Wiley Shelter 1458.3 to River Road 1477 (18.7 miles, 451.6 total miles)
I had some trouble sleeping last night, which I think was due to dehydration. My legs were cramping, and I tossed and turned until I drank half a liter of water and it calmed down. I’d also pushed big miles the last few days, so it was expected I would start to feel a little sore. I only had one more day to get home, though. I didn’t overall have a great night of sleep, but I did manage to wake up at 5:30 so I could finally get an early start on the day.
I had 18.7 miles to do, and my ideal goal would be 2:30PM to finish it, but I wasn’t sure if I could hike that fast. That would be 3mph all day plus one hour of breaks, since I was on the trail by 7AM exactly. It was optimistic, but I texted my mom to meet me at the parking lot for 2:30, but I would update her as the day went on. It is tough to coordinate an exact time when it comes to hiking to meet someone, especially when I don’t have someone else to hike with and pace me.
There was a chill in the air, but I knew it was going to be 80 and sunny by midday. Very early on in the day, after a little downhill and some flat hiking, I reached the sign welcoming me to Connecticut. That was big moment for me, considering the fact that I had hiked all the way there from West Virginia, in the exact time frame that I had envisioned, which was right around a month. I couldn’t wait to get home, and I hiked hard up to Ten Mile Hill.
The sun wasn’t cooperating to get many good pictures, but the trail was so nice and I saw some day hikers out and about. Absurdly, I wanted to announce to the day hikers that I’m from Connecticut, too, and I hiked all the way to CT from West Virginia, but I decided to keep it to myself. I didn’t think they would be very interested in that. All day as I hiked in CT, I wondered how I had live in the state for seven years and only hiked a couple miles of the Appalachian Trail that runs through it.
I passed Ten Mile Shelter and didn’t go there, but did stop at the sign to have a Clif Bar and some water. The trail in Connecticut was absolutely beautiful, and it let me along the Housatonic River, which was wide and fast flowing, and across Bull’s Bridge. Along the ridge I could see the river down to my right, with plenty of rapids and a fast flow. I couldn’t believe I had lived in the state for almost 7 years and had never hiked the section.
I saw the two section hikers from the shelter pass me by, hiking fast, and one of them asked me how my knee was doing. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all, and everything felt quite fine as I hiked. Later in the evening, I would develop some good bruising on it, but I had gotten lucky when fell. I followed them from a distance, till they stopped for a break, and said they were heading into Kent to get a room. I figured I would probably catch them up ahead after my day off, and continued on.
There was a 1,000 foot climb, which was quite steep, up to a view, and I could feel the humidity rising, and the sun growing higher in the sky. The trail became exposed in some places, and I felt the sun becoming stronger and beating down on me. The bugs and humidity picked up in a big way, and I was absolutely covered in sweat in a short amount of time. I drank two of the electrolyte packets that Furps had given me while I was up on the ridge, feeling them making a difference in my energy levels right away.
I ate a lot of snacks as I hiked, and kept drinking as much water as I could. There were a lot of water sources that the trail guide had marked as “unreliable”, and for the first time in my hike, all of them were actually just stagnant puddles, unfit for drinking unless absolutely necessary. There were a few nice springs and brooks, though, and I carried minimal water to go faster.
At 12:30, I saw Mount Algo Shelter ahead and decided to stop there for a quick lunch. It was just a short walk off trail, and I saw another thru hiker there. He was a NOBO named Springer, not because of the mountain in Georgia where the AT starts, but because his actual first name is Jerry. I spoke with him briefly before I went to us the privy, and he headed back out to hike.
I sat in the sun on the picnic table, I had some cheese and meat on a tortilla, a couple other snacks, and I made a caffeine drink. I had 5.9 miles to go, and I texted my mom to tell her it would be more like 3:00 when I was done. That gave me two hours exactly to hike 3mph. Again, it was very optimistic, but I wanted a shower and to drive my own car when I got home.
The steep descent that I had been on continued after the shelter. I had more energy after lunch, though, so after the road crossing near Kent, CT the steep up didn’t seem so bad. One ridge with several individual peaks stood between me and getting picked up. The views were turning picturesque, not thaw that the sun had hit a certain point in the sky, and it was all blue skies and fluffy white clouds overhead.
At the end of the ridge, I hit Caleb’s Peak, and St. John’s Ledges, both with really beautiful views. I was getting tired, and not hiking as fast of a pace as I’d wanted to sustain, and my mom ended up having to wait for a little over an hour for me to finish my hike. The drop after the ledges was incredibly steep and rocky and required sitting down and easing myself down the mountain in a few places, which further killed my speed.
The last little bit was a mile long road walk down a gravel road, and I saw my mom when I was close to the parking area. She ran out to meet me, happy to see me as only a mom can be, and gave me a hug. She had brought me a cooler with water and lots of snacks, and I ate a homemade blueberry muffin and a protein bar while we drove. To end closer to the Cult, she’d had to pick me up in a spot that required traversing some gravel backroads, and I appreciated she’d done that for me. All said and done, she drove 1.5 hours to get me, 1.5 hours to my apartment, and another half hour back home for her in MA. She didn’t take my gas money either, to help my hike, which was very sweet.
The drive felt long, and I was so ready for a shower, but it was really nice to spend some time with my mom. It was surreal, almost, to be driving back through where I live. I had only been on the trail for a month, but it is such a consuming experience it felt like much longer. We got home at 6, right before my friend Malia got home from work, who is now subletting my apartment. She moved in after my hike began, so it was my first time seeing it since she’d moved. It looked awesome, and I was so happy to be back. Felix, her cat, greeted my mom and I. My mom headed out shortly after.
I was super happy to see Malia when she arrived, and she showered before I did, because I told her mine would take a while. It had been a week, after all. We spent some time getting ready to go out to dinner, and got to wear my real clothes again, and put makeup on, and Malia did my hair for me. It was such a change from being in the woods for a month, to getting to indulge in things that I routinely took for granted for years before.
We went out to Maggie McFly’s for dinner, and I ate most of a very large Louisiana Chicken platter and had my first cocktail since I’d left. It was almost 10PM by that point, and I could feel how past my bedtime it was. After that, we met up with Baked Potato at a bar another town over. He’d driven out this way in the evening after doing trail magic for hikers all day. I’d invited him to come take a “trail angel zero” with me, so that he could get a chance to shower and do laundry as well, and take a day off. He is doing some awesome trail magic, but I see how he works hard all day, and doesn’t do a lot for himself, so I wanted to return a little trail magic for him.
After a couple more drinks for Malia and I, we headed back to the apartment. It was very late by the time I laid down for bed, but it had been awesome putting in a full day of hiking then getting to come home and see my mom and Malia. Even zero days can be quite busy, and I do have a good amount planned that I need to do. It’s too bad I won’t have enough time to see everyone and do everything I want while I’m here, because it is only for a day, but it’s a huge morale boost and nice to rest after some big days of hiking.