Day 124-Connecticut: A Mini AT Sampler

July 20-12 miles-Silver Hill Campsite to Belters Campsite-AT mile 1492.4

We met The Flying Pig today (another thru hiker), and he summed up Connecticut by saying it is like a sampler of the Appalachian Trail. We’ve camped for three nights now with a young couple who are doing just Connecticut. Connor (now Trail named, Water Boy) and Shayna are from New Jersey. They are taking about 4 days to do the state. The Flying Pig was telling them that Connecticut is a good state to do to see if you want to do the whole AT (if someone had told me that, and I did it, I may not have done the whole thing!!!). 

Connecticut has mountains, but they are a bit smaller than those in Georgia, North Carolina, and I suspect, New Hampshire. It has rocks that are sometimes like Rocksylvania. It has ledges, but not quite as spectacular as Virginia. And it also has periods of smooth, flat, sidewalk-like trail (like no other state so far!). It really is a sample of what the AT is like, and it’s not easy!

Today it rained a bit while we were packing up. Actually, I think the humidity got so high, that it started falling out of the sky. It didn’t seem as hot as yesterday, but I was still absolutely soaked with sweat in less than an hour on the trail! The climbing helped with upping the sweat factor. 

Some more of those climbing rocks. 

Not long into the day, we came across this trail magic. 

There were snacks and, my favorite trail magic thing, Gatorade. 

The ups and downs continued. At least today, for some reason, my knee was not really bothering me. I could step down and it didn’t really twinge. We got a view here and there. 

Pine Knob view. 

We also did a mini lemon squeeze. I called it an orange squeeze because it wasn’t quite as tight as the Lemon Squeeze we did in New York. 

Sure Foot getting through without problems. 

Water was a bit of an issue today. We ended up being fine, but when we came across this little stream, I was very happy. 

I drank 750ml of water here. 

We played leapfrog with Water Boy and Shayna all day today. Water Boy got his name because, at the spring for the campsite, he was filling up our bags with his bottle so we didn’t have to scoop it with a ziplock bag. 

It’s still warm, but sometimes the breeze reaches us, and it feels good. This will be another no quilt night I’m sure. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Real Day 95-Just Taking My Food for a Walk

Image
June 21-15ish miles-Pine Grove Furnace to campsite-AT mile 1120 Last night Dusty and I made a “card” for Sure Foot for Father’s Day (except we said Happy Farter’s Day because...well...you can probably guess). I had breakfast at the hostel. The pancakes I had were...solid...kind of hard like a frisbee. But, I also had some yogurt and orange juice. I mean...it was only $5.00, so I can’t complain too much. Strangely, someone had stolen the eggs and bacon (uncooked), and a plate. It was weird... The first part of the day was pretty easy. Getting out of Pine Grove State Park was a flat bike path. We went by Fuller Lake.  Fuller Lake in the fog...eerie.  I met two women who were just out for a short hike. I walked with them until the AT turned off the path.  Barb and Becky. Nice gals! The AT climbed for awhile, but it wasn’t a steep climb. Braids and I caught up to Dusty and Sure Foot at a creek. We were just about a mile from the Green Mtn grocery store. Dusty asked if we were...
Read more

Day 35-A Spot of Beauty, and Adding Pee Bottle

Image
April 22-12.9 miles-Curley Maple Gap Shelter to Cherry Gap Shelter-AT mile 361.4 Today was one of our longer days with two major climbs. I got going at 7:50, and Sure Foot was just a few behind me. Before I left, I heard Tic Tac telling Papa Smurf and Pee Bottle that they should hike together, and she would just go slow what with her shin splint not doing well.  Sure Foot caught up to me before too long, and we continued on. Just after Indian Grave Gap (didn’t see any grave), we stopped for a break. We were 4.6 miles in, and it was about 10:30. While we were eating our snacks, Pee Bottle came walking up the trail. He said he’d been trying to catch us, and that Tic Tac and Papa Smurf were going to get a ride to Roan Mtn (the town), and would wait for Pee Bottle there. It would give Tic Tac some rest, so hopefully she can continue. Pee Bottle asked if he could hike with us. Of course, it’s no problem. He’s a nice guy, and fits in with Sure Foot and I just fine.  And Pee Bottle m...
Read more

129-Back to Mosquito Land...uh...I Mean the Trail

Image
July 25-11.7 miles-Great Barrington to Wilcox South Shelters-AT mile 1535.5 We actually planned to go to the Wilcox North Shelter, but decided we didn’t want to carry extra water for 1.8 miles up and over Mt. Wilcox. But, more on that in a moment.  Roger and Sandy took us back to the trail at 7:30 this morning. We took photos, and said our “see you laters”, then started walking.  Photo courtesy of Sure Foot.  The first bit seemed to just wind around corn fields and along the river.  Oh yeah, it was foggy.  We went out to a road, and across a bridge, just to get to the other side of the river, then seemingly made a u-turn, and went back along the river. All of that was flat.  We finally got back to trail-looking trail, and started the first of a few climbs.  Sure Foot asked if it was Fall already.  This was a crevasse that they were nice enough to build a bridge over.  We reached the first viewpoint of the day, and took a break.  When we ...
Read more