Date: 2010-05-29
From: Pine Swamp Shelter

To: Salisbury
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: broken clouds

I made a decision last night to go ahead and hike an extra 3.5 miles so that I would arrive in Salisbury today. It seemed kind of silly just to leave such a small amount of mileage before reaching the comfort of another town. So I called ahead to Maria McCabe, who boards hikers at her home in Salisbury, and she said she had room for me this evening. The hike today was just gorgeous. The weather was brilliant and there were a number of people on the trail today because it is the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The first point of interest was Hang Glider View. Below you could see Lime Rock Park, which is where the late Paul Newman and other celebrities use to race their cars around the classic 1.53 mile racecourse. The RVs were everywhere so it was obvious that there was a race today. In fact, later on in the morning I could hear the cars racing around the course. The trail then dropped back down to the Housatonic River. It was a nice flat and scenic walk along the river for several miles. The highlight was when I got to Great Falls outside of Falls Village, Connecticut. I am sure it is even nicer during the spring melt, but the falls were very impressive and the best I have seen on the A.T. I took a bunch of pictures with my camera. The trail then returned to the mountains until it reached the road to Salisbury.I met a lot of nice folks today out doing day hikes because of the fine weather. One guy, however, was a bit amusing. I was climbing up Mt. Easter and he had stopped ahead of me to catch his breath. He was obviously a day hiker since he had no pack and was carrying a water bottle in his hand. I stopped and we exchange pleasantries and then he asked me if I was familiar with this part of the trail. I said, well, no, I did come through here before with my brothers but it was many years ago. So he then tried to impress me with his knowledge of the area. He told me that ahead there are really big mountains in Connecticut like Bear Mountain, etc., and that they were around 6000 feet in elevation. I said, ah, no, none of the mountains are even half that size since I have a map and noticed that none of them exceeded 3000 feet. He said, oh, well, okay, I just started working out last week and I was trying to get some exercise today. So I said, well, that's great, enjoy your hike and I started off ahead of him up the mountain. He immediately started walking right behind me (which gave me the creeps) and started talking my ear off. So I put the afterburners on and blew him away on the uphill. When I got to the top I just kept on going. I thought it was the perfect answer to his nonsense.I would be remiss not to mention one the weirdest things I saw on the trail this year. I met a hiker by the name of Cyra in New Jersey and he has been the talk of the trail this year. Last year it was the guy who hiked with a goat until the park people said no you can't do that. This year it is Cyra who is hiking with an iguana. Yes, that's right, a full grown two foot long iguana. Cyra is in his low 20s, is a helluva nice guy, and is hiking southbound from Massachusetts. He hasn't really gotten very far because he is only hiking about 4 to 5 miles a day. He says he considers the hike so far to be just training and mentioned that he had lost 30 pounds already. Cyra is carrying an 85 pound pack. Now just for comparison purposes I have been carrying a 30 pound pack, and that includes water and food. So, I guess that explains the low mileage. But the iguana is another thing. When I got to a shelter around 10:00 a.m. to take a break out of the rain, he was there getting his pack and iguana ready to go for the day. The iguana was just hanging out by his pack with a leash around his neck. I got visions of Cyra walking his iguana with the leash on the trail. Cyra explained to me that he actually drapes a towel over his pack and the iguana just hangs out on top and enjoys the view while he is hiking. But I asked, knowing that iguanas like it warm, what do you do on days like this when it is cold or at night when the temperatures drop. Apparently if it is cold during the day, he just puts the iguana inside his shirt to keep him warm. At night, the iguana sleeps inside the sleeping bag with him. Okay, isn't that cozy. I have terrible feeling his hike is going to end badly. I can see a dog, snake, or some animal squaring off with the iguana and the scene getting ugly. You meet all types on the trail.