Ample Exercise
Today is July 28, and I'm set up tonight at the Shaker campsite, which is, I believe, at mile 1,545 in Massachusetts. This morning, I woke up in a field in Great Barrington at the community center. And as I’d predicted, the dew was plentiful. All of us who were camping at the center had completely soaking wet tents. That was a bit frustrating, but not a big deal.
Last night, Moniker and I had dinner together at the Barrington Brewery, and while we were eating, he mentioned that he’d been looking at the map and found a route we could hike that would bring us back to the AT from Great Barrington. Yesterday, we’d taken a shuttle into town with Papa Joe, who’d picked us up at a road crossing about five miles away. But Moniker discovered that we could walk along some roads and through some fields to rejoin the AT without having to get another shuttle. We just didn't feel like paying for or dealing with arranging a ride. By getting back on trail this way, we would technically miss a few miles of the official AT, because the spot where we’d get back on was slightly further down, but we figured we’d be making it up by hiking back, rather than riding, so we decided to give it a try.
So this morning at about 7:30, we went over to a nearby bakery for some breakfast. Moniker got a coffee and a pastry, and I just got a pastry. I was a pretty regular coffee drinker when I was still working an office job, but I haven’t really been interested in it on the trail.
As we were walking along, we passed a sign on the road for a place called Dancing Greens Farm. Moniker looked it up and saw that they have events, or activities, every Sunday morning. Today’s Sunday, and by chance, there was a yoga class starting in not very long.
Moniker decided that he wanted to look into that, so we started walking up the farm’s driveway. Very quickly, we were greeted by some people who asked us what we were doing. Without realizing it, we’d started going up their private driveway, rather than the driveway that led to the farm for the general public. We course corrected and made it to the farm, where Moniker talked to someone and learned that the yoga class was actually more of an exercise-style yoga than a stretching yoga. He immediately decided that he was already getting ample exercise hiking the AT, and I happened to agree with him. I mean, I hadn’t been planning on joining him anyway, but definitely not in that case. I was just sort of supporting his inquiry.
We left Dancing Greens Farm, got back on the road, and shortly afterward, hooked up with the AT and continued hiking northward. Overall, it wasn't that exciting of a hike. We walked about 5 miles to get back to the trail and then about 8 miles, or a little over, to get here to the Shaker campsite.
We pulled in at probably 2:30 or so in the afternoon, which would generally be considered an extremely early endpoint. But I’d hiked quite a bit yesterday and the day before, so I was more than fine with stopping on the early side today. Also, my tent was completely wet, and the skies were reasonably clear, so I thought I might have a chance to dry everything out. I immediately hung a bunch of stuff up and set up my tent.
As the afternoon wore on, a lot of hikers started filing into the campsite. The first one was Skillet, whom I’d first met at Beagle Gap. This time, Skillet had her dog with her. She lives in New Hampshire and wanted to hike with her dog for a week. He’s named Oso, and he’s incredibly cute and friendly and inquisitive. His name is basically short for “Isn't he oh, so cute?”
Skillet [Photo credit: Christopher Marshburn]
Shortly after Skillet and Oso arrived, Highlighter and Steady showed up. I’d originally met Highlighter and Steady back in Southern Virginia, and it was nice to reunite with them. Actually, I completely forgot that I’d bumped into them when I was slack packing in New York. I just thought of that now, and I don't know if they remember that. Anyway, we had a little chat and caught up a bit.
Steady and Highlighter [Photo credit: Marc Serra]
And then a section hiker named Scales showed up. He’s a really nice guy. After him came two Australian guys I'll probably never see again after tonight, because they do big miles. And then 2fer and Shenanigans came into camp. I tented with them at the Riga shelter two nights ago and then again at Great Barrington. So we have a pretty full campsite, and I know a lot of people here, so that’s fun.
The cell phone reception here is pretty questionable — it kind of comes in and out — but I had a brief period of service earlier, so I used it to check the weather. The forecast said that there’s going to be some rain overnight, so I told the group, and we all prepared accordingly. I’m hoping the rain actually holds off until the morning, after we’ve all had a chance to take our tents down first, but that might be asking a lot.
