Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 85: August 2, 2009
Travel:
From: Belter’s Campsite, CT
To: Salisbury, CT
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 1:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 10.5
b) other – .4 to town
c) AT Mile Marker – 1488.6 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Rain! After no sleep, this was intolerable.
PM: Overcast but the rain had let up.
People: Rocky
Animals: None once we got into town.
Money: $10 for lunch, $15 for dinner. $1539 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: I came out of whatever subconscious state I might have been slipping in and out of all night and felt pretty awful. Without any recovery I was weak and sore and certainly not motivated to hike. We ate and packed up then headed down to the nearby road for a long, long, road walk. It was actually a detour from the normal trail for some reason and we ended up on the other side of the hydroelectric plant which had a spigot for water. I just said forget it to refilling my water and we moved on down the trail which lead us to the Great Falls and shortly after some Trail Magic. Sodas and a gallon of water were laid out for us hikers so we had a short break before continuing. Then it started to rain.

PM: After walking in the rain and fighting off legions of mosquitoes on top of no sleep it was time to think of an exit strategy. When I caught up to the guys waiting at the road I told them, “I can think of a million reasons to go into town, but only one to keep hiking.” With that it was settled and we walked into town, but not without first getting dumped on as the sky made sure we were soaked before getting in to town. We had lunch at The Bistro which really ended up being breakfast foods. Afterwards, I called around for places to stay and the cheapest was White Hart Inn so we walked over and got a room. We all showered and then lounged around watching bad movies on TNT (MIB2) while I tried working on my journal which I am so hopelessly far behind on. The guys awoke from their naps ready for food so we headed out again and got just past the lawn of the Inn before we met Rocky. She was sitting on the ground trying to figure out what to do. She had walked over 20 miles today in the rain and was looking for a place to stay so we offered a spot in our room granted she split it with us 4 ways. She agreed, I tossed her a key and we made our way back to the center of town. Being a Sunday and after 6pm absolutely nothing was open, so we headed back to the Inn where there was a restaurant serving overpriced bar food. Our waiter was less than cordial to us and acted dumbfounded when we asked about items on the menu. Spoon asked about how large the burger was and our server replied, “Well, it’s larger than a McDonald’s burger.” I quickly retorted, “Well we wouldn’t really know how big a McDonald’s burger is.” He was either talking down to us because we were hikers or he was a massive idiot. Regardless, I got the French Dip and it was tasty. After dinner, I spent time uploading pictures via a computer behind the reception desk and then went back to the room to pass out.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 84: August 1, 2009
Travel:
From: Kent, CT
To: Belter’s Campsite, CT
Beginning: 9:30am
Ending: 8:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 22.2
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 1478.1 cumulative
Weather:
AM & PM: Beautiful sunny day
People: Joy, her partner Tim(?), Rio, Fancypants and Gozer again.
Animals: Mosquitoes! Argh!
Money: $0, $1514 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Got up early, Joy had some toast ready for us and we had to get packed up fast so we could get a ride back to the trail. Tim let us make a quick stop for Ramen and smokes then dropped us off. We climbed over the fence into a cow pasture where we were greeted by a lone cow that seemed to charge right for us. As the trail turned upward into the mountains the cow was still chasing after me. It wasn’t until the trail got steep and rocky before the cow gave up his/her chase. (Hazard, you should know the difference between a ‘girl’ cow and a ‘boy’ cow…)

PM: Just after lunch we came up to Guinea Brook which was a raging stream at this point. There was a detour labeled in the book, but we decided to take off our boots put on our Crocs and forded the brook. The walk across the water was ice cold and the water came up to our thighs in one part. After getting everything back on our feet and filtering some water to drink, we got back to hiking. Something about that cold water rushing over my feet really refreshed them. Later on down the trail I ran into Gozer who said Fancypants was just ahead, but had injured his foot on the rocks crossing Guinea Brook. When I caught up to him he told me it was pretty bad and they would probably stop at the campsite just ahead. I was going on to the next campsite 3-4 miles ahead. When I got there Spoon and Croc were already set up and said they had been there for at least 45 minutes. My bum hand is really slowing me down. The mosquitoes were just awful here and I was hoping they would die down after dark. I rolled my sleeping bag out under Crocs tarp and Spoon retired to his hammock. No sleep, however, was to be had that night. Thanks mosquitoes…

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 83: July 31, 2009
Travel:
From: Ten Mile River Lean-to, CT
To: Kent, CT
Beginning: 10:00am
Ending: 1:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 8.4
b) other – .8 to town
c) AT Mile Marker – 1455.9 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Woke up to pouring rain. Tried to wait it out and lost a lot of time.
PM: It poured as soon as we got to town but lightened up once we got to Joy’s.
People: Everyone was gone from the shelter early this morning. Joy, who took us in for the night.
Animals: Mosquitoes!
Money: $20 for resupply, $10 for dinner. $1514 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up to driving rain, with everyone but us nowhere to be found. We weren’t particularly motivated to walk in that mess so we decided to wait it out. It wasn’t until around 10am that it let up enough for us to get moving. We first crossed over Ten Mile River which was bloated well beyond its banks and looked like some extreme white water. The sound of the rushing water was deafening. The rest of the day’s walk was a blur of rolling hills, mosquitoes, and slogging through the mud. Spoon and Croc were waiting for me when I got to the road to Kent. We tried for a hitch, but that wasn’t happening. The first major store we hit in town was the outfitter which had nothing we needed. It was poorly stocked in general for hiker gear. A local came in and we asked if there were any cheap places to stay around here because I for one was spent and ready to quit for the day. He laughed at us and said, “You’re in Kent, nothing’s cheap”. We had bad timing too because the Jazz festival was in town and every place would be booked up anyway. So we walked down the road, in the rain of course, to the post office. When we got there I collected my care package from Cat, Spoon got his socks from his sister, and Croc got his other backpack from home. I immediately went digging through Cat’s package and pulled out the caramel & German chocolate brownies and feasted. All the while Spoon had been talking to a woman in line about how we needed a place to stay that night and she thought about it and then said, “Yea, I could be a Trail Angel tonight.”

PM: We agreed to meet outside the grocery store at 4pm because she had errands to run and we had to resupply. Once 4pm rolled around we piled into Joy’s car and left town for her place. Joy’s home was delightful and she had many outer buildings. One that housed her studio, a workshop, a bunkhouse for guests, and an area for her kiln. About a years worth of her work was about ready to come out of the kiln, as she was in the middle of the week long cool down phase. She had another guest with her tonight who was a famous ceramic artist who’s name I cannot remember, but they were all going out to dinner so we had the place to ourselves. We had offered to cook them dinner but it ended up just being the three of us. We made a spaghetti dinner with sausage and garlic bread, and a salad on the side. Needless to say it was delicious and felt great to sit at a table with a hearty meal. The rest of the night was relaxing and I got a chance to call Cat to thank her for the package and wish her luck in tomorrow’s half-marathon.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 82: July 30, 2009
Travel:
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter, NY
To: Ten Mile River Lean-to, CT
Beginning: 9:00am
Ending: 6:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 20.6
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1447.2 cumulative
People: Gozer & Fancypants, bunch of high school graduates, an Asian Casandra (think Wayne’s World) and her two friends.
Animals: Mosquitoes…everywhere
Money: $5, $1484 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Overcast and the ground is really wet
PM: Sunny and beautiful, and in turn humid.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up late and packed up slowly. I got my hand re wrapped by Spoon and then we headed out. I am much slower with one pole and my arm slung across the front of my pack. I got a few tenths of a mile before I wondered why my hair was in my face so much and it was because I left my hat hanging in the shelter. Ughh! So I walked back for it and my boot fell apart again along the way so I made some repairs back at the shelter before departing for the second time. Along the way I passed Nuclear Lake which was infested with mutant mosquitoes that ate me up. I also stumbled across Fancypants & Gozer swimming in the lake and they told me I was at least 30 minutes behind the other guys so I plodded along.

PM: I finally caught up with them at the AT train stop where we had planned to be last Sunday. Just down the road from the train stop was Tim’s Tasty Dogs where we all indulged in overpriced hot dogs and cold drinks. Then it was back on the trail through cow pastures and fields where it was muddy, humid, and exposed to the sun. It was a good walk to the shelter, called “lean-to’s” in CT, which was close to the banks of Ten-mile river. When we got there a bunch of high school graduates were struggling with their tent and had their stuff spread everywhere. They had an enormous amount of useless gear which was both laughable and sad. For example, a garlic mincer, an entire bottle of tick killer, and a glass bottle of muscle relaxant. After dinner three more people showed up from the nearby road carrying sleeping bags in their hands, expecting a spot in the shelter. The other kids pitched their tents behind the shelter and the new ones climbed into the shelter and started up a game of apples to apples. Spoon and quite a few others joined in while Croc and I planned ahead for the upcoming days. After their game was over we all finally got some sleep.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 81: July 29, 2009
Travel:
From: Long Hill Road, NY (Via NYC, NY – Grand Central Station)
To: Morgan Stewart Shelter, NY
Beginning: 3:30pm
Ending: 8:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 11.4
b) other – .4 into Beacon
c) AT Mile Marker – 1426.7 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Rainy and gross.
PM: Lots more rain.
People: Said goodbye to Sara and Jason. Our cabbie. Fancypants and Gozer in the shelter tonight.
Animals: Not really
Money: $13 train ticket, $10 for breakfast, $5 foot long, $10 for cab ride. $1479 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Another early day, but this time we had to gather all of our gear up to get ready to leave. Sara had an interview in the city later so she went with us to Grand Central Station. On the way we got a whole lot of weird looks with our packs on while cruising down the subway during rush hour. We bought our ticket and figured out when the train was leaving (9:55am) and then hunted down food. I was craving a panini and happened to find a place called Panotech, I think. Either way a ham and Brie sandwich was purchased and it was good. I also got a bagel and a Gatorade. Spoon bought a yogurt cake with black and white icing that was also amazing. We jumped on the train heading to Beacon, NY, the closest town to where we left the trail. On the train I worked on journals and ate my breakfast then got up to use the restroom and when I emerged the guys were gone and so was my stuff. Apparently the train was pulling out of the station where I needed to get off and I scrambled to find someone to confirm that fact. An attendant pretty much told me I screwed up and would have to get off at the next stop and wait for a train going the opposite direction. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long and was on my way back to Beacon. All in all I wasted everyone about 30-40 minutes. I’m really feeling completely out of my head and dragging everyone else down with my condition.

PM: We walked into town and to the post office first so I could send my shirts off to Raleigh. Then back the way we came towards the outfitter, but not before a $5 foot long at subway where they also had WiFi so I could send a couple emails and the guys could check their mail. Once at the outfitter we asked if they offered a shuttle back to the trail. They did not, so we had to resort to calling a taxi. Since we had some time to kill I figured I’d work on my journal, but when I go to turn on my iPod it doesn’t turn on. It doesn’t do anything. Then the sky opens up and it starts pouring rain. At this point, sitting outside the outfitter, is my lowest point on the trail so far. With things not working or broken, my hand in disarray, and my latest screw up, I just felt like I didn’t want to be out here anymore. When the cab arrived we piled in and cruised off to pick up another guy who ended up being dropped off at the local correctional facility as a visitor. I tried to take a nap while Spoon struggled to get the driver to where we needed to be. We finally got to the trailhead and the rain was still coming down so we paid our driver 30 bucks and hiked on. Only hiking with one pole and a gimp hand makes for a slow Hazard. I got to the nights shelter well after the other guys and right as it got dark. I made dinner under the roof of the shelter while I was completely soaked. This was not a great way to get things rolling after a nice break.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 79-80: July 27-28, 2009
Travel: Zero days in New York City
People: Sara, Jason her gay roommate (aka Poodle), the two girls who asked us to come down to the show (Jenna & ?), the hosts of the Early Show, and the thousands of people we saw giving us weird looks. A naked cowboy.
Animals: Pigeons, turtles in central park.
Money: $7 breakfast, $16 for metro, $35 for Superfeet, $15 dinner, $20 resupply. $1441 cumulative
Notes of the day: July 27th -
- L train to Manhattan where we walked up to Times Square where we saw the naked cowboy and were asked to come to the taping of the Early Show.
- Walked along Broadway and became lost in the lights.
- Saw the Empire State building.
- Walked past Madison Square Garden
- Headed to Central Park and walked past the Dakota Hotel where John Lennon was shot and then walked to Strawberry Fields where his memorial is. There were a ton of people gathered. The impact of John Lennon is very clear standing in that park.
– Took a stroll through Central Park.
- Headed toward Lincoln Center but got washed out by the rain so we took refuge at the Juilliard School but ended up heading back to the apartment.
- Found out the first pizza place ever (Lombardi’s Pizza) is right near East Mountain Sports Outfitters so we got back on the L to the city.
- Croc got new Vasque boots, Spoon and I got some Superfeet insoles.
- Lombardi’s pizza is hands down the best pizza on earth. It blew my taste buds away and all other pizza will taste like garbage now. We had a homemade meatball and prosciutto pizza that didn’t drip grease, it dripped olive oil.
- Attempted to go to the top of the Empire State building but it cost $20 so we bailed.

Notes of the Day: July 28-
- Woke up really early to get down to CBS studios. Sara gave us metro directions to where we needed to be.
- We stood outside and clapped when the anchors came out. The girls that invited us to come tried their hardest to get them to talk to us. The best we got was one of the hosts pointing out how I couldn’t clap like everyone else, calling me a “trooper”.
- Asked Jenna for a breakfast recommendation and when we got there and saw the outrageous prices ($7 for oatmeal) we asked a cop for a cheapo place and he pointed around the corner to a deli that was perfect.
- Walked down the street for no particular reason and ran into Steinway & Sons Pianos and then across the street was Carnegie Hall.
- In that same area was an Italian designer men’s store that was remodeling and cleaning out inventory. Spoon got a $1,250 suit for $500 and a $225 tie for $80. I picked up a pair of $300 dress shirts for $60 each. Not a bad discount.
- We headed back to Brooklyn to relax.
- Came back to the men’s store because Spoon’s suit was finished being tailored and he wanted to try it on. It fit and looked awesome.
- Looked for food nearby and landed at Rumors, a bar that looked like it used to be a church. Afterwards, I walked next door and bought a Black & White cookie from the bakery. Mmmm. Spoon then went and bought two.
- Walked down to Radio City Music Hall and then over to Rockefeller center before returning back to Brooklyn.
- Resupply at C-town grocery just before it closed.
- Laundry/sleep