Date: 2012-08-01
From: Bearded Woods Hostel; Salisbury, CT

To: The Hemlocks Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

We all woke up rather late, around 6:45am. Apparently, all the other hikers who stayed previously were eager to get going much earlier. Breakfast was supposed to be ready for us at 6am. Big Lou cooked up another amazing meal, all from scratch. Normally, Big Lou would have then driven us to our drop off points on her way to work, but Hudson was nice and dropped us off later. After breakfast, we were all fat, happy and lazy. We got Hudson to give us a very entertaining and engaging trapping demonstration using body-grip traps. This is a bit of a misnomer as the traps don¢t grip. They slam shut snapping the spine in two. First he demonstrated the larger trap by sticking a large stick through it. We all jumped as it snapped shut with a LOT of power. Then we all jumped again when he put his arm through the smaller trap. He says the smaller one only smarts a little, but the larger one would break his arm. Squatch of course got this all on film for his documentary. Afterwards he gave us a tour of all his skins and skulls he has preserved. Some of the skulls look almost identical, but he of course has a keen eye for that sort of thing. The last thing he showed us before taking us back to the trail was his monstrous fire pit/arena. It had built in benches appropriately spaced from the fire. It also had a rigging to pit roast an animal, or even to hang a legitimate witch¢s cauldron from.After being dropped back off in town, there was no where to go but up the mountain. The first shelter, about 3.5 miles in, Riga Shelter, had a great overlook over the valley and looked like a perfect place to eat lunch. Many others were there including Weezie and Aisha. The terrain from Riga to the MA state line was very rugged - muddy, rocky, and steep. There was some careful stepping, especially as there was a talk of a day hiker who had recently fallen and needed a medical evac. Bear mountain was the first summit, and also the tallest peak in CT. There is a higher point in CT elsewhere, but on a mountain whose peak is on the other side of the state line. I summited with Bad Penny and we took each other¢s pics standing on the very large cairn.Climbing down Bear Mountain was exceedingly steep and treacherous. But at the bottom was the beautiful Sages Ravine and stream. The trail went along the steep banks of the creek, and there were many large boulders and waterfalls. If I had time to play, I could have spent all day there, exploring, climbing, jumping, swimming. The other great thing about this creek is that it marked the CT/MA state line! 1500 miles done and only 4 states to go!Next was Race mountain with a well graded path up and which had a beautiful ridge walk. The Ridge was mostly exposed rock face so there were few trees to interrupt the view. I also stumbled upon a baby snake that looked like no snake I had ever seen before, white with brown spots. Turns out it was a juvenile racer snake. As they grow older they turn black. He was very aggressive too. I tried to use my trekking pole to encourage him off the trail, but he kept repeatedly attacking it.Lastly was Everett Mountain. A good portion of the ascent was steep exposed rock face. Thankfully my new Keens have excellent traction. I¢m glad it wasn't wet as that would have been slippery. I was descending the mountain at dusk when I came to the end of a road with parking lot for Guilder Pond Picnic Area. On a picnic bench was Trail Magic cherries and a cooler of ice cold water. It was very delicious and refreshing. As the sun was setting, I elected not to go for a swim and push on to the shelter.Hemlocks Shelter is a brand new shelter in a lovely hemlock grove, a tenth of a mile before Glen Brook Shelter. Both share the same water source. I stopped short as there were 15 kids being very loud and rambunctious at Glen Brook. I spent the night there with Daffy and Bad Penny. As it turns out, Daffy grew up in the town I lived for 6 years while in grad school, and is good friends with a guy I went to school and church with. Small world!