Moon up and settling in. 

My friend Kelly (Sleeping Beauty) threw up here. I had to stop. 

I had only gone about 5 miles, but I just wasn’t up for another 4 to the next Shelter. Besides, Kelly threw up here, 

 and there’s a library! 

How cool is that! Take a book, leave a book!

Kelly fell and hit her head, (never text and walk, she said!) actually, she hit her headlamp. Her concussion would have been worse without the lamp! (there’s another clue!) Texting and hiking in the DARK is a bad idea!

So, she fell and hit her headlamp attached to her head, slept, I think, (another no-no with a head injury!)  got up, and hiked South to here and began throwing up. Too tough for her own good she is! 

She then went the short distance to Hoyt Road and knocked on the first house she came to. These nice people helped her get to the emergency room! 

Kelly suggested that I stop in and see the couple who helped her. It was just too early. I didn’t want to wake anyone. 

Nice house though!

She said in an interview with “Mighty Blue on the AT,” that the headlamp took some of the impact. It could have been worse than a concussion and just a few days off the Trail. Much worse. 

You can find her interview here: 

https://mightyblueontheat.com/episode-40-kelly-anderson-sleeping-beauty/

Anyway, so I’m here. Her vomit is gone. It’s a really nice Shelter! 

So far this hike had been uneventful. Just the usual aches and pains with shin splints and a sore Achilles’ tendon added. The list just keeps getting different. Things go away and things appear. 

Time off doesn’t seem to help. I come back and something else goes and getting my legs back is really tough! Big Section Hiker problem!

I’m being picked up by the shuttle provided by an outdoor outfitter in Kent Connecticut. 

That’s right. In .2 miles tomorrow I enter Connecticut! 

Cup of coffee owed now for state number 5 Linda! (Private joke)

It’s tomorrow! I’m in Connecticut!!!!!

Something very different happened to me today. I lost myself for a distance. When I came back to reality, I had the realization that I was at the COMPLETE mercy of the Trail. 

The Trail was the Trail and would always be the Trail. 

I was in control of NOTHING! My job was just to be here, now, enjoying my journey. Adjusting to the conditions of my life. Not trying to control them. Just going with it. 

It was thrilling to feel such freedom!

I had done something different this trip. I made the distances much shorter for these two days. I had no anxiety about getting to the finish line. 

I also had not looked at my Guthook App to see what was ahead of me. I just let the trail unfold. It was so beautiful. Like it was being created right in front of me. Every curve in the Trail presented me with another gift. It was AMAZING. 

THIS is how I will do the Trail from now on. Be in no hurry. 

Connecticut has the best signs!!!

And privies!

You have no idea how much I appreciate my bathroom at home. 

Look what book was in the Ten Mile River Shelter!

If you haven’t read Bill Bryson’s “ A Walk In The Woods,” do. 

ALL his books are hilarious!

This is the Housatonic River. 

I don’t know what makes the rocks white above the water line? I thought it was snow. Maybe acid rain? I’ll find out. 

I arrived at my destination. The very lovely recreational area called Bulls Bridge, named after this…

Don’t you just love covered bridges? 

And here’s where my journey ended. Hot coffee and a lovely conversation with one if the owners of this perfectly beautiful and well placed little business. 

She and her husband have been here for 15 years, re-supplying hikers. She showed, and asked me to sign, the journal she has kept now for 13 years! What an honor. To sign and to meet and chat with her. Just another of the beautiful AT Trail Angels. 

She told me that she talks too much, so she talks with all the hikers so her husband gets a break!

“Not just stupid talking!” she said. “Real talking!” 

So we talked about the Hindu Religion, a little politics, and other “real stuff” for almost an hour. I was early for the shuttle back to my car. 

Early.   Relaxed.   Just letting the day, and my great life unfold. 

She was a very special person. I promised to stop back in, when I return for my next adventure.

I will. 

Hammers. 🔨🔨