Date: 2003-07-13
From: Stewart Hallow Brook Lean-to

To: Belter's Campsite
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: broken clouds

Today started out as a lazy day, we slept in after yesterdays tiring hike. We eased out of the shelter, and up the trail, picking up our pace over the level ground along the Housatonic river, before dropping back to our regular pace. There are Mountains to climb today, so we need to save our energy. The weather was mostly sunny, but with a nice cool breeze (the weather hikers live for). It was a nice day, especially for sitting and relaxing at overlooks. We played leapfrog today, with ¢Walkabout¢, a thruhiker from Florida (retired¢¦ or is Florida & retired redundant?), then later in the day we caught up with ¢dirty bird¢, and ¢Fidodido¢. We hadn¢t seen them since Pennsylvania. What a pair they are¢¦ They insult you, yell at you, discourage you with negative comments¢¦ And make you laugh all the time¢¦ They¢re good company, as long as you know they are only kidding¢¦. Gulp¢¦. you were kidding, right? Hmmm¢¦ I¢ll never know¢¦ Anyway, we¢re all camping at the same place tonight, Wench & I took a long break at the local hang glider launch site on Sharon MT (CT), looking out at the valley. A nice view, we could see way across the valley, the trees, the mountains, the houses, and to the right was Lime Rock race course (I had friends that used to go there from NJ to race). As we sat there, I could hear the sound of civilization that I had gotten accustomed to hear as we neared town¢¦ A lawn tractor, mowing off in the distance, and cool, we could even see the little speck moving around the yard, about a mile away¢¦. A mower & the smell of cut grass, the way to my heart¢¦. Sigh¢¦ very relaxing, but we finally had to move on to the campsite (belters), after a few mandatory photos, to set up camp and eat a hot dinner (finally, it¢s been ages since I cooked¢¦ Well, more like boiled¢¦.). As I was laying in my tent, we all heard a big crash!!!!! A tree fell down in our campsite, right at the foot of Dirty Bird & Fido¢¦ They were so lucky, no one was hurt! This is cool¢¦.. I didn¢t remember this day at all as I started typing¢¦ But as I read, all the memories came flooding back. The view from the Hang Glider site, the rock I sat on, Wench as she hiked up, the lawn tractor. And the campsite¢¦ I didn¢t remember it at all untill I read about the tree, now I remember it all). Now I realize why I have a journal¢¦ So I will never forget this hike. I will always be able to bring back the memories, just by reading it (or even just talking trail with others)¢¦ This is so cool¢¦ Back to the journey. This will be a tough week, we have to average16 miles a day to get to Cheshire and get our mail drop on time (Saturday vbefore 11:30). A note looking back: Don¢t do this, it makes you miserable¢¦. Be more flexible & don¢t kill yourself for a mail drop (as a matter of fact, use less mail drops). I hate rushing for mail drops, especially when I know some of the terrain will be hard this week (like sages ravine). Oh well, we¢ll see how it works out (it didn¢t¢¦ grrr¢¦). Now it¢s time for sleep, once again with aching everything¢¦.. Joints, muscles, feet, brain¢¦ Sigh¢¦ Life is good.