Date: 2016-06-10
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter, NY

To: Ten Mile River Shelter, NY
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

Day 5020.6 miles in 12.5 hoursMorgan Stewart Shelter, NY (1437.8) to Ten Mile River Shelter/Campsite (1458.4)Weather: 80s, overcast/light showers and humid in the a.m. to sunny, but still hot p.m.Food: Trailmix, 6 bars, ramen noodles, 2 Klondike mint ice-creams, lemonade, corn-chickpea salad with barbecue salmon, salt & vinegar potato chips, Sara Lee pudding cake, PepsiHikers: Four SOBOs Wildlife: Deer at dawn, deer at duskAnd this is the post where she eats hers words. A mere two days ago, I mused about the presumably crazy mindset of hikers who hike from dawn to dusk. Um, guilty.My plan was to make Kent, Conn., in two days in order to a) stay somewhere with soap and b) pick up my next food drop. I had been in touch with a B&B just outside of town who could even pick me up south of Kent (within reason) without a shuttle charge. I misread a sign near the RPH shelter stating the Connecticut state line was 26.9 miles, a reasonable two day goal. However, the village of Kent was another 11.5 miles beyond the border. Not so reasonable. I decided to get up early, forego using the stove (meaning no coffee) and get on the trail faster. And by early and faster, for me that meant 6:45ish, after a 5:15 alarm. Curse you Facebook! I don't think I'll ever do that again¢leave camp without coffee¢or a real breakfast, that is. Besides the humidity I immediately felt, there was no fuel in the tank. I trudged my way up over some rocks swatting at mosquitos and gnats and could not fathom hiking my intended 16.6 mile day. First I starting hoping for trail magic in the form of coffee (a total pipe dream). Then I kept scheming about roads where the B&B people could pick me up earlier and earlier. Finally, I decided to unpack the stove and take a real coffee break after 5.6 miles at Nuclear Lake. Nuclear Lake was very scenic. And showed signs of life. There were normal looking mallards hanging out around normal looking aquatic plants. If there had been an Adirondack chair sitting under the bug-free white pines atop the granite bluff where I could read my book and drink coffee all day, I'd likely still be there, damn the plutonium! Instead I texted my husband about my woes, drank my instant black instant coffee (which tasted remarkably fantastic sans the usual creamer) and cooked up some ramen noodles. There were even some encouraging texts from hikers up the trail with campsite and hostel recommendations when I turned on my phone for said whiny husband text. Trail yin and yang. I looked ahead to my next break after 5.3 miles at Native Landscapes at the Appalachian Trail train station stop near Pawling, NY. I briefly had considered a visit to NYC to see my sister-in-law who lives in Brooklyn. I even contacted her without any prior warning and it would have been possible. Lots of hikers leave the trail for a day or more to visit the city and I still had this option open. But the trail. Was. Easy! Flat. Scenic. Caffeinated. I had no problem making it to the landscape center/AT supporter who offers showers, free camping and sells snacks, cold beverages and ICE CREAM (in addition to nice plants and landscape design.) The 16.6 mile shelter now seemed possible¢and maybe even the next one that is located another four miles, by a river. All depends on the trail. The carrot that was drawing me to the Ten Mile River campsite was a river. A river in which I could potentially swim. Many shelters, at least the ones I¢ve passed, seem to be deliberately positioned along the trail for lack of a view. Or even the merest trickle of a spring. A real river meant I could rinse off the accumulated bug spray, bug guts and sweat.While I was contemplating getting my third ice cream, a sectional SOBO entered the store. I asked him about the upcoming trail conditions to which he reported he didn't think the section was well-maintained compared to the parts he had hiked in Vermont. Well you can give me half a dozen downed trees and thigh-high, poison-ivy edged field weeds anytime over rocks. If this guy thinks that section of the trail was bad, he is soon in for a very rude awakening. I flew over this trail as much as is possible for me¢which always seems to average1.5 - 2 mph regardless of the conditions. There were numerous instances of trail magic, all of which I was too late to receive¢¦except¢¦. Dinner! After passing the shelter at 16.6 miles, I decided to wait to eat my dinner at the Connecticut state line putting me only three miles away from the Ten Mile River campsite. And what should I find there? Two coolers full of food and drinks. (Thanks Croc ¢n Rolls parents!) Thus I ate my words¢along with a corn-chickpea salad, chips and the most delightful cellophane-entombed Sara Lee pudding cake¢all washed down with the second Pepsi consumed since high school. And the campsite delivered. I floated in the shallow depths of the Housatonic River before falling asleep, cleaner, to its lovely white noise.