July 30

Samson's house

We woke up early since we weren't sure if we were camping in the 'appropriate' area of the park.  We walked back down the highway to where we had gotten off of the trail yesterday.  It was miserable.  So tired.  Yesterday, when we were doing well, we had wanted to make it the 22 miles or so to Kent, Connecticut today.  We decided this morning that that probably wasn't going to happen.  Slims was cruising along at a good pace, despite having foot problems.  He passed Tink and I along a nice boardwalk that crossed a boggy area, after only 2 miles.  We crossed a rail road track, at the Appalachain Trail Railroad Station, where a train would make a stop to take passengers into NYC.  Just past the tracks was a garden and landscaping center that would let hikers get water, take showers, and camp overnight.  Tink and I took turns at the shower.  My mood was so much better after I was clean.  Tink hiked on ahead, but I stayed back to eat some lunch.  The nice shower, and energy from my food, helped me power through my hiking in the afternoon.  Still no sign of Apache and Rainbow Eyes, who were somewhere behind us.  I caught up with Tink right near the NY/Conn border.  At the next road crossing, Samson was there waiting for us in his car, with donuts and soda.  He lives nearby, and told us we should come over to his house.  We wanted to try to catch up with Slims to get him to come too, so Tink and I sped down the trail.  Samson would meet us at the next road crossing.  Timing our pace, we were hiking over 3mph, but we didn't catch up to Slims.  So, we kept burning down the trail to the next road crossing.  Along this section, the trail came down off of a hill and followed the Ten Mile River.  It was really pretty, especially in the late afternoon sunlight.  I got to the Ten Mile River shelter, thinking he might be camping there.  No Slims, but he did leave a note in the shelter register complaining about messed up feet.  This was the first time on the entire trip that he was having foot trouble.  Tink came in a few minutes later.  We pushed on a bit further to the tenting area near the shelter.  Slims had to have stopped here we thought.  He was having issues, and this area was such a nice place to camp, right along side of the river.  But he wasn't there either.  We crossed the Ned Anderson Memorial footbridge over the Ten Mile River, at the point where it emptied into the might Housatonic River.  The trail now followed along the Housantonic.  The river was incredible.  Fast flowing through a steep gorge, with raging white water.  We made it to Bulls Bridge where Samson was waiting for us.  Still no Slims, so we went ahead without him to Samson's house.  When we got there, his parents were so awesome.  We were able to take showers and do laundry, and then his mom fixed an amazing vegetarian meal for us.