Date: 2018-06-07
To: Perfect steath site
Miles today: 0.0

Thurs Day 116 6/7Out about 5:30. Heading into town for a quick resupply. When we got to the road, we didn't realize it was only three tenths of a mile to town. So we hitch hiked and it probably took as long to get a ride as it would have been to walk. We got the town 10 minutes before the grocery store opens. Not too bad timing. There was a civil war monument to the Union Soldiers from that area of Connecticut that died during the war. It was the first time Ibex had seen a northern monument. She had actually never seen a northern monument about the Civil War. This was a very nice New England town with lots of very big mature maple trees. We hiked out to the trail and headed north. We hiked up to the highest point in Connecticut. It had been established in 1885 as the highest point. As we continue hiking, we came to Mount Everett. Mount Everett is a steep climb. I could feel my achilles and the arch in my foot straining with the intense uphill. A number of places they had an 8 by 8 step that have been cut diagonally and bolted into the mountains to provide steps to climb. I would say this is a steepest climb we've had so far short of the iron rungs. This was a much longer, steeper climb. This climb really wore me out. I was exhausted by the time we finished. Even when I look at the guide book it's hard to assess how tough a climb or descent is. U can never tell the trail surface. As we were resting another thru-hiker named Princess came down the hill. She was trying to assess where she was. As soon as we got up to leave she jump into our group. Princess has quite a history. I thought she looked around 45. She mentioned she didn't start hiking camping until 58. She's hiked the PCT before. I had heard about her but not by name. I had heard someone had fallen and crushed their face and had two raccoon black eyes. Princess told us about falling in Pennsylvania breaking her finger and smashing her face on the granite. She showed us pictures with one eye swollen completely shut. She could just squint out of the other eye. She didn't go to the hospital. She just kept hiking. After awhile everything got better and she look great today.That's the thru-hiker motto if you can walk just do it. She told the story of a girl on the PCT who fell crossing a stream and cracked her forehead on a rock. She ripped quite a gash across her forehead. Fortunately, somebody had butterfly bandages. This girl bandaged up her forehead and kept hiking. It wasn't like it was her knee or her ankle and she couldn't walk at all. It's a very peculiar breed of people that want to come out and walk 2000 miles without giving up. It's about completing the challenge and not giving in to the adversity. Princess was trying to catch up to Johnny Walker who we had met the day before. He's finishing his last hundred miles of his thru-hike. He's from Mississippi. He's an older fellow 69 years old. She didn't want to be hiking alone because she just had a bad experience with Hard Knocks. I had mentioned Hard Knocks before back at Black Rock Mountain. He had gotten drunk at a hostel, puked all over the place, and told people about beating a man to death and leaving him in an alley. The hostel owner had thrown him out. He was now out on the trail near us some place. She did not feel comfortable alone with Hard Knocks lurking around.We actually caught up to Joe Cool and Ginger as they took a break near a lake. They immediately headed out as we passed them. We were looking for water and weren't finding any. We drink out of moving water. We passed a tree that had Trail magic for particular people thumbtacked to the tree it was quite cute. Somebody had gone to the trouble of coming to this section of the trail with some simple treats for someone they knew. Even if you don't get the trail Magic it's a boost to see that it's out there for somebody. It always feels good. Kind of a Little Help from My Friends. Two shelters a tenth of a mile apart. Very strange. We stopped to get some water the only water we had seen in quite a while. When we see water we get it. Adding 5 lb of water to one side of my pack was a huge imbalance that I could feel tremendously. We went maybe a hundred yards and we started to explore a possible stealth site. As we got into the site there was a little bit of a hill. We went over the hill and there was a perfect stealth site on the other side. Perfect in you may not be supposed to be stealth camping. So if you can stealth camp out of sight of the trail surely you're not going to have any problems.Verwalk 2 or