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Day 4 started as a good day, I was dry, well fed, and well rested, and itching to get back out there. While in Dalton I bought some knee braces, as my knees and legs were beginning to get stabbing pain with every step, they helped, but I would be dogged by that all the way into North Adams.
I did the short road-walk through Dalton, and got back on trail... The wrong trail. I wasted an hour hiking two more miles than I needed to hike, and in exasperation lit up a smoke once I got back to the proper trailhead... and then proceeded to accidentally leave my deck of Camels on the rock I was sitting on (I discovered this about three miles away), and then it started to rain.
The rain quickly cleared up, but the forecast was for below freezing temps overnight, so instead of pushing on to Mark Nopel shelter, halfway up Mt. Greylock, I elected to act on a tip Tom had given me. Apparently the Catholic Church has a few rooms they allow hikers to stay in during season.
When I arrived, I said hello to the priest and received the rules: no smoking, no drinking, no dope. He was a kind man, but this was a church and hikers are a notoriously rowdy bunch, so one cannot blame him for being a bit harsh when it comes to decorum. Soon after a group of very smelly college girls piled in, the smell no doubt from their cotton clothing (I was in all synthetic and smelled like roses no doubt) I gave them a few hard boiled eggs and made fast friend. Soon after another hiker named sparky came in...
Sparky was a USMC Scout Sniper and had worked for Triple Canopy for the last few years... He was out hiking with a large ALICE pack on his massive shoulders, and his stated reason for hiking was "so I don't sit at home and drink all day. We stayed up all night, drank plenty of whiskey that we had both smuggled in, and traded war stories.
Pic: very tired after a climb.
