July 19-20 in CT

July 19, 2005 | Day 114 | Miles: 12.3 | Total Miles: 1443.7
End: Ten Mile River Shelter, Tent set up in shelter
Danielle:
Hot and humid with afternoon rain and evening clearing
Holy crap! We've hiked to New England! We are currently at the first shelter in CT. Wow. (of course, Ryan says this is not New England yet, just part of NY, but hey, I think it's officially New England! And well, it's pretty d*** cool that we've walked up here.) Bye bye New York. We won't miss you---we put you at the bottom of our list with PA. Ugh. But CT, you have made us happy so far. Good trail signage, well maintained trails with smooth treadway, a nice shelter with a composting privy. Keep up the good work!
We are currently the only ones at the shelter so far--it's 7:30pm--and are looking out at the meadow in front, and listening to Mama and baby Phoebes up in the nest in the rafters. We took shelter here when the rain started and have been enjoying the spot.
We managed to dry everything out last night in the A/C but it was hot and humid again today so we're wet once more... Oh well. We're hoping the front moves through and kills this humidity! That would be a nice break :-) But despite the weather, we're feeling pretty good and happy to have left NY and be enjoying CT.

Ryan:
three h's
luckily, the air conditioner kept going all night and things dried out, so our stay at the sharadu wasn't a complete loss. we did indeed pass on the freezer burned english muffins. the last 9 miles of new york were crap. over grown, unmaintained crap. ny sucks. but, who cares, we're in connecticut! what's the first thing we see in ct? trail maintenance! new bog bridges being constructed. ny sucks. ny's idea of trail maintenance is to do nothing, let everything get overgrown, so the grass tries to eat you....then put up signs about the dangers of lyme disease. gee, thanks. so, it's good to be out of ny and closer to new england. ct is not new england...it's part of the tri-state area. i will not argue about this. so, it was nasty yesterday, but it was hotter today. really hot. especially through the open cow pastures. yuk. almost melted. gotta go...mosquitos are getting hungry.

July 20, 2005 | Day 115 | Miles: 15.7 | Total Miles: 1459.4
End: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean-to, Tent
Danielle:
Hot and sunny
Well, the humidity broke overnight but it was still pretty hot out. Still, at least things dried out a bit instead of staying soaked!
We had a midday stop in Kent, CT for lunch, groceries, phone calls and a bit of internet access at the library. Cute little town. As it was hot, and we had to hike 9m into town from the shelter, we didn't end up leaving until 5pm. Made for a super late arrival at camp tonight and dinner in the dark. I am really not good after 5pm--I am much more a morning hiker-- so it was a bit of a struggle for me, but eventually we made it. It's currently 10pm and we're still awake! Way past this hiker's bedtime, so goodnight! :-)

Ryan:
sunny, hot
sorry for the abrupt end last night, but the bugs were wicked. writing in the tent tonight as the night air buzzes. ny brought the arrival of the skeeters and they followed us to ct.
still hot, but less humid today. what a difference. but it's all relative...we're both longing to be cold. the back is better, but our feet are taking a beating. still not fully recovered from pa, the heat and the humidity are rough. they just can't get dry, so parts start blistering and falling off. not pleasant. today we had a longish stop in kent for resupply and whatnot. town stops always take longer than they should. we didn't get to camp until almost 8:30. that made for one grouchy sparkplug. yikes. but, we're getting good at this camping thing, and we had the tent up, water filtered, and dinner cooked and served before 9. late, but speedy. due to the weather, i drank over 200 ounces of fluids today, and on that note...i gotta pee.
today's song - the wet bum song, sparkplug (lyrics go something like this: "my bum is wet. my bum is wet. my bum, my bum is wet. hooray, my bum is wet." she's a misunderstood genius.)