6/3 Day 92 William Brien Shelter to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center - 16.5 miles
Tonight we're sleeping at a monastery, though similar to our night in jail, it's not as exciting as it sounds. Basically we're sleeping in a picnic shelter on the monastery property. I'm not complaining, the accomodations are perfect and it breaks up a 32 mile stretch of trail with no shelter or place to camp. Anyway, it rained hard all morning but eventually the sun came out turning this day into a nice one. We climbed Bear Mountain and then hiked through the Bear Mountain Trailside Zoo and Museum. Interestingly, this spot is the lowest point on trail both in elevation and figuratively speaking. The zoo was really depressing. They had only a handful or animals in very small cages. I love zoos but I think I would have prefered for the trail to walk around this one. Next, we crossed the Hudson River and had a pretty big climb. Now we're just relaxing at the monastery taking advantage of the electricity to charge our phones and make a couple phone calls.
6/4 Day 93 Graymoor Spiritual Life Center to RPH Shelter - 18.8 miles
Not a lot to talk about today. We heard we would be able to order pizza from RPH shelter tonight so that acted as motivation for us. The weather was nice today, still warm but not terribly hot. At the shelter, we saw Corona Sam another thru hiker we hadn't seen in several days. We did take advantage of the pizza delivery for dinner and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening. This shelter is very well maintained; it is as nice or nicer than some hostels we've seen.
6/5 Day 94 RPH Shelter to Wiley Shelter - 25.6 miles
It wasn't in our orginal plan to hike 25 miles today but plans change. The first several miles leaving the shelter this morning were beautifully maintained. There were no obstacles on the trail making our pace quick but easy. As we hiked, we met a gentleman working on the trail. He introduced himself as "Elvis Trailsly," and I recognized him from a photo I saw at the RPH shelter. It turned out he is the "Ralph" in Ralphs Peak Hiker Shelter (RPH). We helped him move a large rock he had dug out of the trail and talked to him for some time before moving on. He told us of a deli off trail at the next road crossing. We often crave cold pop (or "soda" for those unfamiliar) more than anything else so we jumped at the opportunity to satisfy our craving.
Our plan was to hike to a garden center and nursery described in our guide book as hiker friendly offering camping and showers. As it turns out, the most hiker friendly thing about this place was the giant AT decal on the wall. They told us we could camp behind the shed which was a mulch pile ten feet from an active railroad and twenty feet from a highway. This was not an ideal camping situation and it was early enough so we decided to move on. We ended up at the next shelter with Corona again.
6/6 Day Wiley Shelter to Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter - 19.7 miles
We woke early with plans to visit Kent, CT to resupply. We entered Connecticuit early on this morning. The hiking in Connecticuit was nice but not easy. We saw Giuseppe at the road crossing. As we talked to Giuseppe, we got a hitch into town. Town was nice, but not cheap. We ate lunch and resupplied. As we were walking out of the grocery store a lady rolled down her window and offered us a ride back to the trail. This was about the easiest we've ever gotten into and out of town. While in town we recieved warning from many locals about a tropical storm that was heading our direction. We had heard rain, but had no idea it was a tropical storm. The clouds began to roll in as we hiked out and the rain began just before we arrived at another empty shelter. Just before dark, Zippy and Diddo arrived. It's now raining pretty hard and it is not expected to let up for a couple of days.
6/7 Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter to Sharon Mountain Road (Bearded Woods One-of-a-kind Bunk and Dine) - 10.9 miles
The forecast was right. It was raining, a lot and it was cold. We hiked in the cold rain to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter. We were miserable and I was prepared to hang out the rest of the day in the shelter watching the rain and trying to stay warm. We discussed our options and noticed the write up for Bearded Woods in our guide book. We had never heard of this place and we've read a lot of books, trail journals, and blogs about the AT so it concerned us a bit that it was unknown to us. Included in the stay was a shuttle to and from the trail, bunk, shower, laundry, dinner, and breakfast. It seemed too good to be true. Wideload called to see if they would even pick us up from the gravel road a mile from where we were. She spoke with Hudson who said he would pick us up in a half hour. We were now hiking in the miserable cold rain to be picked up and taken to a strangers home. We didn't know if we would be sleeping in a dungeon eating gruel or what but we were happy to get out of the rain.
Hudson was waiting for us at the road. We packed in the truck and he drove us to his home. We learned the reason we had never heard of this place was because they had just opened last season. We also learned that we were the first thru hikers to stay this season. The place was great. We took our showers while Hudson laundered our wet, dirty clothes and then served us soup. There was one section hiker here named Chief. After our soup we watched a couple of AT documentaries called "Flip-flop Flippin" and before we knew it it was time for dinner. Big Lu, Hudson's wife, prepared a family style dinner complete with salad, home made rolls, and dessert. We had a great time at dinner and we are so happy we decided to make the phone call to stay here. This is a place that should not be missed. We're tempted to stay another night if it's still raining tomorrow.
6/8 Day 97 Sharon Mountain Road to Salisbury, CT - 15.5 miles
I was half hoping to wake to rain but it seemed after raining all night the sky had run out of water. It didn't make much sense to not hike if it wasn't raining so we packed our packs and headed upstairs for breakfast. While we ate breakfast with Hudson, Big Lu, and Chief, the topic of trail magic came up. Big Lu told us they wanted to offer us trail magic because we were their first thru hikers this year. They offered to slackpack us to Salisbury and come back again for another night. We were blown away. There was no way we could turn down that offer. Suddenly our plans had changed but we were okay with that; this totally fits into our new policy.
It was strange hiking without our packs. This was our first slackpack. The hiking was fairly easy compared to the last couple of days. We took a lunch break at the Toymaker Cafe in Falls Village. The weather was great while we hiked but the trail was very muddy and it was impossible to keep our shoes dry. When we reached Salisbury, Hudson was there waiting for us. After a quick resupply we were on our way back to the Bearded Woods and the rain began again. It was nice to be out of the rain and great to take a shower two days in a row. We ate another gourmet meal prepared by Big Lu followed by hours of good conversation. It was nearing 11:00 which is way past hiker midnight so we finally we to bed. This was the most "like home" place we've experienced on trail. I cannot recommend this place enough to any hiker passing through this area. You will not want to miss it.
6/9 Day 98 Salisbury, CT to Glenn Brook Shelter - 13.5 miles
Another great breakfast this morning. We didn't want to leave. It I was afraid if we stayed any longer we'd be moving in. Just before we left Big Lu handed us each a bagged lunch she had packed for us. We had pretty good climbs up to Bear Mountain which is the highest peak in Connecticut but not the highest point. We unpacked our lunches from Big Lu and enjoyed our leftover chicken and cupcakes. The climb down was rocky and steep but Sages Ravine was gorgeous.
Crossing the stream, we
left Connecticut and entered Massachusetts. We climbed Mount Race and were treated to a nice views on top. It was nice to have an entire day without rain.
6/10 Day 99 Glenn Brook Shelter to Mt Wilcox South Shelter - 19.6
It was cloudy and cool to at the start of today. We hiked rocky climbs and descents and swampy, overgrown fields. We hiked past the site of Shay's Rebellion. The rain began at some point in the middle of the day and didn't let up. We met Lefty and Hush, a couple we had been just behind for several days. They had gotten on trail in Harpers Ferry and are planning a flip-flop. The shelter was empty when we arrived but Lefty and Hush showed up later followed by a section hiker. Still no break in the rain.
Congrats on finishing! We are sorry we never caught you. We climbed Katahdin on 7/31. We're in VA now and loving it. You two were so much fun to be around. We just read a shelter log entry from you in Shenandoah after you'd eaten an AYCE breakfast at a lodge in the park - Lefty and Hush
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