The Cookie Lady

I have passed her house three times and no cookies for me. The first time I got there late and the cookies were gone. Long distance hikers eat a lot. The other two times it was around six in the AM, so I figured she had not put out any cookies. Perhaps next time.

Roy and Marilyn Wiley don't look like angels. The blueberry farm owners in Western Massachusetts seem like sturdy, seasoned New Englanders - pleasant yet no-nonsense. But to Appalachian Trail hikers Buffet and Mooch, the Wileys are angels. Trail angels, to be specific.

"Oh my God, these are wonderful," says Mooch, 27, of Kalamazoo, Mich., whose real name is Michalina Keith, as she wolfs down one of Marilyn Wiley's homemade oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies.

Wiley, who is known as "The Cookie Lady" in AT guide books, has been baking treats for the hikers for 20 years. When the Wileys first moved to their farm in Washington, just off the trail, Wiley heard of a former resident who fed hikers cake and ice cream. That's a nice tradition, she thought, so she started giving hikers homemade cookies.

I have had blueberries from her farm. Great in pancakes at Upper Goose Pond.