7/02/06 Sunday: Dalton, Ma. to Mt. Greylock, Bascom Lodge (17mi)

PICTURES:
1. 0749: Thruhiker breakfast at a Dalton diner... Thats Tom sitting beside me...
2. 1122: Views from the Cobbles
3. 1241: A monument on the trail thru Cheshire, MA
4. 1411: Trail Majic near the base of Mt. Greylock
5. 1507: Beginning the ascent of Mt. Greylock... nice trail...
6. 1657: Reaching the top.. first glimpse of the Mass Memorial to its fallen soldiers...
7. 1658: Once on top, many easy trails with large boulders and inscriptions from notable poets..
8. 1705: One view from the top just before checking in to the hostel...

Today I had a short day planned... I wanted to check out Bascom Lodge on the top of Mt Greylock, the highest point of land in Mass. There was a bit of a climb leaving Dalton with a equally challenging decent to Cheshire... It was only an 8 mile trip and lunch in Cheshire appealed to me...:)... So I was off at 0830 after we all returned from breakfast... Tom piled us all into his truck and drove us to a great diner. I had a wonderful omlette, my morning favorite, and everyone packed into the extra large booth... Just as we finished it started raining, to bad for us that didnt take our tents down before breakfast...:(... Well, it didnt rain too hard and I soon packed everything up for the days outing... It was another rather uneventful day and soon we arrived in Cheshire for an early lunch and ice cream... after a quick snack I was again off to find about 2miles up the trail some more trail majic... All sorts of drinks, hamburgers, hotdogs, homemade cakes and cookies, chairs, all from the relatives of a thru hiker... I was already quite full but did the only reasonable thing, eat some more...:)... I met the Maine Train, a group of 6 hikers all from Maine. They left shortly after I arrived so I stayed with the Aunt of the thru hiker until another 5 hikers stopped by to keep her company... The Mom and Dad soon arrived with some more treats including Sam Adams...:)... Well after being thoroughly stuffed it was time to climb Mt Greylock...:(... It was slow going at first as you could imagine, but soon enough, things began to digest and I was moving along pretty well... I had signed up for dinner there and needed to be there by 1700 to shower and get ready... Well I made it in at 1700... and was ready for dinner by 1800... I met Old Man, who had actually drove me to Springer Mtn in Ga., on April 5... Wow!!! We caught up at dinner and talked about the challenges to come on the trail... I returned to rinse off my clothes for tomorrow and call home to wish my girl a good night as I do just about every night...