Date: 2017-07-27
From: Pine Brook Swamp Shelter

To: Highway 341 and Kent, CT
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

(Make sure you see both entries dated July 26!)Christmas? But, Scout, you¢re Jewish. I woke at 3:00 am, made a short hike to go pee and when I came back to my tent my eyes wouldn¢t close. It was like the night before my first Dodgers game when I was nine. I am so excited for tomorrow to come. It¢s like the night before Christmas.Frodo is coming tomorrow. Before we all went to bed last night, Sheriff said, ¢Scout, it¢s one more sleep."   She was right. Except now it¢s 3:15 am and I can¢t sleep. I remember two more things I want Frodo to bring. I text her. I thought I knew what the texted reply would be ¢ ¢What are you doing up after 3:00 am?!?¢ Instead it was, ¢May I call you?¢ At Pine Swamp Shelter I have two bars, but my tent is cheek-to-jowl with five others. ¢I can put on my earbuds, but I can really just listen.¢I am in my sleeping bag and I hear her voice. I¢ll hear it for real in less than 19 hours.But on the phone we two are also somber with some extremely sad news. I am processing it still and will probably devote a separate trailjournal entry to it¢¦.(Frodo: I¢m not sure when Scout will have time to do that, and you don¢t need to be wondering until then. So I¢ll tell you. A hiker we hosted for three nights in May, who started her PCT hike on our last time driving to the monument, was found dead in a swollen Sierra stream. She was a very young Japanese woman, petite and delightful, full of life.  Her English wasn¢t great, but she was so chipper and so helpful we made a real connection. I cried off and on all day Wednesday. So tragic!)I am up at 5:30 am and Cuckoo is already up and nearly packed. It¢s so good to spend time with her again. After 3 weeks she¢s just devoured the paperback The Handmaid¢s Tale and it sits outside my tent where she left it for me. I hope she¢ll avail herself of Frodo¢s slackpack and support efforts on Friday. I¢d love for them to meet.At 6:25 I am hiking out of camp. DF&B soon follow, and Sheriff, too. 17 miles today. A few climbs, including one for three-quarters of a mile that looks Maine steep from the topo map and elevation profile. And there¢s a five-mile flat meander alongside the Housatonic River.Rain threatens, but never does more than a few spitwads. I¢ve written before about the odd ways we communicate out here. Here¢s one found on the trail that put a smile on all our faces:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Sheriff was way disappointed yesterday when we stopped in a small town for a second breakfast and the bakery that had advertised, ¢gluten-free cupcakes¢ had none. I think I¢ve arranged for Frodo to bring two for when we slackpack tomorrow.We all have to take care of each other out here. If we don¢t help put smiles on each other¢s faces, who will? Sometimes it¢s a scratched smiley face on the trail and sometimes it¢s a cupcake.Sometimes it¢s someone who stayed at our house twice prior to PCT section hikes, who picked us (DF&B and me) up after 17 miles, took us to her home in Kent, Connecticut, welcomed us, fed us, and gave us a warm bed for tonight. Thank you, Elaine and Ann!Just so you understand the logistics, Sheriff and Cuckoo are at a shelter a short distance from highway 314. When they hike tomorrow, I hope they will run into Frodo at the first road crossing and get to partake of snacks, drinks, lunch, and slackpacking.Less than an hour till Frodo arrives!  (Frodo: He was asleep when I got there!):  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...