Although I still have one section of New York to complete, I decided to head into Connecticut for the next couple days. Don't worry. I'll make sure I finish New York before I leave. I have a long day today, 22 miles; but several miles are very flat, and I'm hoping to run there. I started today's hike with a climb up Silver Hill. Here's the view from the top.
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After descending Silver Hill, the trail follows the Housatonic River for the next five miles.
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Here's where I got a lot of running in.
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Another shot of the Housatonic River
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The trail followed this gravel road for a while.
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The gravy train was over. The trail instantly went from a flat road walk/run to a steep, rocky scramble up to St. Johns Ledge. . .
. . . but I made it.
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View from St. Johns Ledges
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The climb continued as I went up to Caleb's Peak.
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A couple miles later I made my way down to the gap near Route 341.
Here's an alternate approach to bog bridging. Nice!
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I had another long climb up to Mount Algo which had no view.
The next peak was unnamed, but did offer a view.
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I met Jay Bird here, a thru hiker who was doing a flip flop.
We were both heading south today, so after a break we headed off together.
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Lots and lots of views today
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The trail crossed back into New York for 2.5 miles today.
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View from Schaghticoke Mountain in New York
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The trail entered back into Connecticut before dropping back down for another casual road walk. Jay Bird and I were playing leapfrog. I was setting a quick pace trying to catch up to him.
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I finally caught back up to him, and we viewed some white water on the Housatonic River.
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A few minutes later Jay Bird stopped for water. I wouldn't see him again . . today.
Then I crossed a bridge over Ten Mile River.
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Ten Mile River converging with the Housatonic River
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I couldn't see the lean-to from the trail, so I began my last climb of the day up to Ten Mile Hill.
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Fortunately, it wasn't ten miles up the hill like the name indicated,
but it was close to 2 miles before I reached the summit of exactly 1000 feet.
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View from Ten Mile Hill
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As I began my descent of Ten Mile Hill, I heard the sound of a truck or something. A few minutes later an ATV came into view. I thought the man on the ATV was going to cross the AT, but he turned onto the AT and began heading down the trail.
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Didn't this guy know that ATVs were not allowed on the Appalachian Trail? It was very slow going for him. This was not an ATV trail, so he had to take a lot of detours. I caught up to him.
"I know I'm not supposed to be on this trail. I'm sorry, but I'm lost." the man said.
I pulled out my map which revealed no roads in the immediate area.
"Your best bet is to follow the AT for the next mile. You will come out onto Route 55."
I was able to stay ahead of him the rest of the way as I heard the constant sound of his ATV reving behind me. Every time he would start to catch up to me, I would come to something like a stonewall with a narrow opening which would force him to go all the way around the wall. We both managed to find our way out. I reached an important milestone today. I'm 75% done with the Appalachian Trail.
