Date: 2012-07-02
From: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter

To: Belters Campsite
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

My tarp, hammock, and assorted gear are a little damp from being so close to the river last night. Not so much a dew as general wetness so I'm king to be sure to air everything out tonight. The day started beautifully with blue skys, great views, and even better trail along the river for an easy 2 mile warmup before swinging us back up into the mountains. You can definitely tell that we're in New England now. It smells like pine and there is he change in rock type in how they are piled, their color. We have a new type of sleigh fern popping up with its darker green blending in with the abundance of moss everywhere. Everything just has a different feel and it's new, exciting, different. different is good. no more groundhog day for me.I'm loving CT so far with it's good trail and great weather. There have been lots of clear, silt free brooks and streams (brooks! such a northern term) so water is plateful and refreshing. I wrote the first part of my journal while sitting on the highest peak of the day at just a little over 1300 feet in elevation. There is a view out over the rolling forested hills but I'm finding the interior landscape much more intriguing at this point than views of mountains that all start to look the same. The body feels strong and good after 6 miles and i think a good night's sleep and a healthy dose of vitamin I are the cause. I have not been taking drugs regularly on the trail so far, I think the last time was down in GA, but wanted to lend my body a helping hand after yesterdays long miles. Of course the almost rockless trail may have something to do with it. I did some more first aid to the leg last night. I'm still having trouble keeping the knee wound clean as it is constantly cracking and reheating throughout the day as I move collecting dirt as it does. so tonight i scrubbed it out again (not fun) neosporined and have wrapped it in gauze. I'm hoping the last will help it stay cleaner and not collect bits of my silk pants tonight. I'm looking forward to a shower in town tomorrow so that I can get then fully clean and hopefully get hold of some new skin liquid bandage as I'm thinking that might be the solution to my troubles. I'm worried , probably overly paranoid, about developing some sort of staff infection as I simply cannot get this knee wound to close up. Or maybe I'm obsessing. whatever.We had more ups and downs today. I met a fellow northbounder named Flint just as we reached a bunch of rocks similar to the lemon squeezer. the blazon here was a little wacky so he ended up accidentally climbing up and over the formation before we realized it. Also scared off a big buzzard as we came up on it. Dead hiker up there somewhere in the rocks I'm sure. Coming up over the last hill of the day I knew there was suppose to be a highway right after my intended campsite and I could hear so much traffic noise. It was so close and so loud that all I could think was, "how in the world do they expect us to get over that thing without getting hit?" I only figured out what was going on when I came to a little open area with a view. Turns out that it was a racing track in the valley below me with these fast sporty little cars zipping around and around making soooo much noise and break squeals. I wouldn't want to be a neighbor within 5 miles of that. I was so happy to reach the campsite which had large pines and a wonderful atmosphere about it with the green ferns contrasting beautifully with the reddish pine needles all over the woodland floor. I met the twisted sisters, two southbound section hikers who've been going since the international AT that starts in Canada down to Katahdin, Me and continues from there. They were awesome and I very much enjoyed chatting with them, so much so that I even stayed out in the bugs longer than i normally would. Though women too, who have done a lot of winter camping and summited Katahdin on a class 3 (sleet/rain) day that turned in to class 4 while they were up there. The park ranger won't even let you go up on a class four the weather is so dangerous. The whole group of rangers were anxiously waiting for them at the bottom of the hill, probably relieved they didn't have to attempt a rescue mission. Great stories and shared experiences as they live in Maine and we could talk about all the areas we were familiar with. Then i had a special treat when Skunkape came into camp just before dark. So great to catch up with him and chat more about what we had seen during the time we'd last spoken. It's the same trail but depending on weather, mental state, and daily milage everyone experiences sections of trail differently and it's fun to compare. We finally had to escape the bugs by going to our respective hammocks. the buggers were biting so badly they were taking out chunks and leaving me bleeding. (insert string of curse words and shaking of fists here)