The Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts straddles the north-south route US 7 in the western area of the state, crossing once from the west in the south of the state, not far from Sheffield, MA but staying east of the highway for the remainder of the state.

Awake, arise, dress in my spring blues, start the jammer and drive to the far end of the parking lot, cross the esplanade and enter the w-mart parking lot. I back into a space directly across from the cafe, grab my computer bag, walk inside and purchase my regular cup of coffee and hot water. Then, I sit down at a table in the front corner and begin pounding keys so that I might catch up on my journal writing, web page updating, photo cropping, organizing and uploading to the website.

Well, another day is gone, the sun has recently set, and the w-mart will be closing in about ten minutes, so I must pack out and drive to the d-mart for the night. I did, however, get a lot done today but will remain here another day to get more work done before I move farther to the northeast.

Today, before driving to the d-mart, I decided to drive to the north end of the town of Dalton and check out the AT Trailhead.

Moments ago, Faith left with Babe leaving Babe′s pack with me which I will carry until I catch up. First, I finish my hot cereal, clean up and soon take off for Jug End. In almost no time, catch up to Faith with Babe and then continue with both all day.

The forest here in the Taconic Range is dwarfed and due tO rough footing and a rocky way, the pace continues slowly, but the low lying scrub pines allow for unobstructed panoramas all day.

The first climb is up to Race Mountain (2365′) and shortly after this summit we take a one kilo blue blaze to Race Brook Falls, a series of five falls of over 100 feet high.

So glad for taking this blue blaze! After resuming the steps on the AT, we soon arrive at the summit (2602′) of Mount Everitt, drop our packs and climb to the top of the fire tower. The sky being extremely clear allows us to see the entire distance to Mount Greylock, now nearly due north from here and about one hundred kilos northbound on the AT.