We went to the farmers market with Jasmine this morning and I had a great breakfast of falafel, mixed berry sorbet, and peach blueberry pie. Then we ran a few more errands and hitched out of town, getting back on the trail by 1:00. I tried out my new knee strap, which puts tension on my patellar tendon, and I think it helps but I’m still working out the best way to wear it.

Half way into the hike I ran back into Jungle Jym, Coon, and Slick, and we decided to hitch back to Lenox tonight to go to a contra dance we’d heard about there. We got to a road after 8.4 miles and got a ride from a woman named Barbara for most of the way, getting dropped off in Stockbridge. It seemed to be a fancy town and it took a little longer to get our second ride, from a guy named Jim who was originally from Philly and had hitched up there himself in the 70s and never went home. He went out of his way to take us all the way into Lenox.

We were early so we found the Old Heritage Tavern where all the locals hang out to grab dinner first. Coon and Slick decided to stay there but Jungle Jym and I still went to the contra dance. They had live music and refreshments and it was a lot of fun. I was exhausted by intermission though since it was way past hiker midnight so we went back to the bar to grab the other guys and find a place to stay. Several locals had mentioned that we’d be fine camping in Kennedy Park up the road so we decided to go there. The bar owner gave us a ride and we found a good campsite easily.

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