookie Lady and when we got there no one was home. We were disappointed, but, we camped on the edge of the property and were able to get water without haveing to filter or treat it. That is always nice.

July 16, Hiked 10 miles into Dalton and were in town in time for lunch. The guidebook said there was a man on the trail as we entered town who took in hikers. The book was right and we are staying with Tom and about 5 other hikers in his house. He does not take any money for this service and also runs people around to where they need to go. It is really amazing the generosity some people show to hikers.

We may take a day off tomorrow with him and then do another short day of about 8 miles before meeting with friend Art Stegan again who wants to hike over Mount Greylock with us. This is the highest point in Mass. at a little over 3500 feet. If Art joins us we will definitly be a lot lighter hiking the 15 miles up and over.

We continue to do fine and are already making plans on how we want to finish this hike off. We still hope to be done by the first week in Sept.

Take care

Red Dog and Lucky Dog.