May 19
End: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter, CT
Miles: 28.5
Total: 3330.6
Moses got up pretty early, as did the other hikers. Perhaps I was just being lazy. Even so, I didn’t leave too far behind Moses. I crossed some cool boardwalks over some serious swamp, then saw the Metro North station.
I really liked the look of the bench next to the railroad, and was impressed that a hiker could hop onto the train straight from the trail. I saw Moses’ signature in the trail registers, and that I was getting closer to other thru-hikers like Yogi, Buckets, and Johnny Utah.
Crossing into Connecticut, I went across a road and then hit Ten Mile River, which was fun. I ran into Moses and we hiked together for a few miles. The whole day I was anticipating getting into Kent to get some food. But that would not be until the end of the day.
The nice thing about covering a lot of ground before town is that I knew I would not have far to go afterwards, so I would know exactly how much time I would have in town. However, thinking about getting to town all day caused me to worry needlessly.
When I finally got to the road to Kent, I had to walk well over a mile to the grocery store because I could not get a ride. Kent is a very expensive town, and while the buildings are fancy, it really wasn’t a useful place for a hungry hiker.
The people didn’t particularly care to see me in their stores or out on their sidewalks, and the food was really expensive. Everything I looked at was twice the price I would pay at Walmart or a real grocery store. I bought the bare necessities and a little junk food.
I was able to make it to the library briefly and to hang out near the outfitter, which I’m sure had little for hikers. Eventually leaving town, I was disappointed to have to walk back to the trail as well. Overall my day felt ruined by a super expensive town that I had thought was going to be a welcome break from the trail. Instead I now needed real food more than ever.
The trail to the shelter was fine except for some ridiculous rock ledges which I had to carefully descend. From there I walked on a road for a long, long time. Finally reaching the shelter, I saw Moses, Johnny Utah and Buckets, though the last two were camping so that they could smoke.
The shelter was small but we made do. I didn’t really feel like cooking dinner, but I snacked on peanut butter and crackers, then went to bed.
