Kind of In Between

Today is Monday, July 29th, and I am reporting in from the Quality Inn in Lee, Massachusetts. I began my day at the Shaker campsite, and as I’d suspected we would, we got a lot of rain overnight. I actually woke up at around 5 o'clock, not because my alarm went off, but because it was raining so hard. So I just hunkered down in my tent and waited for the downpour to stop long enough for me to get my day going.

I managed to run to the bear box to get my food and then run back to my tent and jump in. That's where I had my breakfast, and I did my best to prepare for the day in my tent as much as I could. Eventually, the rain let up enough that I could get out and take my tent down, though I did have to put it away wet.

I was off and hiking by 8 o’clock. Normally these days, I’ve been trying to be on the trail by 7, at the latest, but I really dislike taking my tent down when it's pouring, so I ended up waiting a bit longer. I was definitely not alone with that plan in the campsite, either. I think most people left pretty late today. I left kind of mid-pack, I would say.

About 2 miles into the hike, I crossed a road and saw a sign that said “trail stand,” with an arrow pointing down the road. The stand was probably 200 yards away. S. and I have seen several AT videos where hikers stopped by this trail stand, so it was kind of fun to get to go there myself. It's just this little shack on the side of the road with an old retro-looking fridge, and it operates completely on the honor system.

Skillet and Oso were there when I walked up, hiding from the rain. The stand also had a power strip, so Skillet was taking the opportunity to charge her phone. I purchased myself an ice cream sandwich and a Dr. Pepper, which you know is the post-breakfast snack of champions. I wolfed down the ice cream sandwich and chased it with the Dr. Pepper and it was great.  

After I left the trail stand, I entered a field and ran into a nice guy with a beautiful white dog that kind of looked like a Great Pyrenees. I stopped and talked to him for a while. His name was Dave, and the dog’s name was Maddie. Apparently, Maddie was recently fired as a sheep herder and needed a home, so Dave adopted her. She’d never been inside before and didn't have any exposure to the comforts of living in a home. So Dave and I had a good conversation about the challenge of acclimating dogs that have only ever lived outside, because our dog Thistle Bean went through the same thing.

When we adopted her, she didn't understand what a leash was and struggled with crossing the threshold into our house. At least I was able to reassure Dave that once Maddie came to understand the luxuries available to her, she would certainly take advantage of them, as Thistle now has over the past few years.

Dave told me that about ten minutes after I started hiking again, I would come across some territory that would make me feel like I was in a different state, which was an intriguing comment. And sure enough, about ten minutes later, I found myself walking on a very rickety boardwalk through a marsh. I'm assuming that's what he meant by a different state, though I’m not sure which one. But those of you who have been reading the blog might remember the post about me walking through the wetlands of New Jersey [Boardwalkin’]. Maybe that's what Dave was talking about? I don't know, but this particular boardwalk was quite sketchy. I was fairly nervous about breaking through a board or falling off because it was so uneven, but I managed to make it through without incident.

The rest of the day was just fairly regular hiking — some hills, some woods, nothing too noteworthy — though I did get to cross over the Massachusetts Turnpike, which was sort of a big deal for me. S. and I lived in Boston for a long time, and the Mass Pike was a big portion of the different routes we’d take around the state, so it was kind of fun to walk over it that way.

The main theme of my day — at least in my mind — was trying to arrange a ride from the trailhead into Lee, Massachusetts. Last night, I asked S. if she could find and book me a room, and she’d reserved one at the Quality Inn in Lee. I’d asked for the room for two reasons. The first was that all my stuff was quite wet and had been for a while, and I really wanted a chance to try to dry it out in a hotel. The second was because of the way the shelters are spaced in this section of Massachusetts. The first shelter I got to would have made for too short of a day, and continuing on to the second shelter would have made for way too long of a day. And Lee was kind of in between. Actually, there was a third reason — I could also use a bit of a resupply.

But again, the challenge was trying to procure a ride into town from the road crossing. The information that was available on the Far Out app was very outdated, and I couldn't find any recent comments about people who were willing to give hikers rides from the trailhead into town. I called one person, and they did not return my call, but their information on Far Out was about three years old, so that wasn’t totally surprising. S. found the number of a local car service, and I called that, but they never returned my call, either. I tried calling the Quality Inn, but the number I had was for the chain’s headquarters, so that wasn’t helpful. Finally, S. found a different number for the hotel, and I tried it and was able to get a list of local people who would be willing to give me a ride.

I contacted a really nice guy named Don, who came to pick me up and take me downtown.  He’s a member of the Lee Appalachian Trail Club, and they give hikers rides for free, so I just gave Don $20 to put in the pot to fund future Trail Magic. He seemed to be happy with that.

I asked Don who he recommended for rides back to the trail. Don apparently is a night owl and typically stays up until 4 a.m., so driving me back to the AT first thing the morning was definitely not on his agenda. But he helped me arrange a ride with someone else, and I'm very thankful for it.

This Quality Inn is actually great. I’m very excited to be here tonight. As soon as I finished my shower, I hung my tent up in the bathtub so it could have a chance to dry and then went to do my laundry. While I was there, I was able to pop into Walgreens to do some resupply.

There was a Chinese restaurant next to the Walgreens, so I stopped there after I finished my laundry and got some chicken with snow peas, lo mein, and a spring roll to take back to the hotel for dinner. And on the way back, I hit what they call in Massachusetts a “packy” — which is short for package store — and grabbed a Negro Modelo Especial to have with my Chinese food and a Highlight IPA to have afterward as sort of a dessert. Now I have a chance to watch the Olympics for a little bit and then chat with S. afterward, so a pretty good end of the day.

I’m back to the trail tomorrow. Unfortunately, there's more rain in the forecast, but at least I’ll be completely dry to start, and my clothes are nice and clean. So that'll carry me over for a few days, I guess.