Date: 2014-06-26
From: Leather Hill Road

To: Mt. Algo Lean-To
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: light rain

Into another new state - not new as in the name (i.e. New York, New Jersey) but as in a completely different state Connecticut! Nine states down, five to go as we work on our tenth!We stayed dry in the hotel and managed to sleep even with the racket from the air conditioning unit and packed quickly in the morning. Decided to pick up breakfast from Cousins Bakery and Deli instead of cooking our own and it was a great decision - the breakfast at the place was pretty darn good! Fully energized and well-rested we blasted through the first part of the day from Duell Hollow Road to the start of Ten Mile Hill. Ran across the NY-CT border for the first time today - ended up crossing it two more times. Nice trail as we entered CT.At Ten Mile Hill the pace slowed down because of uphill climbing but it was not too bad - Hello Kitty was glad the climb was not ten miles long though! We dropped down the other side of the hill and rested at the Ten Mile Hill Shelter. It would have been a nice shelter to stay at with the sounds of the river nearby and a large camping area. I do not know why the CT shelters have the gap between the stairs to the shelter and the shelter floor - very odd!Nicely rested we pressed on to Indian Rocks for lunch with a view. Some kinda tough climbing going to the rocks but nothing terrible. Passed back into New York and then Connecticut again and had to pick up water before the rocks but it all went smoothly and we found the rocks after a little confusion (spot not marked). Glad to have finally found it since the humidity had drenched us in sweat climbing up from the shelter to the Indian Rocks!Good lunch spot and a nice place to rest before hitting the last three miles to the shelter - made it to the shelter in good time. Ran into an older gentleman on the trail and we exchanged pleasantries as we went by. At the shelter we found trail magic in the form of a cooler full of beer left by Dora the Explorer - a very nice surprise! It was stocked with beer and we were impressed that they got it up the hill to the shelter. Big Dawg and Hello Kitty went down to get Trail Mamma while I stayed in camp talking with the Wolfman and Quaker (older gentleman we had passed). The Wolfman is going southbound with his 50% wolf dog Little Miss and Quaker is a retired chemistry professor from Indiana, Pennsylvania - yes that actually is a town in PA! Great chatting with both of them as I waited for my family to return from the car and Quaker was very talkative and friendly.Pelzer from Germany arrived before the family did and he settled into the shelter. He is a long distance athlete and has done an ultra marathon and an ultra long bike ride - his marathon time is around three hours. This guy can move! Family arrived and we set up and started dinner - Hello Kitty is sleeping in my hammock tonight while I go back to tenting. Grease Spot and Seabiscuit showed up later in the evening and we had a good night at the shelter. Beers were placed in the stream to cool them down and everyone was chatting and having a good time. Seabiscuit had dropped off his dad and sister earlier and was going into town for new boots tomorrow. Grease Spot unfortunately will not be able to finish the entire trail in time before having to go back to work but he is still positive about everything!Turned in to get away from mosquitoes and to type some journals - last day with the family tomorrow!