Great Barrington to Dalton, Mass.: Legendary Trail Angels

There are so many people along the trail eager to offer help it’s truly uplifting. In this last stretch we experienced a variety of trail magic from several trail angels.

Our first magic happened when we were leaving Great Barrington. We stopped for an amazing breakfast at a Mexican cafe and while we were eating a customer stopped by our booth and offered us a ride back to the trail. It was about ten miles out of his way.

A couple days later while hiking we ran into a couple of girls out hiking with a backpack full of fruit and veggies they were handing out to hikers. I scored some grapes, tomatoes, and a peach.

But the highlight of our week was meeting two of the most legendary trail angels on the AT.

Cookie Lady

First we spent a night camping at the cookie lady’s house. She and her husband are about 85 years old and they live on a blueberry farm next to the trail. They allow camping in their yard and she gives fresh-baked cookies to the hikers. When we agreed to cut their grass she gave us a bunch of leftover roast turkey and gravy. We happened to have some instant mashed potatoes with us, which made for quite the feast. She also had hard-boiled eggs and cold Cokes, pure hiker trash heaven.

Tom Levardi

Last night we hiked into Dalton, Mass., to resupply, get a shower, and do laundry. There were no rooms left at the only hotel in town so we camped with six other hikers in Tom Levardi’s backyard. Tom has been helping hikers for close to 40 years. He even has bicycles for hikers to borrow to get around town.

Upper Goose Pond

Another highlight last week was spending a night at Upper Goose Pond. There’s a cabin for hikers to stay in with a caretaker who makes pancakes for breakfast. They also have canoes so we were able to paddle around the lake after dinner.

Mileage Update

We’ve been gradually increasing our daily miles and we pushed it to 11.5 miles two days ago. We will be passing the 100-mile mark today and crossing over Mt. Greylock Monday and into Vermont on Tuesday.

Cheers,
Mr Maps