Parade and a Burger

Our sweet new friends at the lodge hugged us goodbye and we started walking down the wet, muddy trail.  The hike down Greylock Mountain was so much easier than the grueling hike up…partly because we got a ride (yes, yellow blazin) with our new friend Luke.  He dropped us off and pointed us in the right direction after a great moose story.  Several hours went by and we moved silently through the thick trees. We heard the small town before we saw it.  The buzz of a lawn mower, a dog barking in the distance and radio music floating in the wind.  We were hoping to catch a bite to eat at a local restaurant.  As we got closer to the center of the small town we could hear children laughing and lots of chatter.  We left the trees and immediately stepped right into the middle of the Memorial Day parade.

Kids on bikes with red, blue and white streamers blowing behind them.  Clowns, firemen and police (all 6 of them) in their dress blues marching and honking the 75 year old fire engine horn.  It was like a movie.  I think everyone that could walk was in the parade and the old codgers just sat in their lawn chairs, waving their American flags and cheering on their great grandchildren.

We were handed “lunch tickets” by a local that was interested in our adventure we were on.  We stood in line for almost an hour to get our “lunch”.  A yummy hamburger with freshly cut parmesan fries.  The food was devoured and we people watched for a while before heading back to the trail.  There were some interesting characters there….from the deep woods.  You know how in Oklahoma the crazies swarm Walmart on the 4th of July?  Well, that was similar to the crowd we were fortunate enough to get to watch that day.   We walked until around 7pm and decided to camp on top of the mountain.  Tents were set up, water pumped and filtered from a nearby stream and Cara and I started sawing broken logs to make a nice campfire.

It was a beautiful night under the stars.  We stayed around the fire until it became glowing embers and then climbed in our tents.  My tent had an opening at the very tip top and so it made star gazing quite easy.

The mountain came alive about midnight.  The hooting and howling made it hard to sleep.  I was trying to figure out which sound came from what animal.  Very strange sounds.  I finally fell asleep around 3am and slept heavy until the break of dawn.

Hospitality and Laughter

After learning of the lodge that might have hot cocoa and a sandwich available we decided to pack up our things and head over that direction.  Everything had dried except our boots and they weren’t near as wet as the day before so we bundled up….in our rain gear…since that was the only “winter” gear we had.  It was quite exciting to think about using a bathroom too that wasn’t freezing.  Have you ever had to go number 2 in a blizzard with no four walls or roof to protect your hiney from the wind and snow?  Yep, its not really that fun.  I tell you what was fun though….watching Heather and Cara through the window, slipping and sliding trying to find a good place to go pee.  Speaking of that, someday I will have to tell you about Cara’s She Wee.  Hilarious.  Look that up.  Quite Shocking.

So we started up the path and found a road that led us to a beautiful old lodge. In the distance you can see the Greylock tower…its actually quite close but the snow is blocking the view.  The lodge was such a welcoming sight.  Cara went on ahead and banged on the door.  The owners were there and told her to her to get us and get out of the storm.  We were welcomed in and immediately they made us a yummy sandwich and hot cider.  John and Brad were the owners.  Both from New York City.  Brad was a designer and very jolly while John, a 5 star chef was quiet and was the work-a-holic.  Johns brother, Peter, was also there helping to get the lodge ready for the grand opening.  Peter was an interesting artsy looking fellow with long dreadlocks.

The storm grew worse as the day went on and so they invited us to stay the night there.  We said, Yes, but only if we could help them get the lodge ready for opening day.  We went to work.  We scrubbed the kitchen, made tons of beds, cleaned bathrooms, swept floors and oiled the old wooden banisters.  We giggled and sang and basically had the time of our lives.  Dinner time rolled around and we were invited to eat with the owners beside the giant stone fireplace.  John had cooked an amazing feast.  We all sat around the table by the fire and stuffed ourselves.  Cara and Brad became good friends fast.  He was a comedian like Cara and so they both just fed off each other.  The stories were wonderful.  We all laughed until tears ran down our faces.  After dinner and dessert (homemade chocolate Mousse in wine glasses) Peter invited us to watch The Shining with them on projector screen in the big room.  I declined that one. Haha.  Exhausted after a day of scrubbing and washing, we found a bunk bed upstairs to sleep in and slept as the lodge rumbled and creaked from the storm all night long.  I woke up several times in the night and was for sure I was hearing ghosts roam around, screeching and slamming doors.  Cara and Heather, of course, never heard a thing.

We awoke to a beautiful sight.  Looking out the windows it was white as far as you could see over the mountain.  It was quite chilly.  The lodge is made for summer use so there is no proper heat.  We bundled up…as best we could…and headed downstairs for another day of work.  I helped sand and paint while Cara oiled woodwork and tables.  Heather….well….she was outside playing.  She and Peter decided to build snowmen in front of the lodge.  She put her bikini on one with a straw hat.  That pic made several local papers!

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_23331302/mount-greylock-re-opened-after-snow-fall-other

Several day hikers came in that day and we helped serve them snacks and hot coffee or cider.  We swapped stories and adventures.  Two college age kids came in.  They were wearing shorts and were wet and shaking.  They had decided to take a run up the mountain and didn’t know about the blizzard up top.  They drank some hot cider and then left, determined to run back down.  Not super smart in my opinion but it takes all kinds, right? We made them let us take their pics so their mom would have one last picture of them the day they died of hypothermia.

We decided to stay one more night.  We were having a blast and the guys begged us to stay and tempted us with another delicious dinner by the fire.  We have a really hard time saying no to good food.  We all like to eat….a lot.  In one of my later stories I will tell you how many miles we walked just for blueberry pancakes.

From gentle rain to historic blizzzard

It was a beautiful morning!  We were alive!  We started the day off weighing our packs.  Heathers weighed in at 26lbs, Caras at 42lbs and mine at 50lbs…and this is without water!!  I realized why my shoulders were hurting so much.  Oh well, we were excited to climb the to the highest point in Massachusetts, Mt. Greylock!    I had scheduled us for 16 miles.  The sun was shining and it was supposed to be about 60 degrees.  We called a taxi and took the unmarked rickety car held together with bungee cords to the trail head.

After starting out on the main trail we immediately decided it was going to be a breezy day.  The trail was gravel and wide and crossed over sparkling brooks and through fairy wonderlands.  About an hour into the climb it started drizzling so we donned our raingear and proceeded to ascend higher and higher.  About 2 hours later we were completely soaked and it was getting really cold. 

The trail was steep and slick and we were having to move really slowly so that we wouldnt fall down the side of the mountain.  After 5 hours of climbing we realized we had missed the “real” trail and were climbing some random animal trail.  It was so cold.  The rain had turned into sleet and was pelting us in the face, stinging, yep…really stinging.  I started having survival thoughts, “should we set up camp and huddle in a sleeping bag”, “could I even get a fire started in this wet crap” . Heather was the only person that brought gloves, I mean we all had swimsuits in our bag that we were intending to use that day.  It was Memorial Day Weekend.  That means 90 degree weather, lakes, fireworks,  sunscreen and such in Oklahoma.  Another 100 ft of elevation gain and we are experiencing crazy wind and blowing snow.  Have I mentioned how cold we are?  We had no idea that you are supposed to bring a down jacket when hiking mountains.  Cara started telling jokes to help us ignore the pain of our freezing hands.  I remember it hurting to laugh.  We just kept pressing on hoping that we could get over the mountain and to the next shelter about 6 miles away.  Now the snow was blowing so hard we couldn’t see anything in front of us.  Keep on moving.  I said that to Heather and Cara over and over.  We came to a road and took a little video of the wind blowing us.  It literally was almost knocking us over!!  Through the blinding snow we saw a welcoming sight.  Man made stone steps!!  That gave us a boost of adrenaline and we slipped and slid all the way up to an old ski shelter.  The heavy wooden door opened to our delight and we went inside.  It was freezing inside but at least we were not getting pelted with snow!  The shelter had wooden benches and a old wood burning stove.  It was like heaven!!!!  We pulled our soaking wet clothing off and hung them from a rope Cara and I tied between the wooden beams in the ceiling.   We put on dry clothes and Cara and Heather got in a sleeping bag together while I searched for dry wood. And just so you know…the reasoning for heather climbing in Cara’s bag is because she bought her sleeping bag the night before we started our trip. At Walmart. Kids size. Pink Camo. It only came up to her armpits so it was not much of a heat trapper. Well the search for dry wood came up empty handed. It looked like we might be in for a long, freezing night and it was closing in. The wind had picked up.  Howling and screaming.  The wooden door opened and in stumbled an older man….maybe 65 years old.  He was covered in snow and had frozen patches of sweat and snot on his face.  He was shocked to see us and much as we were to see him.  Hedgehog was his name.  He was an Appalachian Trail Thru Hiker….meaning he had already come the 1600 miles from Georgia and was on his way to the finish line in Maine.  He quickly got out of his clothes and we added them to the makeshift clothesline.  He pulled out his handy dandy stove and made some hot soup.  We all got close and tried to get warm.  Night came and the storm grew worse.  We saw lights through the paned window and they started getting closer.  Who in the world would be out in this crazy blizzard?….and Ill finish this story tomorrow. The next episode includes a giant black bear and 2 angels.  Good night!

 

ps.  I have some great pics and videos from this day that I will post later….it wont work for me tonight for some reason.