Date: 2012-07-13
From: Belters Campsite

To: Bearded Woods / Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

Started the day at Belters Campsite. Section hikers Porkroll and Breezy also stayed in the grove last night. Got water from the spring, as I was anticipating a long day and the weather has been very warm. Additionally, the weather has dried up the seasonal springs and the small streams, so there are days where I have run out of clean drinking water and I have had to filter dirty pond water. Not fun, especially since I am concerned about micro-organisms challenging my immune system.I stopped in Falls Village at the Toymakers Cafe (as in the British motorcycle, not someone who makes toys). Falls Village is incredibly idyllic, as it is right on the Housatonic River with a large waterfall and hydroelectric plant by an old iron bridge. The cafe seemed to be a popular place for the middle of the week, with people of all ages stopping in for breakfast or coffee.After finishing my meal, I returned to the Trail. At the hydroelectric plant, there was a free outdoor shower, but I did not have any camp soap with me. To help reduce pack weight, I had tossed out my camp soap. I can go for a few days without washing my hair. When I comb back my oily hair each morning, it just makes me look like Gavin Newsom (for those folks in California!). However, my skin breaks out very easily and my shoulders, back, and legs are covered with red spots & sores. Again, a concern, as I do not want to scratch one of my sores and infect it, further taxing my immune system. I already know of one hiker that got a serious infection and had to leave the Trail this year. BUT, even as I am typing this, my elbows and forearms are itchy from mosquito bites and I find that I scratch them unconsciously. All that to say, I was a sweaty, oily, itchy mess, and I knew I needed to find some biodegradable, earth-friendly, trail-approved soap soon!I hiked from Falls Village to Salisbury, where I was able to purchase some Dr. Brommer's eucalyptus soap at the local outfitters. I asked the clerk about a grocery store, and she directed me to a path between two small shops. As I passed through the alley, I saw a group of hikers relaxing and laughing in a shady, grassy spot behind the grocery store under some trees. There, I found Breezy and Porkroll, who were staying at a local B&B that night, as well as my old mates Bigfoot and Naranja. They were well into a bottle of pinot grigio and invited me to join them in the shade.I grabbed some lunch inside the grocery store, but since this was Salisbury, where every car was a Mercedes, BMW, or Jaguar, this was a VERY upscale IGA... like a Mollie Stones (for my Bay Area peeps). They even had a sushi master, so I grabbed a tray of sushi and the deli provided me with a free container of ice to chill my Snapple. Additionally, since I was on my lunch break, I tossed a New York Times in my basket, as the Times makes me feel very "grown up" and informed. Also, it more deeply ingrains my desire to live in NYC one day.Outside, the party was still raging, and the team was plotting a slack-packing day for tomorrow. The guys were staying at Bearded Woods, a new "bunk and dine" hostel/B&B-hybrid, where you slept in a bunkroom, but were provided dinner AND breakfast as part of your $50 stay. An incredible deal all around (except for those folks who have to sleep in my bunkroom, because I snore like a mofo).Bigfoot has a very easy charm and in his pinot fueled haze, somehow convinced me to cancel the rest of my day, come to the hostel with them, and spend the day slack-packing tomorrow. Slack-packing is when you carry just the essentials, like water, lunch, and a camera in a smaller backpack, and it usually makes for a lighter, easier, and often faster hike. Once I relented, another hiker appeared and pulled up a chair. Breezy did not recognize him and asked the guys around her "Who is that?". Turns out, it was Hudson, the owner of Bearded Woods, coming to pick up the crew. I think he was surprised that he had an additional customer for the night!A few moments later, Big Lu, Hudson's petite wife, showed up to grab some groceries for dinner and to say hello to the gang. Because Hudson was only anticipating two hikers and two bags, he brought his pickup truck, which would not have accommodated me, Bigfoot, and Naranja comfortably. Naranja left with Hudson, and Bigfoot and I rode home in Big Lu's Jeep Grand Cherokee.We got to the bunk and dine, where we stripped down, showered, and passed off our dirty laundry to Hudson, who also washed and dried our laundry for free as part of the stay. As he was an avid hiker, he enthusiastically pulled out photo albums and DVDs of his other hikes, as well as his section hikes of the entire AT. On the wall behind us was a four-by-six photo of Mt. Katahdin. Not four-by-six inches, but four-by-six FEET. It was inspirational to see a photo of the huge mountain that will be my goal for September 6th.Afterwards, Bigfoot, Naranja, and I gathered upstairs on a large enclosed porch with Hudson and Big Lu, as well as two section hikers Cinnamon Girl and Little Bear. Cinnamon Girl and Little Bear are two med students taking their first (and technically, their last!) free summer to do something ENTIRELY different than school. As they will be in school and residency for the next seven years, they knew this was their "last hurrah", and wanted to take full advantage of the time off. I learned that Little Bear had spent time in a foreign exchange study program in undergraduate learning Buddhist meditation (she learned she was not that great at it and earned a grade equivalent to a B. B for Buddhism, I guess.) Cinnamon Girl had taught herself Chinese (Yes. Taught herself. Chinese.) and spent time in China after college working with the country's new HIV/AIDS initiatives (providing HIV medications for free to those in need). The conversation around the table was fascinating, and soon we realized that we had been at the table for three hours (well past "hiker midnight" at 9 pm)!We went to bed late, but knew that we would be slack-packing after breakfast in the morning, so while we were going to be tackling more miles, it was going to be an easier day, weight-wise.