Date: 2008-06-20
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter, NY

To: 10 Mile River Campsite, CT
Miles today: 12.9

Great nite's sleep. I woke @ 5 to 62 degrees. I got up and packed up, but during breakfast, the sunrise was pretty nice. Not in color so much, but just neat to see it peeking thru the trees. Other people started moving, but there is one thing I've gotta tell ya about.Remember me mentioning there was a woman going by Red Dirt from NYC out here that was camping in her tent behind the shelter? Well, I noticed she was a little odd, but hey, who am I to judge right? I still talked to her, but she was insinuating the "other" people (as in Jim and Brandon) were somehow not "real" campers, by referring to them as plants? I had no idea what she was talking about, and then she said, "but us 3 are ok." She was referring to me, Dark Horse, and herself. She said she comes out here all of the time, but only works 1 day a week in NYC. Well, eventually she disappeared, just went to her tent and I never heard her again.Ok, I get up this morning and walk up to the privy (which is behind the shelter) and folks, this woman CHOSE to set her tent up (I'm not shitting you--great pun huh?) she has her tent like 10 freakin INCHES from the back corner of the privy!! EWWWWWWWW!!! So this is a moldering privy, no hole in the ground (I don't think), the privy is built up so you use 3 steps to walk up into it, and when you do your biz, it drops onto the ground under the privy and you put a scoop of mulchy stuff on it. The "landing area" is surrounded by wood, but is by no means sealed off. Her tent was just inches away from everybody's biz in other words! I couldn't believe it, and yes, it's totally rude of me to talk about a stranger like this, but I'm still shocked, not to mention totally grossed out. Couldn't she smell it? Oh gosh anyway, I had to get this off my chest...on to my day, I've got to forget about this (and yes, I took a freakin picture of her tent and privy).I told everyone bye, got some water and stepped off around 7:15 a.m. Today was going to be a good day, shorter, I knew I was ending up at a beautiful place to camp, and drum roll please....I MADE IT TO CONNECTICUT PEOPLE!! 9 STATES DOWN, 5 TO GO!!First it was down to West Dover Rd., where the largest Oak tree on the entire AT is located. Man this thing is huge! Coolest part is that it's estimated to be 300-350 yrs old! That's amazing to me! I took a pic in front of it to show its size.Then it was over a small hill, I'm in a rolling farm field now..to my surprise, and then it goes into swamplands and a boardwalk. This was unique though, because the boardalk is surrounded and lined by this 8 ft tall bamboo-like plant, and it made me feel like I was in the Florida Everglades. An alligator could have jumped out of the bamboo and looked totally natural here.It was cool.Next thing was reaching the infamous Appalachian Trail Train platform just before NY 22. I was excited to see it, because everyone talks about it. As I sat there, a train (not stopping here) sped by. I had no idea of the force of a train as it goes by. You're sitting about 5 ft from the tracks.Dark Horse caught up to me as usual. We talked a bit and I headed on. It was more farm fields ahead, which led to the next climb.Up I went, but I knew the next 4 miles were easier. I got to Wiley Shelter and ate lunch. While I ate, I watched two adult birds taking things to their nest. I think there were babies in it, but it was too high for me to see.Next excitment was hitting Hoyt Rd, which is the boundary for NY\CT! I made it to CT..which seemed impossible a few days ago. Of course, there's no "Welcome to Connecticut" sign (and I was secretly hoping for some anthem to play loudly as I crossed the road, but alas...it was just me, my big ass smile, and my audible, "Woo hoo! I'm in Conecticut!" that I yelled out).Now I knew I only had 1 more significant climb up 10 Mile Hill.The topos made it look sort of scary, and the very beginning of the 1 mile climb was steep, but then you start cutting across\up the "hill" and it got easier. On the way down, a thru-hiker named Fog (from Chicago) zoomed past me. He had to have been an ultralighter because his pack looked like it weighed like 10 lbs.The descent was a little rough on the knees, but soon I could hear the river, and I knew I was close.You go over a service rd and then down straight to a fantstic campsite right next to the river, but they have signs posted there, "No Camping, Wildlife Recovery Area." Rats, it would have been perfect, and obviously had been for many other people before me, so I moved on.This section is absolutely gorgeous..future hikers, you MUST plan a day or nite here. There's pine trees everywhere, a huge strong river (10 Mile River) and its loud constant roar. You hike along side it and there was the sign for the shelter, but I kept going. I really wanted to camp near the water, and I wanted to take a dip too.Finally, I came to a bridge that crossed it, but just down from the bridge is a perfect small pebbly beach with nice shallow water, so I headed there, dropped my pack, emptied my pockets and took off my hiking shirt and shoes. I went into the water and BRRRRR! I withstood it and sat down on a submerged rock and just let the water flow over my legs and feet. I grabbed my bandana and used it to wipe down my upper body (I just could not submerge my upper body...too cold). I'm telling you, there's not much that makes you feel refreshed and clean(er) out here than taking a dip in a river like this. It was awesome! I was right where 2 big rivers converged, the 10 Mile and Housatonic River. It looked like a scene out of the old movie "A River Runs Through It."   The sun was out, but it was in the 70's, so a bit cool.I played in the water for a bit, then decided to dry off and change into dry camp clothes so I could scrub the backside of my hiking shorts in the water. They get dirty from all of the places I sit down, and I noticed the seam in this pair (like the last) is coming undone some. I've got to use my dental floss and sew them up.So now I wanted to find a place to set up camp. It was only 3:30 p.m., which I loved having so much time today. I decided to go across the bridge and follow the blue blaze to the group campsite. It was about .2 back and up from the river, and I wanted to hear the river, so I opted to camp a bit off the blue blaze trail about 300 yrds from the river, amongst pine trees. Fantastic site tonight.I got all set up and cooked dinner. I have to say, I have not stopped feeling hungry for 3 days straight now, even after I eat. All I know is I'm tearing up some place when I make it to Salisbury on Monday. I found a tiny tick crawling on my hand as I was eating too by the way. These things are everywhere here.After dinner, I walked up the hill to a private area and called Karen. We had a really wonderful conversation about stuff I'd been thinking about today. The gist of it was related to what I call the "ritual of forgiveness" in our culture.See, we're all taught as little kids that, "You should forgive your siblings or friends when they say something mean." So at the age of 7, you're practicing the ritual of forgiveness, meaning we say it because we should, but often times we still walk away pissed off @ the person. As we become adults, being hurt can be profoundly different, and that makes forgiveness even more complicated I think.So I was thinking that yes, we can all say, "I forgive you," but the residual emotional impact of whatever hurt you doesn't just magically go away because you utter the words I forgive you, so how do you deal with those remaining emotions? Where do you "put" them so that they don't continue resurfacing and causing problems in your relationships with people?I liked what Karen said, and that was first, time passing will always help, but she pointed out also that if there's any amount of pride (the egotistical kind) present, then that alone will prevent you from truly forgiving someone, because you end up holding onto the pain and it eventually becomes a grudge. Also, it's not always as easy as saying the phrase, that sometimes you have to be able to work through the process with the person, and that's not always easy or feasible.See folks, I think for so many people in the world, the act of saying "I forgive you," is a ritual..learned through repetition and there is a big big difference between saying it and MEANING it. I also think the old saying "Forgive and forget" is a load of crap, because let's face it. Anything that has happened to you that has had either a positive or negative emotional impact, you're going to remember. There's no forgetting really, so that's why I think true forgiveness is a pretty tough thing.   And of course, it's all related to your trust in people, which is a whole other issue.So you know....just the normal everyday thoughts out here...LOL. I never think about things back in real life the way I do out here. It is convincing me that there is a need for undistracted time in each day where the noise of life can be silenced so your brain and heart have a chance to just release. I think its called meditation.Well, it's 8:51 p.m., 66 degrees, and I'm going to sleep to that beautiful constant sound of rushing water over rock. I got out of my hammock to water the leaves, and turned my headlamp off. Lightening bugs were flickering all over. It's pretty magical here.~Certain