Mile 1564 -Tuesday July 15

After a long day of hot hiking Monday, July 14, Tom was looking forward to enjoying some hiking lore with the "Cookie Lady" and maybe some fresh blueberries. What he got was not  quite what he expected. This trail angel is known for sharing home baked cookies and hard boiled eggs with the hikers. Sometimes she and her husband let hikers camp out in the yard also or in a storage building/garage and often other hikers have noted they tell stories.

Cookie Lady's house

The hikers are then are asked to offer to help a bit around the yard or house in return. Simple, right? Well, Tom was quite surprised when he was asked to mow the overgrown weeds out of the rows of blueberries with a very old mower. He set his backpack down ( big mistake) near the side of their garage and started to mow. He noticed that the couple was backing out their car right over his backpack in the driveway as he was working. Yikes! They did not even notice! He says that you can see the tire tread marks on his backpack. Their car tire ended up breaking the bottle of olive oil Tom carried right on top of his food bag. Now everything is covered in olive oil-the tent-sleeping bag-you name it. Tom told me it might be funny later but it sure was not right then. Luckily nothing else appeared to be broken. He chose to sleep out in the yard instead of inside the separate shed/garage they had offered and left very early the next morning. Not sure if he thinks those cookies were worth it...



Extra shed at cookie Lady's house

Tonight Tom is settled in Dalton, MA( mile 1564) tenting in the back yard with several other hikers that he has meet along the way. This hiker angel, Thomas Levardi, has  opened his home to hikers for over 30 years.



 

The back yard at Thomas Levardi home Tuesday night

He allows them to use  bikes so that they can get into town for supplies and take care of the laundry. He had some advice on getting ready for the climb tomorrow.  An awesome guy I am told! Good thing today is looking good...yesterday was at the other end of the spectrum.

Thomas Levardi home in Dalton, MA

On Wednesday Tom and the group of hikers will try to reach the summit of Mt Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts at 3,491 feet. It is in the Berkshire Mountain Range.  The 18 mile trek tomorrow will be a challenge for sure with big elevation changes all day.
This mountain is so inspirational that legend has it, Mount Greylock's long, saddle-like shape inspired Herman Melville to write "Moby Dick". He was known to have great fondness for the mountain, even setting up a special observation deck at his home (near Pittsfield) so he could view Greylock whenever he desired.

Mt Greylock