Date: 2008-06-01
From: Telephone Pioneer Shelter NY

To: Schaghticoke Mtn Campsite CT 
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 105 ¢ Sunday June 1 ¢ Schaghticoke Mtn Campsite CT ¢ Miles Today: 18.2 Total Miles: 1450.5Today's official news is we've passed the 2/3rds-point of the whole trip and we¢re in Connecticut! That makes 9 states done and we¢ll only be in this state for a few days. We're making progress ¢Massachusetts here we come! Woo Hoo!! But probably more exciting for you is our update on the severe storm that was to arrive yesterday afternoon. As mentioned, by 5:45 we gave up waiting for the storm in the shelter and set up the tent and wouldn't you know by 6:40 we could hear thunder in the distance. Sure enough, the eye of the storm with the thunder, lightning and BB to small pea sized hail went just about right over us. Luckily the storm was about a 1/2 mile away and there wasn't a ton of rain or wind. However, because of the sloping campsites we had a problem with how the tent was pitched. It seems like we got a lot of water on our ground cloth, which then came through our tent¢s bathtub floor. We had to mop up the water inside our tent. There wasn't a ton of water in the tent, but it's the first time we've had any inside. But all in all, not bad. No limbs down, no trees on us, no hail damage to the tent ¢ life was good. If necessary, we were ready to collapse the tent to limit the damage and bolt to the shelter. So far we've had 3 big electrical storms over us, each in a different situation - one in the tent, one hanging in the shelter and one walking toward the shelter. But life is still good and we are safe. Today's trails were unbelievably nice. We did 18.2 miles and I would say that 17 miles were the most gorgeous rock-free, root-free trail that we have seen in our entire lifetime. The last mile or so, though, did bring us back to reality and we were so thankful that we didn't do the entire 18 miles on that type of trail. Another pretty day. It was about 60 degrees when we started this morning. By mid-morning, it was hot and humid but we had a good breeze and some clouds, which kept things more bearable. And no rain. Wow, what a treat!   Unfortunately though, we are still in tick area. Yesterday we noted that Grasshopper had one above her right knee. Today we found one on the back of Brakeman's right knee at lunchtime and then one on his upper right thigh in the evening. We've got to continue to be very diligent in our tick searches and try to get these things removed as quickly as possible. It's unbelievable how small they are. I think the stage they are in is called the nymph stage. They're so small we can barely tell if we¢re looking at a small freckle or a tick. Let us hope, that we are still clear of any tick borne illnesses. We missed seeing Trapper and his red pack ahead of us today. We¢ve been leapfrogging each other for a week and now he has gone back home. Thanks for the companionship Trapper!Speaking of memories of fellow hikers, we read a register at a shelter we hiked by today and found a note from Chris! He mentioned he was headed into Salisbury to finally get a new pair of boots - he's still on his original pair - 1480 miles!   Chris left us a note in the register. It said, ¢P.S. Hey Brakeman and Grasshopper, I miss you guys." It was sweet to see that he was still thinking of us, as we think about him a lot. We think of him running down the trail as he normally does with his youthfulness and energy. And every time we go by a lake, we can just picture him swimming, or fishing. We walked though a small grove of trees, by Ten Mile River, that was just beautiful. The pine trees were about 70' tall; the first 50' of branches were all dead, before the live branches arrived for the last 20¢. The forest was very thick. There was an ever so gentle breeze blowing that caused the top heavy trees to sway back and forth. As we stood in the forest of pines all we could hear was the clattering of the branches, as they swayed back and forth hitting each other. It was like ¢tch¢¦ tch¢, Brakeman says. To complement the tall stately pine trees was a valley floor just covered with 1-2¢ ferns. It was a really neat experience, with the forest sights joined by the clattering noise of the trees. We did not take a picture, as it just would not have captured the entire experience. It was really quite neat. Tonight, we're camped by ourselves above the creek. We seem to be in a lull again between the thru-hikers. There are 2 ladies camped illegally down by the creek¢s edge, but they are not thru-hikers. We have a 3-mile hike into Kent tomorrow for resupplies and then a 10-mile hike to camp, where we¢ll get ready for a long 19-mile day the following day. Let us hope we have a good trail because 19 miles on rocks will just not be fun at all.   It¢s 7:00 and in the lower 70s. We¢re ready to call it a night. Looking forward to a morning at the grocery in Kent and maybe a dozen donuts. We'll just have to follow the cart and see what falls in it. Goodnight.