Date: 2013-05-23
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It's day 16 and my first zero day - meaning no AT trail miles walked - of the trip. I'm spending two nights here in Salisbury, CT at a private home which let's out rooms to hikers. A very pretty New England colonial town with many small US flags at monuments for veterans in the cemetery and a Civil Warm monument in the center of town. Forget about it, you cannot afford to buy a place or live here.In my first 15 days out I walked from AT mile mark 1252.9 to 1496.3 for 243.4 miles walked this year. That's 16.2 miles per day. The first two days I walked 20.8 and 15.6 for a total of 36.4 miles to finish the PA section and stayed the first night in a motel and at a hostel the second night. The first full week on the trail I started at the Delaware Water Gap on the PA-NJ border and walked 110.1 miles in seven days - 16.0 - 16.0 -17.8 - 18.5 - 16.0 - 15.7 - 10.1 and slept in: tent - tent - shelter - shelter - tent - tent - motel at Bear Town Bridge at the Hudson River in NY. Took a little more than 4 days to walk the 72 miles of trail in NJ. In the second full week on the trail I completed the 90 AT trail miles in NY and spent the better part of six days traversing the AT in the Empire State. The AT cuts across the northwest corner of CT and has only 51 miles of the trail. Will finish CT tomorrow when I pass into MA, spending parts of 4 days walking the trail in CT. So in my second week on the trail I walked 96.9 miles in six days - 16.5 - 17.7 - 16.6 - 19.7 - 15.3 - 11.1 and slept in: tent, tent, shelter, shelter, tent, private home. My last night on the trail before arriving here in Salisbury I stayed at the Belters Campground. At that point I crossed the 700 AT miles TO GO point.The trail has been quieter this year than last but I am still meeting people every day, mostly section hikers, but also three 2013 thru hikers who started at Springer Mtn in Georgia around March 1st. Their trail names are Corbett, Hedgehog and Aloha. Some of the section hikers I have met are: Humble Pie, Dream, New-De-Knee, Captain Handy, Strider, Doctor Fish Sticks, Mud Mixer, Day Glo, Camper Man. There have been a couple of couples: Cindy and Graham and Laura and Toeller. Everyone has been really nice.The first two days on the trail were drizzly. The third day the afternoon got into the 80's and I had 5 ticks that day - mostly on gaiters and a couple on my ankles. The fourth day had a drizzly afternoon and I had three more ticks. The fifth day the sun came out and we had seven days in a row of clear relatively cool weather - perfect for hiking. The afternoon of my arrival at Bear Town Bridge was also in the 80's, but I was off the trail at the motel and avoided the heat. Then we had an unexpected drizzly day but was fine for hiking. We had a couple more warm and very humid days before my arrival here in Salisbury. Since the week of cool weather the ticks have not been evident, but I'm sure they're around. With the misty wet weather coming into town yesterday the mosquitoes were somewhat bothersome. Have had bouts of black flies on and off similar to last year.Have seen some wildlife - box turtle, many-many red efts on the wet days - looks like a small 2 to 3 inch flourescent orange salamander. Have seen several snakes, probably mostly garter snakes. Have seen a couple of toads and seen and heard frogs around the wet areas. From northern NJ thru NY and into CT there have been frequent boggy areas. Glad I'm coming thru here now. I'm sure the mosquitoes are horrid in the summer heat. Have also seen a few white tail deer and a beaver - who announced it's presence by slapping the water with it's tail several times. Have heard turkeys calling at several points.Will probably have to deal with higher humidity for the next couple weeks until we get to the higher ground in central VT at Mt Moosilake (sp?). Till now I've been concerned about those higher climbs, but now am looking forward to them, hoping the heat and humidity will be somewhat less once we are higher up. In this area the peaks have only been around 1500 feet above sea level. Last year in North Carolina the valley bottoms were at 1700 feet.Day 16. Total AT Miles: 1496.30