Day 43: Salisbury, CT

Start: Caesar Brook Campsite (AT mi 1483.8). Stop: Salisbury, Connecticut (AT mi 1502.2). Today’s miles: 18.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 477.5 miles

I got up at 6:30 and started packing my things. I was attempting to be quiet, but for once I didn’t care that I was the first up making noise.

I was on the trail by 7:30, and it went well. I listened to an audiobook and kept at it all morning. There were literally thousands of caterpillars, everywhere! If you stopped moving for a second, at least 2-3 would be on your shoes. I walked into them dangling their strings from trees.. I started off attempting to avoid stepping on them, like I always do with the cute tiny little newt/salamander/lizard thingies we see a lot when it rains. However, peta and probably Buddha himself would be disappointed to hear that at some point I just couldn’t even attempt to avoid them anymore. There were SO MANY!

I made it to a beautiful rocky area to eat lunch at just after 12:30. I was disheartened because I had only hiked 8.6 miles in 5 hours. My plan was to get to either a shelter that everyone says has a treacherous descent to get to (therefore a more treacherous ascent in the morning to get out of), hike on to Salisbury, CT and spend the night at a hostel of sorts, or hike on to the next shelter which would put me at over 22 miles in a day. Once I realized how slow I had been moving, that last option was off the table.

I text Cholula and she gave me a pep talk, and also mentioned that today is Lizard’s zero in Salisbury, so if I did make it the 10 more miles there, she’d be there, too! That’s pretty much all the motivation I needed. I started hiking again and ended up getting into Salisbury just after 5pm.. so I did 18.4 miles today, with the second half being faster than the first half! Sheesh, a first for everything I guess!

Right before getting to the road to get into Salisbury, I almost stepped on a baby bird. I tried to get it to move off the trail, and when it wouldn’t budge, I called Cholula again. She’s worked in veterinary medicine a long time so I knew she’d know what I should do. Essentially, all I could do was pick the sweet babe up and set it on the side of the trail to not get squashed, although that would have probably been a quicker and easier death than the one coming to it by most likely getting kicked out of the nest. Poor baby.

I got to the road and messaged the lady who said she had a bunk for me. She didn’t message back, but she did quickly appear on the road to pick me up. She told me she accidentally overbooked tonight, and that I could have the couch or she could drop me off at Maria’s place. Maria offers rooms in her home, too, but she doesn’t do laundry.. which I didn’t need. I just washed my clothes. So, she took me to Maria’s house.

My goodness, what a doll Maria is. She’s 91 years old, has a gorgeous older house, and offered me the private twin room. Heck yes! She’s so sassy, but kind! She recently wrecked her car into a tree and says she’s just not going to drive anymore. I told her she deserves to be chauffeured everywhere anyway. She found that cute. Lol

After my shower and settling into my room, I left to meet Lizard and Beaver for dinner. We ate at the only restaurant in town, and it was damn good. I got ravioli carbonara, and just so you know, I’m still thinking about how great it was! So much flavor! Yum! Lizard, Beaver, and this dish was totally worth the 18+ miles hiked today.

After dinner we went back to the hostel they were staying at. We sat on the back patio, sharing a couple beers and enjoying each other’s company. Man I missed my first tramily member like crazy! I’m so happy we get to hike out together tomorrow. Sadly for us, Beaver is taking a zero here tomorrow, so he will be missed until he catches back up.

A little after 8, I rushed back to Maria’s place. She was waiting up for me, and told me a few more hikers had shown up, but I don’t know them. I showed her the slice of carrot cake I got her and she seemed excited. We put it in the refrigerator, she said, “I’m going to eat that tomorrow. You’ll have to sign my hiker book when you come down in the morning. I won’t get up until 9am, you’ll be gone. Don’t forget to sign it!” Such a sweetheart.
I’m laying in my cute twin bed, with baby dolls in a basket in the corner and a pretty little wooden desk. This room feels the way my grandpa’s room used to feel when I was a little kid, just with a smaller bed. Memories just come back whenever they please it seems. I hope Maria’s family cherishes their time with her, she’s incredible and I’m so grateful things worked out the way they did today. I’m happy I ended up here.