Trail Hikers Hit State No. 10

are still going strong on their northbound hike along the Appalachian Trail. They recently crossed into Connecticut, their tenth state along the way. Here's what's happening with them.

We did not get any rain last night. Hungus and I slept almost until 8. We both woke up separately at earlier times but opted to go back to sleep. Nevertheless we were hiking by 915 and it was humid as all hell. 

I didnt feel well about an hour into our hike so we stopped for a break. We took another break at the Dover oak, the largest oak tree on the trail. It is on the side of a road and it's a huge mamajama. We went to fill our water from the purple house only to discover the spigot was not working. Utoh, we needed to reevaluate our water plan. There was a hiker friendly garden center in a few miles and we knew we could make our water last until then. 

I still wasn't feeling 100% but I toughed it out. Before we hit the Appalachian trail train stop we walked along the newly constructed marsh boardwalk. It looks like the one in jersey. I can't imagine trying to walk that area without it. It's a good thing they built it. There was a beaver pond built up from nothing along the way. This beaver must have elevated the area by 3 feet! 

We crossed the rr and went to the garden center for water. There we took yet another break. We each chugged 1 1/2 liters of water and sat in the shade. We had been sweating so hard all day and it wasn't getting any cooler. After 20min we thanked the staff and started our climb up to Hammersly ridge. During the first part of the climb we were in exposed farm fields. We knew there was a potential for severe thunderstorms today and we started to hear rumbling in the distance. We boogied up the hill and into the tree line. An hour later we decided to stop for lunch. We could hear the storms dancing around us and wanted to eat before they hit. We finished and only had 3.4 to go to the next shelter. We thought we could maybe beat the storm. 

NOPE. The sky opened on us. It poured and poured. We put our heads down and walked thru the storm. It felt really good. The rain washed all the sweaty nasty from our clothes and cooled us down. It was like a free shower. The trail soon turned into a rushing stream and all the real streams were actually flowing. We walked in the storm for a little more than an hour when we hit Wiley shelter. 2 minutes after our arrival the storm let up. Figures. There we ran into our first hikers of the day. We chatted and took another break. 

B1 told us that the storms were to continue until 6. We looked at the radar and saw a break. We only had 4 more miles to go and were excited to get to camp early. The sky subsided and we made a run for it. 

Along the way to ten mile shelter we crossed into Connecticut!!! Our 10th state. The sky was still rumbling all around us but we never got rained on again. We saw 5 southbounders on our way to the shelter, awesome. We stopped at ten mile to get water and saw y's guy. We pushed another 0.1 to the camping area. 

We are currently set up at the confluence of the ten mile and housatonic rivers. Hungus went swimming after dinner. I plan on going to bed shortly.