We allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in today, which was necessary after back-to-back days of 25+ miles. Which meant sleeping until 7 in the morning and because I entertained myself, I didn’t go out for a walk until after 8:30 in the morning. My slow start continued when I needed to get water immediately since I had been out the night before. So I made outstanding progress of 0.5 miles at 9am…
Goodbye NY, hello CT
The day’s hike started out pretty easy for the first mile and then continued with an uphill climb for the next two miles. After crossing a highway just over a mile away, I reached the Connecticut border, entering my tenth state along the way!
While my new shoes are pretty comfortable out of the box, going 25+ miles a day has immediately caused some discomfort in my feet due to the break-in period. There’s still a big improvement over my last pair of worn-out shoes, but as with most things, there’s an adjustment period anyway. Which is a long way of saying I was hitting a relaxed pace this morning. It also helps that our current plan is less ambitious, just 20 miles with a HERO in and out of Kent, CT.
About 4 miles later I came to a river that the trail followed and saw Shooter dipping his feet in it. It seemed like a pretty good idea, so I went down and joined him.
We took a 15 minute break to soak the dogs in the cold river water before continuing. What a good rest! We walked along the river to travel a quieter and more wonderful kilometer. We then took a brief blue flare to see a covered bridge right next to the trail, which was cool to see and a worthwhile diversion.
Kent, Connecticut, USA
Returning to the trail, we were greeted by a relatively steep climb of 700 feet in less than a mile. It’s certainly not the worst, but for some reason today Shooter and I were feeling really sluggish, so getting up was a challenge. On the way up I lost my balance and fell into some bushes, which hurt nothing but my pride… After reaching the top there was a quite nice view of the surrounding countryside which I enjoyed whilst chatting to a couple of day hikers. After that, the next two kilometers are pretty flat, with only minor ups and downs.
The last few kilometers into Kent included two steep climbs and descents. I walked through them slowly and methodically before a long, steep descent into Kent. I even saw a snake at one point.
Once in Kent, we headed to a convenience store to pick up some cold drinks to help hydrate us before heading to the supplier.
Unfortunately, we got to the supplier right after they closed, but it wasn’t a big deal since we didn’t really need anything specific. I just wanted to check it out and maybe leave our bags there. We continue to our next stop, food. We decided to go to Cozzy’s on Main since it was right there and served burgers and pizza, which we were most interested in currently. Cozzy’s was pretty good! We were able to bring our bags inside, charge electronics, and the food was really good. I bought a 14″ ranch pizza with bacon, cheddar cheese and some garlic knots for the three of us to share and the whole thing was demolished!
Light work!
After dinner, we headed to the grocery store to restock on food for a couple of days and then headed back to the trail. We wanted to get to Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter before dark and we arrived on time. Although once again we were settling in in the dark. The hike went pretty well, especially since part of it was along the Housatonic River, a beautiful backdrop for an evening hike.
Day 102 Statistics:
20.3 miles
4,429′ ascent, 4,731′ descent
Wiley Shelter to Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter
10DSLC…
Stove use times: 14
Snakes seen on the trail: 24
Tracker of whole pizzas consumed: 14
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