Date: 2009-07-31
From: Sharon Mountain Campsite

To: Lower Cobble Road (Salisbury, CT)
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: broken clouds

After staying at relatively bug-free Caleb Peak the previous night, I thought I had cracked the code .... camp at higher elevations. So my original plan for today was to stay at the Pine Swamp Brook Lean-To. Just look at that name. No Sir! No Way! A couple of miles further down the Trail was a place called Sharon Mountain Campsite .... sounds much better, right? Nope! I was playing a game I like to call "come near me if you want to die!" I'm glad no one was around with a video camera!! I would take 90 second breaks from setting up my tent to "hunt" mosquitos. So to the person looking on from 100 feet away, I looked like a crazy guy, running around the camp area, clapping his hands.Then you lay proudly in your tent looking at the 1,000 mosquitos outside trying to get in. Huh! Starve critters! So I had high hopes for today when I got up to pee last night. Stars, and the moon .... what? Clear skies? Maybe a sunny day ahead! Woops. Wrong again. It started raining as I got my tent packed up .... and it rained all day long .... and some times pretty darn hard. (Later in the day, the postman said they got nearly an inch of rain .... at 3 pm .... and it is still raining.)Now I like to think I'm a tough guy and can handle anything. Well I caved in today. Woops...back up a bit.Around 11 am I meet a hiker named Jaybird who has hiked the entire A.T. 8 times in that last 10 years. I hiked with him the rest of the day. He was going to a deli in Salisbury and asked if I was going. "No", I hadn't planned on it. Every hour we got closer to the road leading into Salisbury, and the non-stop rain, the deli was looking better and better. By the time I was at the road, I was sold. "Yep, I'm coming too!"I also remembered reading in the handbook about two ladies in town who house hikers. I called one, Maria McCabe, but her place was full .... as was the local hotel (The White Hart Inn). But Maria referred me to Vanessa Breton's place, and she had room. Actually, Keith, her son, was running the place while she was out of town. So I got set up in a room with "Old Hobo" who I had just met with, and camped with, the night prior to going into Kent.Yep .... that's right .... I'm staying here in Salisbury tonight and may even zero depending on the Internet situation at the library tomorrow. We'll see.Two things I want to write about: mental attitude on the A.T.; and the hospitality of Salisbury, CT.The A.T. can be a mental roller coaster; good and bad in the span of hours. I was happy this morning, hiking by 8:30, drenched-soaked by 10 am with no end in sight, miserable by 2 pm because I saw no way to a good night on the trail. The ground was saturated, meaning bad tenting. The shelter, if space available, would be awful with the bugs. And "will it ever stop raining?" God sent me an angel named Jaybird who planted the Salisbury seed, where right now I sit, showered, shaved, fed (chinese take-out), dry, warm, laundry done .... all is well! I do feel like the Trail got the best of me today. Chalk one up for the A.T. and mother nature! OK. Next topic. Remember what I wrote about Kent not being hiker friendly. That same sentiment was voiced by other hikers and written about in the last couple of shelter registers. And now having walked into Salisbury, I know I'm not wrong!Here we go! I stopped at the Post Office simply because it is in the center of town. I was looking at a map of the town from the Hiker's Companion. I was trying to get a feel where everything was. Keep in mind that it is raining outside. A local resident stops and asks if I'm lost and need any help. I explain that I'm just getting my bearings. He offers a few tips; library, grocery store, coffee shop, etc and proceeds to tell me a little about the town history .... in the rain. Very cool!Next I go into the post office to get out of the rain to make a cell phone call to see about available lodging. The White Hart Inn is full but gives me some recommendations. Nice. A guy in the post office overhears my conversation and tells me about a motel called Iron Masters down the road a bit, and also about Maria McCabes place. Thanks dude!And I already mentioned Maria recommending Vanessa's place, as she was full. Keith, the dude running Vanessa Breton's place was cool and made me feel very welcomed. Trevor, a friend of Keith's, even escorted me to the local grocer.And I'm glad all these acts of courtesy took place because Kent was going to leave a sour tast in my mouth about Connecticut .... which would have been too bad because the hiking has been awesome and beautiful (trail and scenery minus bugs and rain). Great job Salisbury standing up and displaying frienship and hospitality in Connecticut!Quick note about my observations of the trail markings in Connecticut. Sometimes they are not good at all. If you are a runner, then you may be familiar with a running game called "White Rabbit." Running groups use this game for entertainment. A lead runner, the rabbit, starts out ahead of the other runners carrying a satchel full of flour. When the rabbit comes to an intersection and makes a turn, the rabbit will throw down a handfull of flour a set distance from the intersection (e.g. 25 paces). The other runners will take off and try to catch the rabbit (the objective). When the runners come to an intersection, they send a runner down each direction and the one who finds the flour mark yells back for the others to follow. And this continues until the rabbit is caught, or you reach the pub (the real objective!). Well I felt like I was playing that game several times in the last couple of days coming to intersections of trails or roads and not having a clear indication of which way to go. So you take your best guess and go a ways .... no blaze .... try a different direction. Whew....enough rambling today!Interesting day on the A.T..