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Ken's Tilley hat has developed a hole above the sweatband. It happens on every long hike. We have the replacement procedure down. The great part is that the hat is guaranteed and Tilley replaces the hats for free. Great service!

We ate lunch in the courtyard of the small shopping mall. Marcia is napping in her chair. We will take it easy the rest of the afternoon, eat supper in town, then hit the trail. We aren't sure how many miles we will get today. Perhaps as few as .2! We haven't had a zero mile day since June 7.

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By mid-afternoon we were tired of sitting around the shopping plaza. We bought deli sandwiches and sodas and decided to stroll through the woods.

Our stroll took us over rocky Lions Head then up on Bear Mountain. There was a large stone tower built there in the 1800's. It was believed to be the highest point in CN. Now the tower is a 10 foot pile of rocks and Bear Mtn is the highest peak in CN. It is a MA mountain with a shoulder in CN that is higher than Bear Mountain. Nicest view we have had in a long time though. The weather was clear and we could see 360 degrees.

As we came down the mountain to MA we encountered a small hiker with a huge backpack. Ken's alarms went off. Something was strange. He asked us for advice on cutting down his pack weight. We weren't sure what he would do with his excess gear. Leave it along the trail? He told us this was a training hike. He planned to hike up over the rocky trail and camp near High Point Park. We didn't have much time to educate him, but gave him our website address and some quick advice, and wished him good luck.

We are required to camp in designated areas and we could hear all the people where the campsite was long before we could see it. We even had a tent platform.

This area is more open, varied and gentle so we are enjoying hiking here.

We found that the tent sites at Tom Leonard Shelter really means singular tent site. We rolled in with 3 other hikers at dark to find no room. We squeezed in under some trees above a ravine, cooked and went to bed. In the meantime the mosquitoes feasted on us. The hike today was strenuous and at times rocky. We had a few views, but this morning was humid and hazy.

Fauna has been small rather than deer or bears: tan peeper frogs smaller than a dime, larger frogs and toads who should eat more mosquitoes, tiny red salamanders and a sage hen type bird. The birdsongs, calls, cheeps and peeps keep us entertained. Several times we have heard a nest of young birds frantically calling for food and then the competition cries when a parent returns to the nest with food. Birds are the reward for hiking in a dense forest, our ears are continually entertained.

Ponds are so large that we would call them lakes. At the end of the day we walked around Upper Goose Pond. We haven't seen many lake areas on the AT and this trail was a beautiful change with us walking on the rocky shoreline. We chose the tent platform highest from the water, though, to get away from mosquitoes and humidity (good theory, not much difference). We zip the tent shut and can still hear the whine. The sound is white noise that puts us to sleep in 30 seconds.

We slogged along with fairly easy trail, through some bogs and through one out-of-control beaver pond. We got some good misty photos. The birds really lift my spirits. They keep singing in spite of the rain, all their varied songs.

Late in the afternoon we met a couple and their huge dog out for a short hike. The husband described the forest as "intimate" and that is so apt when the forest is too thick for a view. That new word made me like the forest better.

We ambled into Dalton which is right on the trail. Other hikers wanted out of the rain, too. The B&B, motel and hostel were all full! One resident said we were welcome to camp on his lawn (no thanks). We were starving since it was 7:30 but needed a room before we could eat. We talked to a local couple who suggested Pittsfield and then offered to drive us there! Things always seem to work out and we got dinner and a room. Aahhh.

The weather is muggy and the local residents are complaining more than we are! Thundershowers are forecast but they are hit & miss and over quickly.
We went to a steakhouse for dinner and were talking to the hostess who then offered to drive us back to the trail in Dalton (we are still in Pittsfield) so we are set!

Ken looks great in his new Tilley hat. He got the green under brim this time and mailed his holey white hat back to Tilley. Now he isn't Hiker Trash.