Date: 2017-08-01
From: Sharon Mountain Campsite

To: Riga Shelter Tent Site
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: clear sky

8/1Sharon Mountain Campsite to Riga Shelter Tent Site16.3 milesTotal miles:  1503.0Note: The Hiking Viking uploaded his interview with me on his YouTube channel, Between the Blazes, today. I don't think I embarrassed myself too badly.Today was a day for milestones. As I mentioned yesterday, today is my son Stephen's birthday.  I texted him first thing this morning.  Later in the morning, as I crossed the Housatonic River for the first time, I passed 700 miles to Katahdin.  This afternoon, near Salisbury, I crossed the 1500 mile marker. As I write this in my tent near the Riga shelter, I have traveled 1503 miles and am only 2.8 miles from the Connecticut/Massachusetts border, so I'll pass another milestone in the morning.  I was on the trail by 8:00 this morning and worked my way off off Sharon Mountain back to the Housatonic River.  I crossed the river  on the US 7 bridge, one of several times I would hike along roads today. I continued on the road past a High School. It was sunny again today and quite a bit warmer than yesterday.  Of course, it felt much warmer walking on an asphalt road as opposed to in the woods.  The trail soon returned to the woods and was much easier near the river, and I made good time.  The trail followed a road again near Falls Village, and I passed a large electric way station.  The electric company has installed a water faucet and cold water shower head on the outside of a building. I filled my water bottles, ate my lunch under a shade tree, and watched several hikers strip down to their skivies and take showers.  I dearly love "Hiker Trash" moments.  After lunch, I crossed the Housatonic River again, this time via a modern (completed in 2016) iron bridge. The trail again paralleled the Housatonic, and I soon took a short side trail to view the river as it cascaded down a ravine in a huge waterfall. It was a very impressive sight.  I then hiked up a steep hill beside the waterfall and decided to walk over and view it from the top. Here, my tendency to become disoriented served me well. I missed a turn in the trail as I assumed it went across the parking lot for the falls. Actually, as I discovered later, the trail veers left and never comes within view of the parking lot or the adjacent picnic area. Unaware of this at the time, I walked across the parking lot looking for white blazes. Instead, I had the good fortune of meeting Curt, Edie, and Rolf who were picnicking by the falls. They invited me over. They said they hadn't met a thru hiker before and asked me to join them for lunch. I was offered a delicious ham and cheese sandwich, chips, and cookies. I spent a wonderful half hour visiting with them. I told them about thru hiking and told them they were my most recent Trail Angels. Rolf declared that that was the first time anyone ever called him an angel. I very much enjoyed the visit. Thank you again for your hospitality, Curt, Edie, and Rolf!  I still had ten miles to travel, which included climbing Mount Prospect and then the Lion's Head.  I first backtracked to the falls, located a white blaze, and determined where I had made my very fortuitous mistake. Back on the trail, I worked my way up Mount Prospect.  The trail was steep at times but was without rocky protrusions, so I made pretty good time.  As the trail came down the mountain, it opened into a beautiful field with a tremendous view. Named Rand's View, it is very picturesque and looks like it should be a picture puzzle. Back in the woods, I  soon passed the Giant's Thumb, a large vertical boulder deposited in an upright position by some long ago glacier.  The trail completed its way down the mountain, and I again found myself walking along roads. As I entered the town of Salisbury, I discovered an interesting phenomenon when I photographed the electronic speed indicator that was set up by the speed limit sign entering town.  As a car approached, its speed was flashed on a screen. To the unaided eye, a number was clearly visible,  but through my phone's camera lense, the number flashed and blinked continually, never showing a specific number. I  was intrigued and watched the sign through both my eyes and my phone's camera as several cars sped by (most going significantly faster than the posted 30 MPH). After perhaps a mile, I was back in the woods, hiking up my last ascent of the day to Lion's Head. About half way to the top, I met Leapfrog and Extra Mile, who were again slackpacking southbound today. It was another happy reunion. They cautioned me about the very steep descent i will encounter tomorrow as I hike up and over Bear Mountain on my way out of Connecticut.  While the Bear Mountain in New York prides itself in its new, improved trail work, I'm pretty certain it's a safe bet that there will be very few coping stones on my way down Connecticut's. That's for tomorrow, as I arrived at the Riga Shelter Tent Site area around 7:15 and set up camp. I again met up with the Honeymooners, who told me the sunrise is reported to be gorgeous from here. This shelter certainly boasts one of the finest views of any shelter I have visited.  I finished my chores and hope to get up early tomorrow to catch the sunrise. Tomorrow will find me in Massachusetts,  my eleventh state on my way to Maine.