Date: 2007-07-26
From: NY 20

To: Mt Algo Lean-to
Miles today: 20.4

Today I entered my 10th state (of 14) and I am now 2/3 of the way to Mt Katahdin!About 2.5 miles after leaving camp the trail crossed an extensive wet area labelled 'swamp' on my map. It turned out to be a wide wet meadow with phragmites, cattail and quite a few tall willow trees growing through it. There were at least 3 male willow flycatchers singing on both sides of the boardwalk trail. I got several good looks at birds as they sang their distinctive 'fitz-bew' song. For all the time I have spent surveying for the endangered southwestern form (usually unsuccessfully) it was fun to see and hear them all around. I have now found both will and alder flycatchers on this trip. There were also spotted sandpipers, kingfishers, a Wilson's snipe, common yellowthroats and a bunch of song sparrows there as well.Lunar caught up to me as I was watching the flycatchers and we walked together for the next mile or so. I first met him just north of Damascus, VA and have seen him a number of times in the 2 months since then. He is about 55 and is an electrical engineer who specializes in missile technology for a large defense contractor. Lunar wasn't impressed with the little gray birds singing 'fitz-bew' and was much more interested in the AT Railroad Station nearby. Trains stop here 3 times a day on weekends and take hikers directly to Grand Central Station in NYC. We took pictures of ourselves standing on the platform but no trains would be stopping since it was Thursday.Just beyond the AT Railroad Station there was a large elevated water tank sitting high on a hill in a pasture. It looked to be a water tank left over from the days of steam trains. Why it was still standing in the middle of this pasture was a question we couldn't figure out.A short while later at Hoyt Road I crossed into CT, my 10th state out of 14 that the AT crosses. I have now walked a total of 1,440 miles and am 2/3 of the way to Mt Katahdin. After about 4 miles in CT the trail crossed back into NY and proceeded to make a tough climb up Schaghticoke Mt. It was tall, steep and rocky and seemed to be taking us backwards because we had to go back into NY to do it. Finally after about 3 more miles the trail crossed back into CT and stayed there for good. The final 4 miles to Mt Algo Lean-to were fairly rigorous with lots of smaall ups and downs and much of it over rocky terrain. The climb up Mt Algo was faily steep in places and went on and on. I didn't get to the shelter until nearly 8.00 PM and was near to needing my headlamp to continue hiking. Lunar came in a little after dark and was as tired as I was after a long day on the trail. The mosquitoes were pretty bad around the shelter so none of the 8 hikers staying there slept in the shelter. All of us slept in our tents for bug protection.I realized just how humid the day had been when I figured out that I had drank over 7 liters of water on the trail and was still thirsty when I arrived at the shelter. It really wasn't that hot (high of 72) but was very humid and I dripped all day long. I was so wet that several hikers asked where I had been swimming! When I got my tent set up I immediately changed into dry clothes and hung the wet ones up on a line. Unfortunately they were likely to be just as wet in the morning as when I had taken them off. These sweat-soaked clothes are one of the things I dislike the most about life on the trail.