Date: 2015-07-04
From: Camp site 1438.6

To: Camp site 1461.6
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: light rain

Happy 4th of July!    We slept till 6:50 today. We were shocked how late we slept. It had cooled off during the night. It was very comfortable sleeping weather. But, the sky looked threatening today. We are hoping for no rain. We quickly ate breakfast and tore down our tent. We were on the trail by 7:37. We had an issue this morning with slugs falling from the trees. They were on the tent and one fell on Lavender's hand. They were gross; round slimmy white and brown blobs. Yuck.   Today marked our 3 months anniversary on the trail. Hard to believe 3 months ago we were in Springer Mountain. Here we are today in Connecticut! Can we continue hiking for the next 2 months?? Only time will tell.   We had a fairly flat section of trail before starting downhill. We walked around Nuclear Lake which was a nice change as the trail followed an old road. However, the rain started falling as we reached the north end of the lake. There was only a 30% chance of rain. But, it seems no matter what the percentage of rain is, we always have rain. We certainly can't go more than 2 days without rain. Yes, we are frustrated with the rain. But, of course, we hiked on.   We passed through some boggy area. It was muddy! We had to pass through an open meadow. There were wild raspberries along the trail. We had fresh, organic raspberries. They were, mmm, good.   As we passed this area, there were alot of New Yorkers out for the holiday. Most talked with us and were very interested in our thru-hiking. We passed Dover Oak Tree that is over 300 years old. It is the largest oak tree on the trail. Its girth is 20 feet 4 inches. It was HUGE!   We crossed a beautiful bridge which took us to a long boardwalk. As we crossed the bridge, we saw a beaver swimming in the water. We thought it was a platypus but then we remembered we were in America not Australia. We have traveled extensively around the world. Many times during our hiking things remind us of our travels around the world. We crossed a railroad track that has a stop on the AT. The stopp is appropriately named "Appalachian Trail Railroad Station". We visited a nearby garden center that is hiker friendly. We were able to eat lunch in their gazebo out of the rain. Thankfully, we were under cover as it started to pour as we ate lunch. We sat there debating on continuing for the day. But, of course we did. It was only 1:30.   We hiked on through the rain. We were in the open meadow which didn't make us very happy. We wanted to be in the woods out of the rain.   With tree coverage, we don't get as wet when it rains. Also, the grass was high and very wet in the meadow. Our boots and legs got wet ugh.   Soon enough, we were in the woods again. The forest was mature and nice, no low shrubs making our legs wetter. The trail was nice, like the trails we had in Georgia - rockless and smooth. Oh, the good days of hiking in Georgia! We were reminiscing today!    We arrived at a shelter at 3:00.   There were some Flip Floppers there. Flip Floppers are hikers that start in Harper's Ferry, hike to Katahdin , go back to Harper's Ferry and hike to Springer Mountain. They told us there was a 4th of July hikers feed at Bull's Bridge. We decided to hike on. It was 5.3 miles away.   As we were getting ready to leave, it stopped raining. We were thankful for this.   We left the shelter. A mile after the shelter, we crossed into Connecticut, our tenth state! We liked the Connecticut trail as there were no rocks. We had a steep climb up 10 mile hill. Believe it or not, it was a 600 foot climb but the climb went quickly. We were so used to hiking over rocks, we just flew up this trail. With the climb comes the descent. The descent was also quick. And soon we came upon 10 mile river. It was roaring as it flowed by us. We walked off the trail to Bull's Bridge. It was a covered bridge. Very pretty and rustic. But guess what?? There was no hikers feed. We were disappointed. But, there was a deli nearby. We went there for subs. Not the same as a hiker feed but still good as it is different food than our normal hiker fare! It is strange. In our "pretrail" days, we would never stop at these little (meaning expensive) delis. Now, we almost hunt them out. The proprietor was very nice. She allowed us to wash up with an outside facet. And, we could fill our water bottles. Meaning, no water filtering today! Always a plus. We were only going to hike a bit further to find a stealth campsite. Well, next time we think we are only going to hike "a bit further", please tell us to NOT do that. We had to hike 2 miles, all uphill, over rocks before we found a site that would work for our tent. The Connecticut trail turned to a rock trail. Our legs felt like lead weights as we finished our climb. Seriously, we need to have our head examined. We said we aren't going to hike long days. What do we do?? Hike long days. Today was to only be 18 miles. 18 miles turned into 23 miles!! CRAZY!!