Date: 2020-08-27
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Schaghticoke Rd (Kent)
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: overcast clouds

In the morning I found a third hiker had slipped into the shelter after Freebird and I had fallen asleep. It turned out to be Giggles. She'd gotten booted out of her campsite at Nuclear Lake after dark. Odd that they'd be patrolling it. There's no nearby road, so it can't be that popular. I got an unusually early start before 7 for two reasons. I wanted to reach the Kent post office before they closed at 5 to pick up mail, and my weather forecast called for potentially severe storms after 4 so I wanted to ride that out in town. I sauntered the three miles down to the Appalachian Trail train station on the Metro North commuter line. It showered along the way, enough to wet the underbrush for the rest of the morning. At the station I met two northbounders: Pringles, who's finishing up the AT after getting off last year for her granddaughter's birth, and Leg, who's sectioning Virginia to Vermont. Leg carries a doll leg on his pack he found in Virginia. Pringles plans to flip up to Maine after Massachusetts.I veered off down the road to a deli for breakfast then caught up to them. We leapfrogged each other a bit. They caught up with me when I lost the trail trying to get around a humongous downed tree. It must have taken up half an acre. The trail zigged, but most hikers zagged the other way around and it was easy to miss getting back to the trail. Once we found it we left some markers to point the way.A mile later there was a road detour to avoid a condemned footbridge. I'd heard from Freebird it was easy to cross the stream this time of year so just followed the trail. The bridge itself was in poor shape, with just some 2x4's blocking it off. Looks like it's ready to collapse.The end of the detour also brought me into Connecticut, my tenth state. Can't say I'm sorry to leave New York. The hiking was rough most of the way. A few miles of pasture walks were a respite from the rocks and ledges, but all the downed trees made the last few miles more troublesome.Connecticut welcomed me with a walk along the Housatonic River, full of boulders and gushing rapids. I stopped to splash my face and head to cool down. Then headed off trail over the old Bull's covered bridge to a convenience store for lunch. Taking full advantage of the deli run today.It was already 2 and I was nine miles from the Kent post office. I would really have to book to make it by 5. The elevation profile didn't look bad, but Connecticut had borrowed some nasty boulders and ledges from New York. Still, I was a man on a mission and I tackled the unforgiving terrain, zooming at a 3.5 mph clip over Schaghticoke mountain. There is a big difference between 3 and 3.5 mph. The latter demands constant energy and concentration, and requires high motivation to sustain for more than a few minutes. I kept it up at least four miles until conditions changed.The wind started to rise and the sky darkened. It couldn't be long before the sky opened up. My phone beeped loudly. A tornado warning flashed - get in a basement for the next 45 minutes! I had nowhere to go of course, except to huddle between some boulders. But I'd rather cover ground until something actually happened. A few times the wind did whip up and I wondered if it would turn into a twister but each time it settled down. My phone beeped again - the warning was extended another 45 minutes, to 4 pm. Then minutes later it sounded again to say it was only until 3:45. By then potential tornadoes were no longer my most imminent problem. The edge of the thunderstorm had hit. Heavy rain and hail pounded me through my poncho. The first hail I've seen on this hike. They were like little bits of glass, and I shielded my eyes, hoping they didn't get any larger. The hail didn't last long, but the buckets of rain turned the trail into a river. The trail was just as rocky, bouldery, and rooty as anything in New York, with lots of pointless ups and downs. And now the rocks and roots were wet and the trail was a river (or pond, where it was flat). I had to slow down to watch my step, especially as I navigated steep rocky descents. The rain seemed never to end, and I sloshed through water constantly.It finally let up an hour later as I reached the road into Kent. I still, amazingly, had 30 minutes until the post office closed and only 1.3 miles of roadwalking left. I jogged and speed walked and made it with ten minutes to spare. Took care of business, then scouted out a stealth tenting spot behind the empty town hall, backing to a wooded hill. I had no intention of taking the long walk back into the woods until the storms passed. At the town's little welcome center for hikers - basically bathrooms and a pay shower - I met Hopper. He's a southbounder who had started northbound from Dalton, Massachusetts and flipped back from Katahdin to head south. He hasn't seen a northbound thruhiker in three days. Which means I'm five or six days behind them. Pretty much what I've figured from reading shelter logs. I may see some Nobos yet in New Hampshire and Maine. Enjoyed dinner at an Italian place. It's not that I prefer Italian - I'd love to go to the Korean BBQ or Chinese place in Kent. But the Italian joint has sit-down dining. After hiking almost 25 miles today I'm not getting takeout just to huddle under an eave in the rain. By dusk it was raining again. From the radar it might be continuing awhile. I waited until it slowed down then headed behind the town hall and set up my tent, keeping things relatively dry. While the building was empty, it seemed the maintenance crews were busy with storm damage and frequently drove into the parking lot. Each time I figured someone would see the tent and tell me to get out. Probably silly. On a night like this they have bigger things to worry about than kicking a miserable, wet hiker out into the rain.