Day 138

I’m glad I stayed at Upper Goose Pond Cabin. I might have done better staying in a bunk than my tent because of those three sisters but it was still a nice place. The caretaker made us all pancakes in the morning and I was able to have a nice hot tea as well. What a nice way to start the day. Donations are gladly accepted but other than that, it’s a free place to stay for hikers. I would say it was nicer than some hostels! I have to add a story. You put your name down on a list and as she makes a plate of pancakes, she calls out the next person on the list to get the plate. When she got to my name, she yelled it out, “Last Call!” All of a sudden, everyone is jumping up and there’s almost a stampede to the coffee pot. Everyone thought she was doing last call on breakfast and on coffee. It took a while to get everyone to understand she was calling out my name to let me know my pancakes were ready. LOL!

The elevation was nice today. Not too bad at all. Of course, something has to be difficult on the AT so when the elevation is pleasant, that means the terrain is going to be terrible. It was a lot of rocks and roots. My feet took a beating today. Nowhere can you step normally. I’m taking 2 Aleve PM pills tonight! What was nice was a couple who were out for the day walking back to their car when they came up and said hello. We chatted a little bit and they offered me some ice cold water in an extra Yeti bottle they hadn’t drunk out of. They filled up my bottle with about 500ml of amazingly cold water that I had completely consumed within 5 minutes. After 12 miles, I came up to The Cookie Lady 2.0. I hear the original cookie lady “moved on” but, I think the son, continues the tradition. He wasn’t there so they had friends there helping out. They have a water spigot, port-o-potty, charging station, a wooden box with cookies that stay nice and warm as it’s out on a table in the sun, rocking chairs on the porch, hammocks and seating all over the yard and gave us hibiscus lemonade. What an amazing thing to do for hikers. It was most enjoyable and helped push me on to the shelter before Dalton, MA. The plan is to go less than 3 miles tomorrow into Dalton (the trail goes through town) and stop at a coffee place for breakfast and hopefully also get a sub from a sub shop to pack out for lunch. There’s a community center that has free showers but I’m going to skip that and push on to complete 17 miles. I plan to do a short day after that to hit a hotel to clean up and resupply anyway before I head into Vermont and the 1,600 mile mark on the 13th.