Day 118, Friday, June 25, 2021

   

Galatians

Stealth campsite to Ten Mile River shelter campsite - 17.8 miles hiked today - 1461.5 total AT miles hiked to date.

The Connecticut mountains are lovely this time of year.  That’s right, we have passed into our tenth state of the journey, Connecticut.  Hard to believe that we are now officially in New England.  

Today was another perfect hiking day, with temperatures topping out in the mid 70’s, and no rain.  The terrain was about the same as it’s been, with only a few tough climbs, fewer rocks, and only one significant rock scramble that I had to take the bypass trail.  The morning passed quickly with a couple of nice views from the ridges, before we descended to make a road crossing.  At the road, we stopped at a local plant nursery where we were able to fill up our water bottles and grab a few snacks.

From there, we crossed a couple of fields before climbing a few fences and heading back into the woods and up the mountain.  Lots of variety to the trail today as shown below.

We stopped at a shelter mid afternoon for a break, after scoring some trail magic (Gatorade) at another road crossing.  At the  shelter, a friendly chipmunk kept coming up to us begging for food. Very friendly creature. Two very interesting sights today included the largest tree on the entire Appalachian Trail and the Appalachian Trail train station right on the trail. On weekends, you can catch a train from there to Grand Central Station in NYC. 

The last couple of hours included one seriously steep climb before reaching the shelter.  Anvil continues to help me with water and getting my pack and sling on and off.  Pinot and Bam Bam helped me to negotiate some tricky downed trees today.  My thanks go out to everyone who is helping me to deal with my temporary infirmary. Tomorrow morning we pass a convenience store with a deli, so a hot breakfast is in store.

Until next time…