Date: 2014-07-09
From: Schaghiticoke Mt Campsite

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter
Miles today: 18.3

2014 ¢ Day 8 (07/09/2014) Schaghiticoke Mt Campsite to Telephone Pioneers ShelterDaily Mileage: 18.3 miles on ATHours on trail: 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM = 11:30 hoursSpeed including breaks: 1.59 mphWeather: Mostly sunny, hot, lower humidity than yesterday, occasional breezeA thunderstorm came through during the night. It just barely woke me up. I was up at 5 am and on the trail at 7 am. When I was leaving, the West Hartford Wilderness group was just beginning to stir.Today started with some nice views down into the Housatonic River Valley. The trail then dropped down into the valley for the last time. On the way down I saw the greatest number of salamanders so far. In some places I saw one every ten paces.Next was a climb of Ten Mile Hill. On the way up I met ¢Shortstop¢, a retired gentleman doing his second thru hike. Last year he fell and broke his shoulder just north of Whitecap in the 100-mile wilderness in Maine. He pushed the rescue button on this Spot emergency locator and it worked!There was no view from the top, but the woods were nice. There were orange salamanders everywhere. In the distance I could hear a periodic banging. It sounded like thunder, but it was morning and there were no threatening clouds. Nonetheless, I was nervously looking toward the sky for an approaching storm. However, at little further on I could tell that this was a quarry operation and the banging were boulders being dumped into truck dump bodies. I stopped for a late lunch at Wiley Shelter. An older man came in and proceeded gather firewood and started a fire to cook ¢dinner¢. Garlic appeared to be an important seasoning, but I didn't wait around long enough to see what the main ingredient was. He had an old, beat-up, old-style pack on a frame and ratty foam mattress. He struck me as a homeless man, even though I gathered that he had a family, since family issues caused him to leave the trail in Vermont last year. It was an easy five miles to NY 22. I stopped at the garden center for a couple of lemonades. They have a lounge area for hikers. I relaxed there for a while. From the center it was just three miles to my destination for the night. The unreliable water source was running. I'm tenting behind the shelter. There are two nobos and one sobo (Gravity) in the shelter. Gravity did from Katahdin to North Adams, MA in 2005. This year he is picking up where he left off and hopes to make it as far as Virginia. He started in North Adams several days before I did. He is having foot problems, just like I am, and the remains of Hurricane Arthur was the cause.The nobo woman described an encounter with a bear in NJ. A day hiker was out with his dog. The dog started to chase the bear- picture the bear being chased down the trail by the dog. The bear decided that this was stupid as she was a lot bigger than the dog, so the bear did a 180 degree turn, and started to chase the dog. Now the owner is frantically calling his dog, so the dog starts running toward the man with the bear close behind. The woman nobo was able to create enough of a stir to break this potentially tragic sequence of events. After this was over, the nobo woman saw the bear¢s two cubs.The nobo woman also related part of the trail lore, of a hiker who camped at the garden center. The hiker said that he had had a fine night, except for the 10 minute shower at 5 AM. He did not realize that this was the sprinkler system that came on to water the plants. No rain today, so far .....