"Town day"

The day a hiker goes to town can be equated to a 9-5er's Friday.
Unlike the dreaded day you leave town, which means always among other
things, your pack is heavy. Very heavy. In fact, the heaviest it will
weigh until the next town day....fully loaded with probably too much
food, possibly even leftover pizza from last nights' delivery...and
lately, as much water as you could possibly carry.

Regardless of how many days it has been since the last "town day", it
brings great joy to know that town food awaits you, as well as a
shower (possibly); and that clean clothes may be in your future as
well (cleaner anyway). Of course food is always the main
motivator...exciting food basically consists of anything someone else
makes, that is not in your food bag. But resupplying your food is what
MAKES you have to go to town in the first place. Of course there are
the hardcore people that go in, get what they need done and hike back
out the same day. Uh, yeah...that usually doesn't happen here. The
promise of clean sheets and a pillow typically lure us into a "nero"
here and there. A nero means nearly zero. Although, a lot of the time
we do big days to get into town. My personal definition is anything
less than 10 miles. We hiked a fairly strenuous 13 into Great
Barrington yesterday, and spent the night in town. It was a cool
little city with a great market and a nice little hotel. We are now
camped 18 miles away with Great Barrington being only a distant memory.

Also, today was by far, the closest thing to a perfect day on the
trail as I have seen. Especially the weather. Today was cooler, like
maybe 75 or 80, breezy, and low humidity. It was absolutely
spectacular! We also had a scenic day here on the trail in MA, with
some rocky outcroppings, a walk by a river, and the pond. The pond was
the highlight...a gorgeous breezy lake, nestled in between two
mountains, surrounded by ferns and white birches, with some smooth
rocks perfect for stretching out on and taking a relaxing break. Today
was an amazing day on the Appalachian trail, at least for Rabid,
shared with good friends.