Date: 2006-07-08
From: Just North of Kent, CT

To: Limestone Springs lean-to
Miles today: 28.5

Well, if you're looking at my daily mileage, you already know that I didn't do much of a 24-hour challenge. I found a strategic camping spot early last night, but had a difficult time falling asleep with the sun still shining brightly (the mosquitoes whining right next to my ears didn't help either). Still, I managed to get up and packed in a timely way and set off like a rocket about 30 seconds past midnight. (No running, just hiking fast, was my self-imposed rule.)It was cool, and the mosquitoes were no longer a problem now that I was moving. I had gotten myself so psyched up for this challenge that I was feeling a surge of adrenaline. My legs felt like they were self-propelled. By about 1:50AM I had already done over six miles, and passed several hikers sleeping peacefully on or near the trail. And then, like a bolt of lightning, a question hit me. Why are you doing this, again? I was right beside a beautiful stream and there was a cool breeze coming off the water. I hesitated, then sat down on a log to ponder. In about half a minute I had decided that this 24-hour challenge thing was for the birds. I don't have anything to prove. The trail's challenging enough as is- no need to make it harder on myself. If I was starting to second-guess myself less than two hours in, what was it going to be like in another 15 or 20 hours? I laid out my bedroll and fell peacefully asleep right there in that awesome mosquito-free spot.Hours later (at a normal respectable time) I got up and continued, northbound, with a six-mile head start on the day and several lessons learned:-I realized how nice it is to hike during the day after a restful night's sleep. If you're having a hard time with your present situation, maybe you should go do something that makes you distinctly uncomfortable, so you'll realize, as I did, how good you really have it, and how much worse things could be.-I realized (even if still imperfectly) that I don't always have to be the first or the fastest. It's okay to slow down once in a while. This is recreation, not competition.Okay, so 24-hour stuff aside, the bugs were really bad again today. I'd have to say that they have become the most difficult and challenging part of my hike of late. Night offers little relief, because I use a tarp with no netting or bug protection of any kind. What I've been doing is zipping up my sleeping bag all the way, pulling a little bug net over my head, and tucking it into the top of my sleeping bag. It sorta works, but I still wake up with new stings, because bugs either find a way in, or sting me through the nylon and netting. And it's maddening to try to fall asleep to the whine of mosquitoes about two inches from your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth! I've considered a couple of possible options, including sending for my tent, getting off the trail for a couple months and coming back to finish in Sept/Oct, or just being more careful about campsite selection, and lathering DEET like there is no tomorrow. I'm going with option 3 for now.A bright spot in the day: Great Falls, in Falls Village, CT (yeah, I'm in Connecticut now. 9 down, 5 to go, baby!) I had heard about this place where you can jump off the waterfalls into the pool below, and I've been fantasizing about it for weeks. Well today was the day. I took the side trail up the Housatonic River, and came to this little ledge where the water dropped about four feet into waist-deep water. I didn't see what was so "great" about it, but it was still cool, and after wading around a bit I continued north. A minute or two later I started to hear a roar, which got louder and louder and became almost deafening as the real Great Falls came into view. Thousands of gallons cascaded 40 or 50 feet in a serious of magnificent waterfalls. There were about a half dozen local guys jumping off a lower ledge into a deep pool. I felt like an idiot. =) For about half a second. Then all I could think about was getting to that oh-so-cool ledge and taking the plunge into water I knew was cold and refreshing. I did, and it was.