Date: 2013-06-08
From: Cornwall Bridge, CT

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: light rain

Beautiful day for hiking. I'm glad I did some miles in the rain yesterday though. I'll be out of Conn tomorrow morning and in MA for about six days I think. Next stop for me is Dalton. Trail was better than I expected, but near the end anything down hill was a stream running in the trail. The falls which I took many pictures of was really boiling and I imagine it got worse as the day progressed. Thanks for the welfare food drop Mercy! You are correct, it was a lot of food. At least with taking some zeros I have stopped the weight loss. I'm at 182, which is about 25-28 lbs lost. Ya know, I take some heat for speaking my mind. Today I have less than 700 miles to go. Seems like yesterday I had 900 to go. Sad thing about this trip is I've found out that I am not a long distance hiker guru. I'd rather be home with friends and family and my dog. But it's a mental challenge for me daily. I've decided that my next big carrot is Hanover, NH. I'm hoping Vermont is as pretty as folks say. Conn has been nice as well. Some of the stupid routing of the trail in NY took it's toll on me. We once crossed a forest road, went 50 ft over rock outcrop to then walk back onto the same forest road. There were a lot of places as I fell on rocks that a trail went around the rocks. I can honestly say that I have the utmost respect for every hiker on this trail, except one. To do this day in and day out (and most are young and pinching pennies to hike) is one hell of a feat. I'm breaking my budget all to hell by taking days to sleep and wash or dry out in hotels, most of them don't. And the lady that did this trip and holds the record...damn I don't care if she was supported and all that stuff. Hiking 40-50 miles in a day every day - humbles my tired ass. I've seen a ton of good from folks. I still get looks from people that don't know about thru hikers, or in my case one long section hike, but I've learned that I'll never again judge folks from their looks. Two ladies the other day just jumped out of their skin and sped away when I asked when on the road to the hotel if they could give me a lift. Then they turned around and almost ran me over when they headed towards town. Now if they were Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader material, then maybe they needed to worry, but they were far from that. I just had sore feet and was looking to save 2 miles of nothing to get to the hotel. About five minutes later two guys gave me a lift in the back of a flat bed truck. Salisbury is a quiet, nice town. I could have pressed on and probably should have, but if I lose the chance to see things I never will see again, then maybe I'm hiking for the wrong reason. I'm staying at Vanessa's house for one night. She has bedrooms for hikers. She is taking care of her brother-in-law who had severe alheimers. It brought back bad memories of mom. I truly hate that f'n disease/illness. It takes all dignity away and leaves an empty shell of a human, and the care it places on the care taker. I'm glad I stopped since I'm certain any cash is handy. Wow, long winded today. Take care and enjoy what you have, earn what you want. It'll mean more.