Date: 2011-07-06
From: Mt. Algo Shelter

To: Silver Hill Campsite
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: overcast clouds

(In which I hang out in Kent and am swarmed by the Connecticut gnats)I sleep in until 9am -- the equivalent of hiker noon -- and find that my feet and ankles are stiffer than usual, not used to a full day of hiking after their New York vacation. I hobble slowly down the hill from the shelter and then road walk the mile into Kent. Once I am already in town a woman stops to give me a ride, so I hop in to chat and ride down the street to the cafe, where Twofer and Giggle are eating. Having entered New England, the menu now offers actual maple syrup (the kind that comes from trees), so I order a waffle and pay an extra $1.80 for a lip-balm-jar-sized bottle of precious amber liquid. The waffle is decent, but the syrup is delicious, and I look forward to getting further north, where maple syrup should be even more ubiquitous.Not wanting to push my feet too far, I spend all morning hanging out in Kent, eating, surfing the net at the library, walking to the IGA for some Gatorade and Hostess cupcakes, and hanging around outside the outfitter shop chatting with Swift, who has a new hiking partner in the elegant and similarly aged Deja (known on her thru-hike attempt last year as Deja Thru). "You checked to make sure she wasn't married, right?" I ask Swift when Deja is off making a phone call, remembering his Long Trail story. "Not married, no boyfriend, not gay," Swift reports happily, "what are the odds?"It's a hot and humid day, and by the time I get back to the trail I'm already sweating from walking on the exposed asphalt. The shade of the trees is better, but when the trail starts to climb I'm sweating as much as before. At the top of the climb I stop to do some reading -- the first time I've read in weeks -- and cool off. Not hiking with anyone else during the day has its disadvantages, but one of the advantages is being able to take hour long breaks to read or watch the scenery.The climb is followed not long afterwards with a steep descent (for such is the way of the trail), and at the bottom the trail is swarmed by gnats. After futilely trying to outhike them I stop to reapply deet, but if anything this seems only to encourage them. I hold both trekking poles in one hand as I hike so I can fan the air in front of my face with my other hand, whacking gnats away with every swat, but I can't protect my ears and face at the same time and they continue to swarm furiously. Only a few miles later when the trail climbs again am I finally free of the gnats, and can breath freely without fearing a mouth- or nosefull of bugs.I stop at a campsite up the hill. With a covered picnic area and privy, it's as good as a shelter, since I and most other thru-hikers now tent almost exclusively. The trend started when the bugs began to get bad, but having gotten used to the luxury of a private tent, I would likely have a hard time returning to the shelters even without the bugs, unless I knew there was a heavy storm coming. It's one of the few times where I've found that my experience directly contradicts what I heard of the trail from my siblings, who told me that most hikers end up shifting from the extravagance of a tent to the convenience of the shelters. But considering that neither my brother nor sister carried bug-proof tents, they are clearly hardier folk than me.