The Berkshires

I'm 12 pounds lighter!  Weighed myself this morning.  And then walked a mile down Main Street and ate two full breakfasts at the Dalton Restaurant.  I'd already done a few  miles from the shelter.  After digesting and a resupply I will leave Dalton and head  for Cheshire.  I underestimated my last resupply at Salisbury, so I've been a *little* hungry.   I've also been keeping a steady pace and making fairly good time, despite a bad knee.

The Berkshires are beautiful.  There are more evergreens; more hemlock groves, pines and firs.  The ground is often cushioned with their needles (a welcome change after all the rocks!). I began to see a few birch trees in NY, but now there are lots of them growing among the beeches, maples and oaks. Wide patches of ferns stretch beneath the trees. There is a growing silence in the woods, even though the wind and brooks and birds are as alive as ever. Roads are growing further apart.

The trail runs beside bogs and ponds, some as large as lakes. Dragonflies zip along above beaver dams. Bull frogs croak and jump suddenly as I walk by. Great blue herons wade out in the shallows.

I stayed at Upper Goose Pond Cabin and went canoeing, exploring an island and the shores for almost two hours. The caretaker made pancakes and coffee for us the next morning.

Then I walked almost twenty miles to Dalton, stopping in for a visit to the Cookie Lady just down the road from the trail. Actually I met her husband, the Cookie Man.  He gave me fresh farm eggs, a Klondike bar, and a Coke (plus cookies) in a little basket with a tray for the egg shells.  I ate it outside on their picnic table and said howdy to the rooster.

(Later...) So as I was typing this in the library, some jerk stole my ipod as it was charging right next to the computer.  The librarian recognized the last guy who was sitting across from me, and she pulled his picture up on the internet.  Then they called the cops for me.  The station happened to be in the same building, so the officer was there right away.  He, too, recognized the guy and said he'd just gotten out of jail on assault charges.  So I went with the officer to the station, thinking I'd only be there for a few minutes and then leave town.  Instead, I spent the next two hours listening as calls from three officers came into the central office about my ipod.  There were no other officers at the station, so I guessed that most of the Dalton police were on the case.  Long story short - got my ipod back, wasn't interested in pressing charges, and wound up staying in Dalton.  Thanks Dalton police!