Massachusetts AT Day 5 (4/22/21)

Day 5 dawned with me not really being sure how to get back to trail. I only had a small section that I had to complete today. You see, when I did the Long Trail a few years ago, I reached the Long Trail via the Pine Cobble Trail. However, that meant that I skipped the Appalachian Trail section between Williamstown and where the Pine Cobble joined the AT. Today, my goal was to fill in that section, and connect my Massachusetts section hike to the Long Trail.

However, as I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t sure how to get back to trail. I was told that the motel that I was staying at offered shuttle rides, but I had already tried to call the front desk twice that morning and they had ignored me. When I finally went to the front desk, they told me that I should call a taxi. Given everything else I had seen from this motel so far, that didn’t really surprise me.


I ultimately decided that my best course of action was to walk from the hotel to the Williamstown Police Department, where my car was. From there, I would drive my car to the Appalachian Trail, and complete that little two and a half mile section.


It did mean that this hike would feel disconnected from the rest of the hike. The other four days felt like they were one continuous walk, but because I would get my car, this hike would feel more like a day hike. It didn’t matter, though. It would count either way.


The walk-through Williamstown was actually quite pretty. The sun came out, and I got to see some of the pretty buildings at Williams College. The temperatures weren’t too bad at that point, although there was plenty of snow around from yesterday’s storm.



After I retrieved my car, I drove back to the same parking lot where I had waited for the shuttle the previous day. It brought back some bad memories, but there was nothing to do for it. I dumped most of my gear in the car, because I wasn’t going to need a tent or a sleeping bag or anything like that for this hike.


By this point, the nice weather was gone, and the cold and wind was back. Thankfully, I was going uphill, so that helped warm me up. The beginning of the trail wasn’t too bad, but I eventually hit a really steep section. Going up it wasn’t a major problem, but I knew coming back down was going to be an issue. Nonetheless, I persevered and pushed my way up.



At the summit of the climb, I found the sign for the Pine Cobble trail, and I felt a sense of accomplishment for having linked two sections of my Appalachian Trail hike together for the first time. I began descending, and soon ran into two other hikers. Like me, they were section hikers working on the Massachusetts section. They told me that this was the last piece they needed in order to finish up Massachusetts. I congratulated them, as I knew from first-hand experience over the past few days what that hike entailed.



Once I left the other section hikers behind, I was faced with the dilemma of descending that steep section of trail in the snow. Thankfully, there was a bad weather trail there, and I used that to descend. It was a little longer, but worth it to avoid the steep trail.


Once that steep section was behind me, it was easy cruising the rest of the way down. I listened to the Myths and Legends podcast, and learned the story of Lancelot. Before long, I was back in Williamstown. Unfortunately, in the interim the weather had gotten even worse, and I was getting blasted by cold wind and sleet again. This time, though, I knew all I had to do was make it to my car and I would be okay. I did so, and I was happy to put the last couple days of hiking through crappy weather in the rear view. I put my car in drive, and aimed it towards New Hampshire and Dragonfly.


Thanks for following my Appalachian Trail journey, and always remember, you can’t take flight until you spread your wings.

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