Date: 2007-08-03
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Hemlocks Lean-To
Miles today: 14.1

I woke up at Maria McCabe's hostel this morning after a good night's sleep and had breakfast. I then walked down to the post office to pick up at least one package I knew was there. It was a package I had forwarded from Delaware Water Gap. The day I left that location, I had stopped by the post office to mail some postcards. Delaware Water Gap was not a mail drop I had listed on my journal site, so I did not expect any mail there. Since I was already at the post office though, I decided to check for mail anyway. I was totally surprised when I found out there was a package there. Since I was all packed and leaving, I just forwarded this package to Salisbury CT.The return address stated the name Bryant from a North Carolina address, so I assumed it was from Wooly Bear (my son Jesse). When I opened it, I was sure it was from him since it had exactly what I would need for 3-4 days on the trail. When I called Jesse to thank him, he said it wasn't from him, but might be from Huckleberry. Huck and I, at one point had been hiking together until he was injured and had to leave the trail. Huck also has the same last name as Jesse and said he was mailing me a package. So that explained the mystery.Huck, I just want to thank you very much for the package. It was perfect, and had everything I needed, especially ample protien, which I know you were concerned I wasn't getting enough of. I truly appreciate it! By the way, Huck indicated he may soon be returning to the trail.Today was packed with so many events. I will try and give a brief description of it all. This was my last day in CT and in my opinion, this section is one of the best. I quickly climbed to the ridge from the start and the first view was from a place called Lion's head. Not to long after that I climbed Bear Mtn. (not to be confused with the Bear Mtn. in NY). Bear Mtn. is the highest mountain in CT at 2316 ft. Normally on a clear day the views of northwest CT are very nice, but were limited today due to the hazy, hot and humid conditions.The climb down the north side of Bear Mtn. is steep and treacherous, and I went slow and steady. Soon after Bear Mtn. I hiked through an area called Sages Ravine, which is just over the CT border, in MA., which means four more states to go! Sages Ravine is a beautiful deep cut ravine with a stream flowing north that hugs the trail for about a mile, The farther north you hike on the trail the more beautiful it becomes, with constant cascading waterfalls, deep gorges, and deep and clear cold pools of water. I was tempted to jump in one of these pools but needed to arrive at my destination on time today.I was hustling to get to Hemlocks Lean-to tonight because I had planned to meet someone there. Joe and Kevin, friends from home, had originally planned to meet me on the trail in CT and we decided to meet here since this shelter had good road access. As it turned out, only Joe could make it since Kevin had recently injured his leg.So by the time I got to Race Mtn. I was moving, not only to meet Joe, but also to get off the ridge before any bad weather came this way. I could hear thunder from the west and anticipated a storm. I had one more obstacle to get past. Mt. Everett was a fairly grueling climb over plenty of rock and beleive me I was relieved by the time I reached the summit.When I finally cruised into the shelter, I saw Joe sitting at the picnic table talking to a few other thru hikers. I knew Joe had planned to stay the night and was bringing some trail magic, but I was really surprised by what he did. Not only did Joe take half a vaction day to arrive at the shelter early, but he lugged in a couple of coolers filled with dry ice, cokes and ice cream. In addition, he brought different types of hiker food and a huge bag of brownies Kevin's wife Marcia had baked. The shelter tonight was unusually packed with thru hikers and section hikers, so I felt obliged to share this bounty with everyone. So Joe ended up provding some excellent trail magic to many hikers tonight, and beleive me I could tell everyone appreciated it.We started a fire and hung out talking until I started to fade out and had to get some sleep in the shelter. Joe headed to his hammock. I was really impressed with all of the planning and effort that Joe and Kevin put in to make this happen, especially since I was always changing my itinerary. Thank guys, I truly appreciate it.