Category: Appalachian Trail 2021

Start: Kent, Connecticut (AT mi 1470.2). Stop: Caesar Brook Campsite (AT mi 1483.8). Today’s miles: 13.6 miles. Total AT mileage: 459.1 miles

I was proud of me today. I actually got up a little after 7, packed and ate my left over pad Thai, chatting with Cholula a bit before heading out. I was out of town and on the trail by 8:30, but before I actually started hiking, I had to sit down and change my insoles back to the ones that came with the shoes. Just that little road walk to the trail from town left me with numb toes. Yikes.

There was a trail angel and his wife there, offering breakfast stuff, but I declined. He said he’d be up trail this afternoon doing trail magic lunch.. so I told him I’d hope to see him then. My morning started off by hiking with BakedPotato, a NOBO thru hiker that was at the trail magic. We maybe hiked and talked for a few miles before I needed to stop again because of my shoes. He carried on, I sat down and I realized the heel of my new shoe rubbed a hole into my sock and was attempting to rub a nasty blister on my heel! I taped up my foot, put my ripped sock back on, stretched and carried on.

It was a pretty day, sunny and low 60s mostly. The trail was beautiful, but the same old ups and downs with trees and creeks. Sometimes describing it feels monotonous, because while it changes dramatically, it also feels the exact same, too. I did walk a long stretch right beside a big river though, the Housatonic River. and that was stunning. I also saw 2 garter snakes, one that quickly got away from me after BakedPotato pointed it out (I still got a picture), and then another one sunbathing mid trail, that I had to dance around to pass. He wasn’t going to move and could care less about me. I, of course, still did my yell/jump/full body shutter when I spotted each one, but managed to get pictures of both.

My best friend, Sarah, told me her daughter, Kylie, liked my snake stories. She’s going to have to tell me if it’s because of how scared I am of the snakes, or because she likes them. Ever since Sarah told me that, I’ve been looking for them more. I still see at least one garter a day (for the most part), but I haven’t seen any more black snakes yet, and no rattlesnakes at all. I kinda think the long snake I saw go under a rock the other day may have been a copperhead, but because I only saw the back end of him, I can’t confirm.. and I was DEFINITELY not sticking around to see him come back out! God those little boogers totally freak me out, still! I get the cold chill down my spine every single time I spot anything slithering. So creepy. (Also, hi Kyliebug! I love you!)

I crossed a few roads and never saw the trail angel, so I stopped at the first shelter and ate my lunch. There were caterpillars everywhere. I chatted with some trail maintenance folks, very grateful for their hard work. And then I carried on. I was on an uphill that came to a road crossing when I ran back into BakedPotato and the trail angel! I caught a ride down the hill with the angel to where he and his wife had a little spread set up by the river! It was so perfect! I had a hotdog (I wasn’t actually hungry at all) and a Gatorade, oh and a banana, too. We hung out and chatted with another thru hiker I hadnt met before. The trail angel, PTL (for Praise The Lord), did a flip flop in 2020, and only took 3 zero days the whole time! His wife was his support so he had easy access to a vehicle and whatnot. They were so dang nice. Now they’ve been giving back to the trail community, since he said so many people helped him along his journey.

He drove me back up the hill and I carried on. The miles seemed to be passing slowly. I had told myself however far I got today would be enough, regardless of where everyone else is, because of the whole breaking in new shoes thing. I had options to camp at mile 10, 13.6, and 17.

I only made it to the 13.6 mile campsite and decided that would do. It was already 5:30pm and I was beat. Plus the creek nearby was a nice one. I set up my tent and sleep stuff, filtered water, bathed, and cooked dinner. I cleaned up, put my food bag in the bear box, and chatted a little with the other people staying here tonight. 3 women appear to be doing a section hike (I didn’t ask them, and I shouldn’t assume, but they look so clean!) and then another couple is thruhiking from springer mountain.

My spot was heavenly and far from the others until the couple came. They camped technically in the other campsite area, but I can literally here them talking to each other now, from inside my tent and them in theirs. Thank goodness for earplugs!

Now that I’ve gotten everything semi up to date, I’m going to plan out my day tomorrow and then fall asleep. Either way, I’m getting up early in the morning to try to get in some decent miles. Towely, FarOut and HotSauce all made it to Massachusetts today. Lizard has to zero to get a package (but I can’t remember if that’s today or tomorrow) and I’m not sure where everyone else is. Massachusetts is 40 miles from where I am, too bad I can’t knock that out tomorrow! Hahaha wishful and delusional thinking there! Lol

Goodnight, y’all.

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.

Start: Salisbury, Connecticut (AT mi 1502.2). Stop: The Hemlocks Shelter (AT mi 1515.9). Today’s miles: 13.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 491.2 miles. States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut

I didn’t sleep too well at Maria’s. Not sure why, because it was comfortable and I had a fan on me, but I just couldn’t stay asleep. I was awake after midnight, stretching in the floor. Then back to tossing and turning in the bed. Frustrating to say the least.

I got up and packed quickly and as quietly as I could. I walked down the street and met Lizard by the road we were starting on. We hiked together for a few miles, then she pulled ahead. It was another gorgeous day. Bright but in the 70s, so not terribly hot. I felt a little nauseous though, which could have been from a number of things.. I ate that huge dinner last night, I was probably dehydrated from yesterday’s long mileage but I didn’t drink any water really after getting to town, and-I had a slice of cheesecake for breakfast. Hahaha

Connecticut’s trail maintenance people are some of the best I’ve seen so far, I’ve truly loved almost all of it. There has been a couple rocky descents that felt rough underfoot, but that’s seriously it. I’ve really enjoyed all the beauty this state has shown me.

Today’s terrain when up and over 3 mountains. The first was Bear Mountain in Connecticut, the highest peak in the state, on the way down we crossed into Massachusetts. I met Lizard at a large stream and we ate lunch (she was mostly done by the time I got there lol). I didn’t see the sign saying we were in Massachusetts, but according to my maps, we definitely were. I was sad about missing two stateline signs now (I missed NY/CT because of not having my phone).
After eating, I continued down the path beside the stream for awhile, and once I crossed over, boom! There’s the sign! I hadn’t missed it after all! I was so excited! Another state down! Only.. a lot more to go lol, but getting closer to half of the states being completed 😉

The next mountain was a 2+ mile ascent and I was just so dang slow. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the pace. Also, I knew once I got to the top, I had to go down and come back up an even steeper ascent before going all the way down again to get to the shelter. Lord. Every single time the wind would pick up and blow through, I’d stop to let it cool me off. I never took my pack off and sat down, but I did do way too many pauses.
The final climb was damn brutal. It went straight up for close to a mile. Like 70-80 degree rock faces that at points were so steep they had put wooden “steps” to help you not slip to your death. Ok, that’s slightly dramatic, but the way the gnats were attacking my face and making me nutty the whole way up, I could see how easy it would be for me to slip and have a significant fall, all due to making sure I smashed the bug flying in my face. Things near my face make me a bit crazy. Clearly.

I made it to the shelter close to 6pm, a whole hour after Lizard. I went and got water to filter. Once back at camp I decided to sleep in the shelter (which is crazy.. because you know, gnats) but I didn’t see anywhere I wanted my tent and the weather app says it’s supposed to rain overnight. Annnnd, honestly, I was just too tired to deal with setting it up.

Tie-dye ended up coming in a bit after me! He’s staying in the shelter, too. Lizard has her hammock up. The three of us ate dinner together and chatted about life. Tie-dye started in GA,I didn’t realize that until today.

We were all three about ready to turn into bed when a weekender comes barreling up to us. Im not sure if he’s retired or still active army, but he has definitely served.. and man he came up the little hill to us quick! He lives nearby and is doing weekend backpacking trips over the summer. We stayed up and chatted with him for awhile. Then as he started setting up his tent, I came and got on my bunk in the shelter.

There’s another group of people down the way some, and they’re quite loud. If you ever forget what day of the week it is, you’ll quickly be reminded when it’s a weekend! Haha I don’t think they’ll be loud for long, it’s sprinkling a little.
I’m putting in my earplugs and hoping for some restful sleep tonight. Maybe I’ll get lucky.