Date: 2015-07-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 3 Friday 7-10-15Left Caesar Brook Campsite at 6:45 AM. Arrived Belters Campsite about 3:30. That was about 8.6 miles in 7.5 hours. Slow but we took a long lunch break and some of the trail was beautiful. We used the stone steps that the AT trail workers have been installing. Absolutely nice steps. The best that I have seen on the AT. Nice wide steps and not too high. Tall steps are not good for us shorties.   Great work guys!   We met about 5 NB through hikers today. They tell us that there is a great mass of NBr¢s about a week back. We hiked on a ridge overlooking the Lime rock Race Track. We could hear 1-2 cars racing for almost an hour before we got there, but action had stopped when we could see the track. No cars were on the track.   About a half hour later, the racing started again. It just was not my day to see them. I had actually gone there to watch a day of racing about 50 years ago. Yes I really am that old. Our hike plan is totally blown!   About Noon, Acorn told me that my t-shirt was inside out & that I had worn it the same way all day yesterday. I turn it right side out. It is not like I am really awake in the AM¢s. Actually I don¢t really care. Lives are better when you try to keep the women happy. We had planned to stop at Belters Campsite tonight then on to Limestone Spring Shelter tomorrow night. Then a short 3.8 miles into Salisbury to resupply and then on to Riga Shelter or Brassie Brook Shelter. There was a sign up at Pine Swamp Brook Shelter saying that Limestone is closed! , both the shelter and the campsites. We had no clue before this. On top of that we met a SB section hiker who told us that the rt. 7 bridge over the Housatonic River is closed to pedestrian traffic! There is a detour that adds a road walk.   That means a mandatory about 13 mile hike from Belters to Salisbury. That does not include hiking to Riga after Salisbury. We have seen very few possible unofficial campsites and you are not supposed to do that in Connecticut. Acorn does not believe that she could hike that far in 1 day. We cannot count on finding a campsite we can use before Salisbury.   I believe that I could make Salisbury but Riga would be out of the question. We would have to stay around Salisbury.   We have to come up with an alternative.The same SBr told us of a hostel (Bearded Woods) near Falls Village that would pick us up and drop us off pretty much wherever we wanted.   We decided to try the hostel. Acorn called the Bearded Woods Hostel (BW). They only take up to 8 hikers and ONLY by reservation. NO walk in¢s. Acorn thinks that she can reduce her pack weight by about 5lbs. I think that I can reduce my pack weight by 2-3 lbs. to make thing easier. Currently I am at 22lbs. Acorns pack weight is higher. When Alma picks us up near Great Barrington, we will send some stuff back. Another DUH moment for me today. Wow, I think that I may becoming an idiot. Anyhow today I could not find my cell phone. I normally keep it either in a pack waist belt pouch or in my red stuff sack with essentials like head lamp & toilet paper. I cannot find it anywhere. We are camped at Belters. I am totally unloaded and I still cannot find my cell phone. How did I manage that? I pick up my empty back pack to put inside my tent & notice that my pack cover (which I almost always have on) is sagging at the bottom. Yup! My cellphone has ridden the day inside the pack cover at the bottom. I am totally glad it did not fall out. I guess that I scooped up the cell in the pack cover while pulling the pack out of the tent this AM.   I just would have loved to have Acorn call my wife to tell her that I lost my cell phone while hiking. Acorn says that she would have just handed her phone to me. Today we had to ford a small stream. This time I took my running shoes & socks off & wore Crocks for wading. My shoes are not yet dry after 2 days. It is still about 90% humidity though. I rigged a clothes line to hang our stuff up to dry when we got to Belters. I did not notice that I hung it across the campground entrance trail. I got a dirty look from the first hiker through and realized the problem & moved the line. For dinner: sandwich¢s made from sandwich thins, Laughing Cow spreadable cheese & Oscar Meyer bacon jerky. I really liked them. More cinnamon buns for dessert.