Date: 2019-10-12
From: Route7, Sheffield, MA 1522.8

To: Riga Shelter 1504.8
Miles today: 18.0

Yesterday¢s stay at Jess Treat¢s was very pleasant. Jess is a very nice lady, very helpful, and the accomodations in her home (I had my own bedroom) are much better than what is found at a hostel. This AM she fixed me a couple hard boiled eggs and some toast, and then shuttled me over to the trailhead early; I was hiking at 06:45. Thank you Jess!Included in my maildrop of yesterday I had Kayanne send me a hiking poncho that I owned which is large enough to fit over me and my pack. I had been a bit disappointed in the performance of my rain gear of late as both my jacket and pants seem to have lost some of their water repellency (I¢ve been told that the use of DEET could be the culprit) so the poncho should be an improvement. I sent my rain pants home, but kept my rain jacket (which at least serves as a wind breaker) and pack cover. I will now have plenty of rain protection, especially for my pack: the poncho, pack cover, the water resistant pack itself, and my pack liner. On top of that my down sleeping bag is inside a water resistant compression sack, so unless I¢m clumsy enough to fall into a pond and go completely under my sleeping bag at the very least should stay dry even in an all day heavy rain. My poncho is bright yellow, so at least I¢ll stand out in a crowd when it¢s raining, HaHa!I crossed over into Connecticut today, another state (MA) down! Discounting the 2 miles that the trail  briefly crosses over into NY and back, looks like there¢s about 50 miles of the AT in CT. The trail in MA was in great condition, with very little mud, not much blowdown, well marked and many miles of relatively easy hiking.It also looked to me like foliage was nearing peak in some areas as I was hiking thru MA. Anyway, onward now into CT - which everybody says is easy hiking - but it greeted me today with  a very steep and rocky climb up Bear Mt. Easy huh??? CT is also restrictive in that no stealth camping is allowed, which puts one at the mercy of the shelter and official campsite spacing. Today it didn¢t impact me, as I was ready to stop when I reached Riga Shelter. I pitched my tent on a wooden tent platform, and there¢s a privy and bear box here. The water source however is dry, but fortunately I topped off my water at a brook about 0.6 miles before the shelter so I¢m all set. There were very many people on the trail today, mostly dayhikers but a few weekend backpackers. Folks were taking advantage of the beautiful day we had today, and enjoying the vistas and fall foliage. There were nice views to be had from The Ledges on Mt. Race and from Bear Mt.; not so much from Mt. Everett.There¢s a couple of weekend backpackers here staying in Riga Shelter, and they were telling me about a great restaurant in Salisbury, CT which I¢ll be hiking thru tomorrow. I asked the guys if they had any garbage plates there, as I had a real hankerin¢ for one. They just gave me a blank stare. I described a garbage plate to them: homefries, mac salad and baked beans on the bottom, topped with two cheeseburgers, then everything smothered in hot sauce. They were pretty sure that garbage plates weren¢t on the menu. I still remember the time that my brother and I took our sons to Nick Tahous (home of the original garbage plate in Rochester) for garbage plates before an Amerks hockey game. You see Nick Tahous is not in the best neighborhood, and at the time it was frequented by cops and what appeared to be ladies of ill repute. My brother and I both caught grief from the wives for taking the boys there - but the boys loved the garbage plates!I am safe, warm and dry in my tent tonite - thinking of the Grandkids (Link, Lucy, Elena, Evelyn, Charlie and Owen), and Brady and Jacob as well - and how it will soon be time to introduce the next generation to garbage plates. Goodnite!