The Cookie Man and Walking Through Dalton

We started our day with this friendly man giving us homemade cookies on his front porch. He and his wife live just 100 yards off the trail, and our AT Guide said to go by and see the Cookie Lady for homemade cookies, and that we could use their spigot to get fresh water. The couple is Marilyn and Roy, and they've been taking care of thru-hikers for 30 years! When she is not home, Roy is known as the Cookie Man and will also sell you snacks, or you can pay to pick your own blueberries on their blueberry farm.







I had never seen high bush blueberries before.

We hiked through a lot of fir forests today, and it always smells so good - just like Christmas. The weather was also nice and cool again. We eventually made our way to the town of Dalton, Massachusetts, where the trail winds right through the town for about a mile or so. We passed a pub called Jacob's that claimed to be hiker friendly, so we went in and had a late lunch. They were indeed hiker friendly, and we enjoyed hanging out there. We got back on the trail and were in camp at Crystal Mountain tent site by 6:00. We met a young Ridgerunner named Melissa there, and as it got dark, she made a nice fire. Her dad hiked in to camp here also. Melissa is 24, and a college student. She thru-hiked in 2010.

We arrived early to camp yesterday also, and pretty much laid down from 6:00 on, and finally felt like we got recovered from our 20-mile day, so today we are trying the same thing, because tomorrow we have a big day in store - we are climbing Mt. Greylock and want to be rested well.

- Steady and F100