Date: 2006-05-20
From: Edward R. Murrow Park (Pawling, NY)

To: Ten Mile River (Connecticut)
Miles today: 12.3

I woke up this morning (as cold as ever and having a stronger than ever need to pee) to the sounds of canopy stakes being hammered, ice filled coolers being moved, and grills being prepared. hmmm...with an audience, bushes would not suffice for relieving myself. So I had to get fully dressed and bundled in order to make my way down the hill to the park building where public restrooms were.While there, I ran into a town constable (does that mean the same as cop? have I hiked all the way to Canada without knowing it?) who told me about this Friar's club snake charmer festival in the park all weekend. He just wanted to make sure that I was clearing out.(maybe he didn't say the words "snake charmer"...I don't listen very well before I've had a cup of coffee.)I had fully planned to take a day off here. I do want my leg to get rest one of these days. (I'm still walking around with my knee duct taped...partly because I think that it is helping me, and partly because I have no desire to tear a 9 inch patch of skin off the circumference of my knee.)So against the advice that I intuited from my knee, I packed up my stuff and headed back into town. I got some coffee at a gas station, and made my way to the laundromat. It is somewhat sad that when I reflect back on this hike in a glorious montage in my brain (with that "Chariots of Fire" theme song blaring), that along with great vistas, peaceful mornings alone with singing birds, arduous climbs and personal obstacles overcome...sitting in laundromats sipping fresh coffee will hold just as great, if not greater, prominence.Now there is a strange occurrence that happens along the trail and in trail towns. If I told my Jersey friends about it they would think that it was an absolutely absurd lie. I think my Chicago friends might accept it. (My friends in Oregon would probably pick up and move here.)Apparently, people are wont to perform random acts of kindness. This has become known as "trail magic", and I had read about it and heard about it from other hikers, but hadn't experienced it until today.I was sitting in the laundromat sorting through my mail drop, when I was approached by a woman who asked me if I was on the trail. We began talking for a bit, and the next thing I knew she pulled $10 out of her purse, and said, "next time you get a meal...it's on me."Wow what a change from being home in NJ/NYC, where if you actually look at a stranger in the eyes, you are perceived to have some sort of mental deficiency or sinister plan.The mail drop was extremely good to get, except that I now have a full backpack again. I was really starting to enjoy the lightweight hiking. I think it is heavier now than when I began. Bethany also sent me some homemade chocolate chip cookies along with the Clif bars. I ate em all right there in the laundromat. (The cookies, not the Clif bars.)By 12:00 I was ready to head back to the trail. Shortly after I began hiking I met another NOBO thru hiker. His name was Taco. He's from Memphis, and started out on March 1. After some small talk, I moved to the side to let him pass, but he suggested we hike together. I explained to him that my 10 mile a day pace was nothing like his 25 mile a day pace, but he didn't seem fazed. I now had my first hiking companion. We hiked together for about an hour (mostly talking about trail stuff...people and places.) At some point he has hiked with all 6 of the people who have passed me so far (in fact, I got the feeling that he was "pink blazing"...trying to catch up to the woman that I met yesterday). I found that we were hiking more at his pace than mine, so eventually I dropped off and wished him well.I got to the shelter that I was going to stay at tonight, and it was only 4:30. Taco was there, just finishing up a break. Once he departed, I was left with 2 ladies...SOBO section hikers, who pretty much had taken over the whole shelter. Most shelters accomodate 6-8 people, but they had a tent opened up, and their stuff spread out to cover the whole thing. No matter what I did to delicately make some room for myself, they didn't budge. In general, I just wasn't vibing well with these women. (The awkwardness felt like a ride on the PATH into Manhattan...just when I was starting to love the energy of the AT).So after a bit of rest, sitting in a little corner reading the hiker registry. I decided to hike on to the next shelter, which was only 4 miles away.I got here, and Taco was here, as well as the ladies on their way to Vermont that I shared the shelter with a couple of nights ago, and another guy, R-Dog (a section hiker on the last day of his hike). So the shelter was crowded here too, but the tentsite here is amazing, right at the confluence of 2 major rivers. So that's where I've set up. I imagine sleeping, with the roaring rivers for ambiance, should be oh so sweet.oh yeah...I crossed into Connecticut today. Yay!