Jul 5 - Connecticut

DAY #109
START LOCATION: CT-4/Great Falls
FINISH LOCATION: Stealth Campsite near Housatonic River Road
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 14.7
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,482.5
MILES TO GO: 696.6

Panda and I were up nice and early. Smoke wasn't. But, Panda got him
up with some coaxing. There was lots to do. We had to break camp, get
back to Kent to resupply, do laundry, eat breakfast and... hmm... what
was the other thing we had to do... Oh yeah, hike 18 miles. We got all
the chores done and Panda had us back at the trail head at CT-4 by
11AM. A quick food shakedown, a few hugs and goodbyes and we made our
way north on the AT.

Our hike was the 4-H's today. Hazy, hot, humid and hilly. We moved
quickly, but sweat like pigs. It was horrendous. Thanks to Panda and
her stepdad Stan, Smoke and I got water caches delivered to us at all
the road crossings. There hasn't been a better day for it.

We reached our 12th mile at the Housatonic River Bridge. It's under
construction. We'd been warned about this by Sasquatch. Signage on the
AT did too. Supposedly the AT was being rerouted 8 miles out of the
way to get around this bridge construction... Mind you, they allow
cars to cross on one lane of completed construction, buts it not very
wide. Panda scoped out our options for avoiding the AT detour and left
a note on a tree... Swim across the Housatonic, walk across the road
bridge illegally or follow the detour 8 miles out of our way. We
decided to break the law. After all, it was "July 4th observed" so
there was no work crews or detail cop there. It worked great. We had
some confusion getting back to the Great Falls, but I didn't cost us
much time.

We had dinner at the falls where we started our day. Panda left us a
couple beers in a secret cache. The cache also included Smoke's
hammock stakes and more drinking water.

We fell a bit short of our goal of 18 miles and camped about a quarter
mile north of the falls. But, the early stop should give us the rest
we need to make it up tomorrow.

Thanks to Stan for all the water this weekend. It was hugely helpful.
Thanks to Jenn for the visit and letting me stink up your truck on the
ride to the falls. Thanks to Panda for all the water caches, the
detour research, and all the driving us around trailheads and towns.
Immensely helpful!

-natedog