Date: 2005-08-17
From: 2 miles north of Pine Swamp Brook Lean-to, CT

To: Rt. 341, Kent, CT
Miles today: 19.0

19 miles todaySleeping in a real bed at Mr and Mrs Moosie's home.New Milford, CtI'm at Rt 341 in Kent, Ct on the trail Moosie rescued me!!!...more later. :-))) I slept good last night because I found some nice soft leaves and stealth tented. I was ready for a soft bed of leaves because the last 3 nights before that, I stayed in designated campsites and I slept on tent platforms...that's wood!! It doesn't conform to your body very well. I was in an area tenting where if I would have died overnight, no one would have found me until they followed the buzzards in a few days. It rained overnight, but I don't remember for how long because I slept so well. I woke up at 5:30 and had breakfast and coffee and was walking by 6:20am. I climbed over Mt Easter, then down to Pine Swamp Brook Lean-to, about 2 miles away. I had a deer blow at me on my way there and then take off running. That's the first deer I've seen in a while. I stopped at the lean-to to sign the register and ran into 3 sobos!! Their names are Moondog, Nemo and Wicket. Their was also a nobo by the name of Monkey there. I talked for a short while, but wanted to keep going just in case Moosie got my email about where I was going to be today. He lives close by and I was hoping to go to his house and spend the night...and shower and eat. ;-))) I hiked on and ran into 2 nobos by the names of Trooper and Lumbar. We talked about 10 minutes before I got going again. It was wet out from last night's rain, but the sun was coming up over the trees and it looked liked it was turning into a fine day. I only had about 8 miles to walk to get to the first road crossing I had emailed to Moosie. I was really hoping he would be there. It was time for a shower and my clothes were really getting really stanky. Stanky is way beyond stinky, much, much worse. I got to a stream crossing just before the road and got out my water bag and washed my shirt. I just couldn't stand it anymore. I walked up the hill to the road crossing and I saw Moosie and Stewie, his English bulldog!!! Woohoo...I was thrilled!!! They were there to see ME!!! He was sitting there talking to 3 nobos by the names of Dready Bear, Blaze and Jeweler. I said hello to everyone and saw a cooler and a box of Dunkin Donuts. I looked in the cooler and there were 2 cokes on ice!! It's very hard to explain sometimes just how much trail magic like this helps a hiker. Frogcaller and Lew helped me in Maine, Mrs Gorp helped me in Vermont, Amoeba in Massachusetts and now the Moosie's in Connecticut. You met the best people along this trail. It was great seeing Moosie again. I last ran into him just before he walked into Maine on his nobo thru hike he did with his son, Goldilocks, this year. They summited on August 8th and seemed to have a great hike and lots of fun. I sat there at that road for 45 minutes eating donuts, a fried egg sandwich and drinking a couple cokes. Our plan was for me to hike on another 11 miles and he would pick me up at the Kent, Ct trailhead about 2:30 to 3pm. I left there and my feet were almost flying out from under me I was so happy because I knew I was going to get a real shower and eat some good food and get to spend some time with some really good friends. Goldilocks is already away to college, so I won't get to see him until I hike through NC later this year. :-((( I climbed the first hill and started running into some nobos soon afterwards. Their names were Captain Morgan, Aviator, Panorama, Snackboy and Dutchboy. I got over that first hill, then had some pretty easy walking for about 5 miles before I climbed a steep climb up to St Johns Ledges. I then continued climbing to Caleb's Peak and then a few small ups and downs for the next couple miles. I got to Kent at 2:20pm and sat and waited until Moosie showed up. We stopped by a convenience store for sodas, then went grocery shopping for dinner. Moosie insisted on paying for everything...so I stuck a bag of Starbucks coffee in the cart. ;-))) When I found out he was paying, I tried going back for more stuff, but he wouldn't wait. Hey Moosie, next time your buying, give me some advance notice, ok??? There's always more stuff I need. ;-))) We went to his house and before long Mrs Moosie came home. I wanted a hug, but ask for a raincheck on it until I showered. She was very willing to wait. ;-))) I shaved and took a long shower. Sometimes there's nothing that feels any better than a shower. I went in the bedroom and there was even some of Moosie's clean clothes for me to wear until mine got washed. I put on Moosie's clothes even though they were really loose on me. :-))) I got my hug from Mrs Moosie (so good to see you again Mrs Moosie) and then we had a very good dinner of ribeye steaks cooked on the grill and fresh corn on the cob. Moosie made some of his famous brushetta (I think that's what it's called) and we had some wine and listened to a Nora Jones cd and had candles lit on the table while we ate. It was a fantastic evening!! We even had some peach pie for desert. Mike, their oldest son got home early from work and joined us for dinner. When I'm on the trail walking everyday, it's always nice and I love being there, but having these luxuries once in a while and being with such good friends like tonight is beyond my words. Thanks Moosie and Mrs Moosie. It's trail friends like you two that make it easy for me to be out here walking all the time. Moosie and I spent the rest of the evening talking about our hikes. Yeah, I had to listen to a nobo about all the merits of a nobo hike...geesh, nobos are everywhere right now. :-))) Mrs Moosie came down and made us quit talking and go to bed because it was getting so late. It was a good thing because my plan is to walk to the trailhead at Pauling, NY tomorrow from Kent, Ct and Moosie's picking me up again. :-)) That means I'll get another shower tomorrow!!