Date: 2003-08-20
From: Yellow Trail

To: Schaghticoke Campsite
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

We woke up to the perfect morning! Cool temps, low humidity, gently singing birds. I hated to get out of bed! But finally, I managed to get moving, and off we went. Yesterdays acupunture treatment seems to have done a lot for my pain and stiffness. I go bounding down the trail, enjoying freedom of movement for the first time is weeks! Wheee! We have big plans to hike all the way into Kent today, but as usual, several exciting events slowed us down, so tonight we are camped just north of Kent. The first exciting thing that happened is that we hiked into Connecticut today!! Of course, we did the "dance of the real woman"on the state line and shared high-fives. We are officially in New England! The trail today was really lovely. For the most part, it was gently rolling hills through a wide-open forest with pine needles strewn as far as you can see. Though the day was warm, the trail was so nice that sweat-soaked clothes seemed a small price to pay!    Interestingly enough, though, not everybody found the trail interesting. At two different times, we ran into groups of people out for a day hike. The first was two men that frowned when we told them how far we were hiking, and warned us about the big mountain we were about to climb! It seems that at 500 feet they didn't think we could handle it! We resisted the urge to explain to them just how easily we would handle that mountain! :) The second group was made up of young urbanites that stopped to ask me how far this trail went. I have been waiting for this question for three months!! "Well, if you keep going, you will end up in Georgia!", I told them with a smile. Needless to say, they turned around and went home! The one thing that both of these groups had in common though, was that they asked us the exact same question. Nodding towards the top of the hill, they asked "Is there anything exciting up there....anything worth hiking up there for?". I found the questi!on astonishing. How do you explain that yes, there are exciting things up there? Trees, plants, animals, views, rock formations, etc. But those are not the type of things these people had in mind. In fact, when we told the men that there was an old cemetary up the hill, one of them said, "The most exciting thing up there is an old cemetary?" scornfully.It made me sad to realize that most people wouldn't see the wonderful things that are right in front of them, and I promised myself to always make an effort to see the world for all the excitement it holds. Late in the afternoon, we came upon a small blue-blazed trail that goes down to a covered bridge made in the 1880s. Well, of course we took it! I wanted to see the bridge, and I was not disapointed. It was lovely and historic, said to be built on the spot in which George Washington had crossed the river. I have enjoyed these little "history breaks" more than I can tell you! Not bad for a girl who graduated from high school thinking that the South won the civil war! :)   Just past the bridge was a small country store, so we grabbed cold drinks and called home to make sure everyone knew where we were. It was 5:30 when we hit the trail again, and it was immediately obvious that the fun was over for the day! The trail was still beautiful, just much more rugged, and all uphill! We climbed over a 1000 feet and by the time I got up to Indian Rocks, I had very litle energy to enjoy the sunset.   The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe allows the trail to travel over reservation land here, and it really is beautiful. Huge rocks that look over a gently rolling landscape of mountains folding in on each other for miles and miles, highlighted in gold by the setting sun. This was definitley worth the climb!   The sun set quickly and we found ourselves rushing to put up our tents in a too-small campsite. I dissolved into a foul mood as every stake I tried to put in the ground pulled out because of the rocks. After much grumbling and grousing, I told Bumpkin that I was a lovely person 99.9% of the time and that I deserved to throw a temper tantrum from time to time! She wisely said nothing. :)After deciding to forego dinner for the second night in a row, I found myself diving for my tent under the onslaught of a million mosquitos. After a quick granola bar, I felt much better. Hmmm, maybe it was just low blood sugar.   Tomorrow, we will hike into Kent leisurely. Connecticut has very strict laws about where you can camp, and the nearest spot is over 7 miles outside of town, so we are stuck for the day. Oh well.....what you want to bet that we make the best of it? :)Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com