Date: 2008-05-25
From: West Cornwall Rd

To: River Rd
Miles today: 13.6

Sunday, May 25, 2008West Cornwall Rd to River Rd, Harley, Crazy Dog, Georgia, Amoeba and Benny, 6.5 miles, Schaghticoke Rd to 341, Amoeba and Benny, 7.1 miles Much warmer today. High 70¢s, sunny, no wind.Today Harley¢s put the brown leash on the black dog, and the black one on the brown dog. Living dangerously, she quips.We cross a stream on stepping stones, then one with a bridge. No incidents.We pass a small beaver pond.Harley removes Crazy Dog¢s and Georgia¢s leashes so they can cross the next bridge. She puts them back on the right dogs. Excitement too much for you, Harley?Meet young couple out day hiking. Benny barks. Crazy Horse and Georgia behave.Harley takes Benny. We meet a solo hiker. Harley tells Benny ¢no bark¢ in a firmer voice than I use, and distracts him. Benny doesn¢t bark.Yup, I¢m not authoritative enough with animals.I give Benny a little food, the first since he was sick yesterday.Hello to NOBO Indian Summer from Richmond, VA, started March 1. We reach Guinea Brook. The level of water is nothing compared to 2003, when it was waist-high and roaring. Easy crossing for Harley, me and all the dogs. I post Crazy Dog¢s post-ford shimmy-shake in today's journal. Isn't he cool? At 3:30 Harley, Crazy Dog and Georgia head back to Liza¢s while Benny and I begin this afternoon¢s hike. I¢m hiking without poles, to see how that works.We see a garter snake to the left of the trail. We see it only because it moves.Benny is heeling just beautifully. He¢s not ¢going first¢. He¢s doing just great.We enter lands claimed by Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. Members of today¢s STN descended from several tribes displaced from their ancestral lands by European settlers in western CT, western MA and eastern NY. In 2004 the STN was granted tribal status by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but in 2005 the BIA reversed itself, stating that 2 of the 7 criteria for federal recognition were not met, criteria relating to the number of marriages in the community and to visibility. With federal recognition comes opportunity for the STN to build a casino, something it wants to do. Many influential residents in the Kent area are opposed to a casino in their ¢back yards.¢As happens in many places on the Appalachian Trail, walking these particular lands, I feel, acutely, the presence of people from the past who lived, fought or roamed here. Benny and I reach the summit of Schaghticoke Mtn and descend over the Indian Rocks about 450 feet to my personal nemesis, Thayer Brook. Your personal nemesis is tiny Thayer Brook, Amoeba? Yup. In 2003, while congratulating myself for having descended Indian Rocks without falling down, I stepped on one of the stones in Thayer Brook and immediately found myself face-down in water which was merrily filling my left boot. Today, poleless, I cross Thayer Brook sure-footedly, thanks to Crocs, which form-fit whatever¢s underfoot, allowing more surface contact, and therefore traction.Second hello to Snotty (I'm not Snooty, she says, and she isn't in the least) and Farty! They want to know if CT has any rattlesnakes. I say, Yes, I think CT does. Well, then that¢s what we saw a little ways back, about 1.5 meters long, about maybe 3 inches in diameter, kinda tan with diamonds on its back.We talk about hiking with dogs. What do I know? Not much.I look carefully off to the sides of the trail for the next mile or so, but don¢t see any rattlers.Meet 4 more hikers and Benny does his bark routine again. Preventing conversation.With all the commotion of Benny barking and me trying to silence him, I¢ve stopped keeping track of all the people we meet. We met more yesterday than I included in the journal, and more today.I hear voices. So there's the Mt Algo Lean-To! I can see why I missed it Memorial Day weekend of 2003 and, due to missing it, why I found myself (a cold, filthy, soaking-wet pitiful specimen) looking for shelter in Kent. I was turned away at every lodging place in Kent. That was the low point of my 2003 hike. I walked back up 341 and stumbled into the woods, pitched my tent, crawled inside, choked in tears.Out at Rte 341. Hiking poleless works fine.No lodging problems tonight. Benny and I return to Liza¢s, where I take a Stumpknocker shower, washing myself and my clothes in one fell swoop. Tonight I shower and clothes-wash with a capful of unscented Tide Free laundry detergent from the big orange container that I carry in the car. Me and my clothes are squeaky-clean.