Sages Ravine Brook

Lion's Head view and monument on Bear Mountain

01 June Salisbury (zero day)

Rainy as advertised. Very humid.

We left Harpers Ferry 2 months ago tomorrow. Hard to believe. We have done almost 500 miles which seems like a lot. But it is not enough to get us to Katahdin in time to get back to send off Andi to Madagascar in August. We will have to speed up.

I went to the post office and received our two packages. Got some summer gear sent from Shana and some food bounced from us back down the trail.

Redoing our packs to be ready for summer and to lose some winter weight. Have been back to the post office to send off four boxes - three to Shana and one to ourselves up the trail in Dalton, MA.

Laundry is all done and we just have to do some final shopping for food and we will be ready to go in the morning.

Met Dutch, at the grocery at lunch. He was looking to get in out of the rain. He had 3 bear encounters last night and is still a little shook up. Plus he is wet. He is with Uncle Bob and another hiker. They started hiking in PA and are doing a flip flop like us. They have been following our trail register entries in the shelters and have been just behind us. Uncle Bob is apparently getting off the trail and Dutch is considering it after his bear encounter - at least for a while.

Salisbury has been very nice to us. I imagine that many hikers do not stop because it is small and somewhat expensive. However, what we need is all right across the street from us and the people have been very nice.

Looks like thunderstorms soon.

31 May - Salisbury CT

Beautiful Memorial Day with a clear, blue sky.  High 88.

Last nights shelter was very nice and had a good spring despite what the Thru-hikers Companion says.  What I forgot to mention was that it was a half mile down hill, some of which was extremely steep.  This partly explains why we were there alone.   Tough way to start the day.

Although it got to 88, it was still in the 70s when we hiked in to Salisbury.   It was a great hike with one nice viewand we passed the giant thumb.  Yesterday we passed an old hang glider launch site that had a great view including Lime Rock Park.  This is classic 1.5 mile car race course used by Paul Newman and other celebrities.  We could hear them racing yesterday and today since it is Memorial Day Weekend.

As we came down the mountain, we could hear drums from the parade.  Coming into town there was a ceremony at the cemetary.  As we passed a church, the folks out front said "Hikers.  Want some lemonade".  We talked about AT hiking, answered the usuaL questions about... How long have we been hiking? Where did you start?  How far are you going?  How much does that pack weigh?  They gave us directions to where we are staying and we headed off.

After we crossed the street and continued, a woman came down from the lawn of a nice house on main street.  She said "your hikers right?  My friend Betty would like to know if you would come up and have some lemonade and talk about your hike."  So we did.  Betty is the owner of the house and having a party for her friends to view the parade.   We had lemonade and donuts, answered questions including "Can I try it on?" which Wendy got after "How much does that pack weigh?"  Keep in mind that we have not been in town to take a shower for 10 days.  Everyone was extremely nice and very proud of their village (which they should be - classic Norman Rockwell as Betty said).  Then the parade came back through town from the cemetary and we got to see it after all - and with a front row seat.  They pointed out Vanessa's house (she rents rooms to hikers) and we said our goodbyes and went to get our room and most importantly, a shower.  What a wonderful introduction to Salisbury!

Obviously, we like Salisbury very much.  We now plan to take a zero day here tomorrow during the storms.

Salisbury, CT

A beautiful, quaint, New England village.

Salisbury on Memorial Day

Northern pine forest

Connecticut view and giant thumb rock

30 May - Limestone Spring Lean-to.

Mostly clear, high 84. But it was less humid and much cooler in the Green Tunnel.

Good hiking day - fairly easy trail. We did 12.8 miles to Limestone Spring Lean-to. The woods here are very nice - not many vistas but a nice mixture of northern pine forest and deciduous trees.

Saw lots of people out fishing in the Housatonic, floating in kayaks, riding in a Jeep. Saw one nice trout caught.

As we came out of the mountains, we encountered a trail detour. The Rt. 7 Bridge is under construction and only has on lane open and no pedestrian traffic. We were warned of this by False Hope (in the shelter last night. We did not want the detour because there is a restaurant on the other side. While contemplating sneaking across the bridge, a new Toyota Prius stopped across from us. Turned out to be a former thru-hiker, Still Walking. She and her husband were out for a day hike. She knew about the bridge and offered a ride across. This saved us a lot of extra road walking out in the heat. TRAIL MAGIC!

In fact, she took us to the restaurant but it was closed. Imagine our disappointment! She took us back to the near side of the bridge so we only missed a few blazes. We kept walking and ate our Cliff Bars for lunch.

Falls Village was very pretty. The pictures are of the Iron Bridge and the falls just a little way upstream.

On to Salisbury tomorrow.

Still living the dream.

(No signal tonight)

29 May, Pine Ridge Swamp Lean-to

High 74.  Cloudy and humid with 2 brief showers.   Might rain tonight.

Nice hiking today - Connecticut is very pretty - lots of tall pines.  Many ups and Downs today so 10 miles was more than enough. 

Running out of batteries for the Droid so no pics and only a short journal entry.

Running out of food too.  Should pass a restaurant just off the trail tomorrow.   Then Monday we should arrive in Salisbury and resupply. 

Location Note from #Compass

West Cornwall, CT 06796
USA

Altitude: 1201 ft
Latitude: 41°52'53.0" N
Longitude: 73°23'29.7" W

28 May - Stewart Hollow Lean-to

Hiked 15.7 miles today.  Too many climbs.   Did not arrive until after 8:00. 

Picture is from a brook we crossed.

Friday night of Memorial Day weekend and we have the shelter to ourselves.  A nice surprise.  We are in the Stewart Hollow Lean-to next to the Housatonic River.  We ate, bathed in the river, and are ready for bed.

LOCATION:

Location Note from #Compass

Altitude: 645 ft
Latitude: 41°46'44.3" N
Longitude: 73°25'4.5" W

27 May - Ten Mile Lean-to, Conn.

Less hot and humid, high in upper 70s.

The trail was nice today too. It needed to be! As nice as yesterday afternoon was (Pete and his people, the shower, the hot dogs across the street), sleeping was terrible. The place was between the train track and the highway. Trains and trucks all night. Very loud! I got less than 2 hours of sleep. Hikers beware.

I mentioned the trail was nice. I have meant to say how nice the trail has been in the 2nd half of NY. No PUDS (Pointless Ups and Downs). The trail has been well designed - to get from point A to point B efficiently - rather than to "show off our rocks".

The big news today is that we are in Connecticut! Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all done (WV done too). The pictures are of Ten Mile River and Lean-to, our first stop in Conn.

Since northern PA, we have seen small patches of northern forest (tall pines, open floor). Coming down Ten Mile Mtn. today we came into such an area. We are seeing it more frequently now. The sun comes up earlier too, before 5:00.