Date: 2016-07-09
From: Wiley Shelter

To: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: moderate rain

Woke up and it was refreshingly chilly! Chilly? Summer did simmer down! Verge and I got hiking around 9 (bah, I don't like late starts--but we had to figure out how many days we were going to go so that we knew how much food we'd need and whether we should try and do laundry in Kent or just wait a couple days...decided to wait until Great Barrington, MA where we might spoil ourselves with a hotel and maybe go to the movies!) Verge and I hiked separately today. I put in my headphones and got going! It was so nice to listen to music; I hadn't in a while and definitely missed it. A mile or so into the day, I entered Connecticut! Heck yes it feels great to be in New England! It immediately filled me with a new excitement and a feeling of being home. I charged up the hills and flew down them with a huge smile! New England! Yay!I got to the Ten Mile River and was definitely a little sad we hadn't camped there because it was so beautiful! I couldn't resist dipping my feet and washing off some hiker grime. I even dunked my head!I continued and came upon some huge rocks and was overcome with the urge to climb them, so I thought, why not?! Dropped my poles and monkeyed up a couple boulders; I "sounded my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" (Walt Whitman) and sang at the top of my lungs! Yes! I did start to get a bit tired and hungry, so I had a snack and water and such, but the trail also provided me with some delicious blackberries. What a lovely adventure today has been.I make the steep descent and mile (0.8) road walk into the beautiful town of Kent, CT and meet up with Jingle, Wheels, and Sweets at a pizza place where they were having lunch (I had some fries to tide me over until Verge got to town.) Verge arrived shortly after m, so we went to the outfitters to get our box (and my dad's because he missed his Kent box! More goodies for us! Woo!) We took what we wanted and needed and shared the rest with our buddies and any other hikers that came through (we met Geared Up who had done 36 miles today!) Verge and I then separated to go have our own late lunch/dinner at the Cheese Market, which turned out to be the BEST decision ever.We ordered their soup of the day (perfect for this wet, chilly day--some sort of warm carroty, creamy, deliciousness), a kale salad with brussel sprouts, beets, almonds, and a maple dressing, and a small French baguette with marinated grilled tomatoes, goat cheese, spinach, almonds, and a balsamic drizzle. OH. MY. GOD. BEST FOOD WE'VE EVER HAD. (Verge agrees.) Woah. Just...woah. Yum.How do you eat anything ever again after that? I know! Order an amazing hot fudge brownie sundae with three scoops of ice cream while watching the Sox game at AnnieBananies/the Kent Outfitter. I can't tell you how hard it was to leave after that. It was getting dark, and it was chilly and windy and drizzly. Perfect cuddle weather. All I wanted was to cuddle up and eat brownies and watch movies. Buuut, I had to hike 7 more miles to the next shelter. Gotta do it! We thankfully were offered a ride on our way back to the trail, so we started back on the trail at 6pm. We had difficult terrain for a couple miles, but thankfully, it flattened out for the end of our day. It was especially wonderful because it got pitch black and we were walking by a magnificent brook with our headlamps on and noticed all the amazing fireflies. Due to the flat terrain, we were able to turn our headlamps off and walk in the extreme darkness and watch all the magical twinkling of the fireflies. It was spectacularly peaceful and beautiful. We finally got to the shelter and had to quickly set up because it started to rain. Such a lovely day. So happy to be in New England. So happy to be on the trail. So happy to be so happy.