Connecticut, the Gateway to New England

Wednesday June 27th I was up at 5AM and the first on the trail at 5:30. The first mile was down hill to the Connecticut border - I was finally in New England and 2/3 of the way done with the trail! Our next goal was to make it to Bennington, VT (about 132 miles north) by July 3rd where Coors' girlfriend was coming to visit, which meant we'd have to average about 22 miles per day. 

I was excited to get into town for some good food and ice cream. There was a flat stretch of trail along the Ten Mile River before climbing Ten Mile Hill - luckily the climb was only a mile long. The second climb to Indian Rocks was a little longer and steeper - I was slowly being introduced to hills again. 

I was about 3 miles from the descent into town when Strider caught me at 9:30. Bird passed me with about a mile and a half to go to CT 341. The descent into town was steep with larger boulders - my knees began to ache. The two of them were waiting for me by the side of the road - it was 10:30 and we had already hiked 12.7 miles. It was 0.8 down CT 341 into Kent and we were about to start walking down the road into town when Bird suggested we try to hitch. The first car that passed pulled over and offered us a ride into town! We were dropped off in front of a sandwich shop where we ate lunch. We heard from Coors and he had made it into town, also from a hitch by the first car to pass.

We walked to the grocery store and then to the Welcome Center to organize our food, repack our bags, and charge our devices. The Welcome Center was a small building with restrooms and coin operated showers - none of us were interested in showering, it hadn't even been a week since my last shower! Clouds came in and it started to drizzle. We walked over to the 'Outfitter' which was also a candy and ice cream shop. We sat inside eating ice cream and the boys watched the World Cup until we got motivated to head back to the trail.

It wasn't raining but cloudy and windy. We tried hitching for about 15 seconds before just walking the 0.8 miles back to the trail. It was 2:30 when we started hiking again and we had 10.2 miles to go.

There was a climb out of town that was a little challenging and Coors, Strider and Bird immediately pulled ahead. There was 1/2 mile descent that was very difficult with large boulder steps that took me forever to get down. After about 4.5 miles the trail descended to the river and paralleled it for the next 5 miles - it was very flat and I made good time. My back and feet were hurting a lot - I passed Coors taking a break, his feet were still hurting from our 29 mile day in New York.

The day ended with a short climb up to the Silver Hill Campsite (AT mile 1478.6) and I was somehow the first to arrive at 6:15, after 22.9 miles. Bird and Strider had taken a break at a shelter we passed a few miles before and got to the campsite with Coors a short time after me. There were several other hikers there, mostly section hikers. The rain had held off while we hiked but it was now starting to drizzle. The campsite was pretty cool - it had a nice view with a bench swing, pavilion, bear box, privy, and lots of flat tenting spots. It started raining steadily around 7PM so I got in my tent. Around 8:15 I heard a commotion from under the pavilion. A bear was investigating the bear box - there were half a dozen hikers yelling at it and making noise to scare it off but the bear didn't seem to care. It just stood there staring at us for awhile before eventually moving on when Coors started throwing rocks at it.
I woke up throughout the night to heavy rain and thunder. At 5AM it was pouring, at 5:30 it was still pouring. I knew none of my hiking partners would be up and getting ready to hike so I stayed in my tent until 6:40 on Thursday June 28th. My legs hurt from laying down for so long. The inside of my tent was soaking and my quilt was damp. I was not motivated to move, but Coors had to make some miles to meet Karen in Bennington in less than a week. Coors left around 8 and wanted to hike at least 18 miles that day. When Bird finally got up around 7:15 he said he wasn't going anywhere in the pouring rain and Strider and I immediately decided to stay put as well. The other section hikers left around 9 and the three of us spent the day zeroing in the woods - eating, playing cards, and napping.

The sun came out around lunchtime and I moved my tent and quilt into the sun so they could dry. It turned into a decent day but neither Bird nor Strider were interested in getting in even a couple of miles. Strider ended up eating too much of his food that he could no longer make it the 2 days to Great Barrington and would have to go in to Salisbury the next day. The next few days were supposed to be dry but get very hot. At least we would have better and more frequent water sources on the trail.

I woke up Friday June 29th at 4:30AM but it still seemed very dark so I sat in my tent for about 20 minutes before I got up. I was on trail at 5:20am - lots of ups and downs that morning, nothing too strenuous but enough to make me realize I left my climbing legs back in Virginia.

I was moving pretty good but Strider still caught me 5 miles into the day. We went through another 'Lemon Squeezer', kind of like the one we went through in New York but much easier.

After 12 miles the trail descended to the Housatonic River - I had gotten in 10 miles by 10AM and 15.6 miles in by noon. The trail crossed an iron bridge over the Housatonic River and followed the shore for a couple of miles and had some great views of the waterfalls.

I was originally worried about the climb up Mt Prospect but it went by before I even knew it. Rands View opened up to a field and a view of the upcoming ridge line we were about to climb - it was one of the best views in quite some time.

I was making such good time that day I told myself that if I made it to US 44 (the access point to Salisbury, a little over 22 miles for the day) by 3 I would walk to town for a cold treat - I made it to the road by 2:15 and took the 1/2 mile bike trail into town. It only took 10 minutes to walk there and it dumped me off right in front of the market, where I found Strider eating a watermelon. 

I bought ice cream, chips, cold drinks, turkey wrap, grapes to share with Bird, and a couple more treats for the next couple days. Strider sat outside the market for a couple hours, eating and charging our cell phones. I headed back to the trail at 4:30 and Strider left at 5 - we had about 4 miles left and a climb up Lion's Head. On the way up we passed the 1,500 mile mark!

I got into camp around 6:15 and found Bird sitting at a picnic table in front of Riga Shelter (AT mile 1504.1) after 25.4 miles. There was an incredible view but no good tenting spots near the clearing and it was too buggy to sleep in the shelter. We tented nearby and was able to see the beautiful sunrise through the trees the next morning - I walked back up to the shelter to enjoy the rest of it. The AT only travels through Connecticut for 52 miles so the morning of Saturday June 30th I entered my 11th state, Massachusetts!