Day 118: The cookie ladies

Hiked 18.4 miles, camping in the backyard of Tom Levardi in Dalton, MA.

Today was one of the nicest hiking days I've had in a long time.  The heatwave has finally broken, at least for the time being.  The mosquitos were not out in force and a nice strong steady breeze came up and blew all day.

Finerty Pond

The first ten miles were relatively flat and flew by very quickly.  I soon arrived at a special landmark on the trail, the Cookie Lady!  This lady is aptly named because she offers fresh cookies to any thru hikers that come by.  She runs a farm with her husband and has pick your own blueberries along with selling fresh hard boiled eggs, soda and Klondike bars.

9 AM photo

When I got there the Cookie Lady wasn't home.  They have some picnic tables and chairs set up for the hikers so I decided to eat lunch in the hope that she came back while I was doing that.  Luckily my hunch was correct and she pulled up and brought us out cookies just as I was finishing up.  I then finished this meal off with two eggs, a coke and a Klondike.  Delicious.

Home of The Cookie Lady

I was not the only one enjoying the hospitality of the Cookie Lady.  As I sat there I met Coyote, Lentil, Pacman, Yimmy, High Five, Houdini, Tutu and Lol.  The last four were a family unit.  High Five was probably only eight.  It is cool to see a family like that doing a thru hike.  On the way out I had a mini reunion party as I suddenly ran into a ton of people including Kokopelli, CodeWalker and Violet.  I also saw Srocket and her mom and met Fiffer.

Warner Hill

I then headed to Dalton.  It continued the flat terrain theme so it went quick.  The trail passes through the middle of Dalton.  There is a trail famous hostel that is located here called the Byrdcage, unfortunately it closed this year.  A very generous guy allows hikers to camp in his back yard though.  

To the left of the above photo

Tom Levardi's place is directly on the trail.  Reputation said he was eccentric and had ridiculous amounts of rules but I didn't find this to be the case.  It was simple stuff like don't make lots of noise and piss off the neighbours or don't camp in the front yard.  He was a really interesting guy to talk to as well and he offered to do my laundry for free and provided street clothes!

Tonight was awesome because my friend Jackie and her husband Brian drove out to see me.  We went to an all you can eat and I totally got my money's worth.  It was fantastic to see them and I'm so glad it worked out that I could.  I was also excited for the homemade cookies she made me.  So I hung out with two cookie ladies today!

Left to right: Padawan, Pacemaker, Pink Leprechaun, Yimmy

After dinner I brought the cookies back and shared them with the other hikers.  There is a large group staying here including Shrek, Coyote, Pink Leprechaun, Yooper, Big Red, Pacemaker, Runner-up and Padawan.  Padawan has the distinction of being the only hiker I've met who has gotten lost on the trail every day since the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.  How he made it here I will never know.  It had started to rain so I hung out on the porch for a while with people until there was a break in it before heading to my tent.