Date: 2009-07-31
From: Kent, CT

To: Campsite near Skiff Mtn Road, CT
Miles today: 2.8

Well, as you can see we didn't make it too far today! Otter and I woke up earlier than Stewball and Berry and visited over some breakfast at a local bakery in Kent. Then the four of us cleaned up our room and threw away all the trash we had accumulated from left-overs and Stewball's birthday party. Kent was a great stay! I'd like to give another shout out to Lady B and Italian- it was so awesome to see yall, thanks again for everything!Kent was booming with thru-hikers this morning. We pretty much caught up with everyone at the library wating in line for the internet. Berry and I knew we couldn't linger very long or the town bug would bite us.... turns out we got bit anyway!We started walking out of town the .8 miles to the trailhead around 11am. I was feeling tired with a slight headache. Later I recalled that yesterday I had no water all day. Thanks to Lady B and Italian- they loaded us up with cold lemonade, sweet tea and green tea- no need for water when you've got that! Maybe I was a little dehydrated this morning? In any case we started off slow and climbed over the first initial mtn... I just had nothing in me to keep moving- absolutley no drive or ambition at all. I consulted Berry and we decided to tent it early in order to get our minds right as well as spend some time reading and resting. So that's what we did! At 1:30pm we found a nice campsite right beside three nicely flowing streams and parked it for the day. After a few naps and some reading other thru-hikers started coming through. We were in a prime spot right of the trail, perfect for resting. First we saw Hatchet and Holdout and got to catch up with them. The last time we saw them was in southern PA. Soon to follow was Goose and Chewey. Them came Lucky Joe and One Step, followed by Mass Gardner. Everyone would stop and visit before moving on...we really enjoyed it!Late afternoon came with a whole new crew. Coolio sat with us for about half an hour. While he was there Otter and Stewball finally arrived and they were with us for 2 hours. Just as Stewball was about to leave the Birds showed up and sat down for a good while- we all chatted for a long time right from the inside of our tent. Finally everyone decided to leave well into the evening, leaving us and Otter for a nice dinner.We cooked tamales (courtesy of Lady B's food drop she gave us) and shared with Otter. One more hiker came strolling through- Bones! Bones sat down and the four of us hung out a little. He and Otter partnered up and decided to night hike the additional 4 miles to the next shelter where everybody seemed to be heading for the day.In the end we were very happy and thankful that our circumstances were such that we felt it necessary to have a lazy day. We got to touch base and spend time with so many hikers- some we haven't seen in a long time! It seems like everone has the same story right now- everyone is tired and feeling mentally/physically exhaughsted and bored with the trail. We'll keep pulling together to get everyone through the wet and mud, to the top of Katahdin! I think these hard times are really defining in bringing people together. Although it is difficult, we thank God for the opportunity and most of all the relationships that have resulted from this hike.