Made it into CT

Hiked 16 miles yesterday to get in to CT.  The AT in CT is only 52 miles so I'm hoping to make it to MA by the middle of the week with any luck. 

It took us exactly one week to get through NY.  Last Sunday night we were in Greenwood Lake, NY looking for a place to stay.  A guy named Jimmy with a heavy New York accent stopped and asked us if we were thru-hikers and what we were looking for.  We told him that we were hoping to find a place to camp and he said, "I'll hook ya up."  So he took Muldoon (Patrick) and me to his friend Walter's Place and he let us camp right near Greenwood Lake.  Then he gave us a ride to a local restaurant. So at 10 o'clock at night we were sitting there eating fried chicken.  Then he took us back to Walter's Place.  It seems like the area is a little getaway for people who live in NYC.

Hiking conditions last week were very nice.  We hiked to the top of Bear Mountain on Tuesday and could see the NYC skyline.  Then on Friday we were staying at the RPH Shelter (Mile 1420) and a local hiker named Bill came by and invited us all to his home in the morning for breakfast.  It was a delicous waffle breakfast and he also allowed us to do our laundry.  It was a great day!

New Yorkers have been very hospitable.  On Saturday night it was getting late and I needed to find a place to camp.  I saw some local hikers near Nuclear Lake about a mile from Poughquag, NY.  They said that there was no camping allowed around the lake and there is a grouchy old lady that comes by and patrols the area.  Well, I couldn't go any farther so I found a spot away from the trail and set up my tent and had something quick to eat.  It was getting dark and I soon heard her.  She was harrassing some guys who were fishing from shore and had a little campfire going.  I kept expecting her to come and find me....but I must have been far enough off the trail that she never saw my tent.  About 9 o'clock that night there were fireworks over the lake and it was so beautiful.  Apparently this was the site of a nuclear fuels processing and research facility until 1972 and then the Parks Service acquired the land for the AT.

The next day (Sunday) I had lunch at a little deli not too far from Pawling, NY, finished my hiking through NY and made it to Ten Mile River Shelter in CT (Mile 1449). Only 731 miles to Katahdin and I think I can make it...

Today I stopped in Kent, CT to pick up a package at the post office from our friends Marcia and Del who live in Beaver Falls, PA.  Thanks to them for all the goodies!  While I was in town I stopped in the library and read the newspaper, did some laundry and had a hot pastrami sandwich. MMM!