GoldenBear

Last year, during another heat wave in Connecticut, I did a short section through the area.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/entr...-could-be-done
(BTW, sorry I typed "could" instead of "couldn't" -- if I could edit blog titles, I would).
This time, however, for four days and 42 miles, I did REAL back-packing.
Which is why, whenever I met a NOBO (I went south) who asked me, "How ya' doing?", I answered, "I'm surviving."

Shuttle dropped me off, mid-day on Sunday July 15, at Highway 112 near Lakeville. It was hot and sticky, and a good chance of rain. But isn't that part of the fun?
Within two hours I had my only accident -- I slipped on a rock, reached out for anything to grab, and ended up with a six cm cut on my right wrist. Not a BAD cut, but one I could not ignore. Spent about twenty minutes getting out my first aid gear, tearing open the envelopes with the clean wipes, wrapping some gauze around the wrist, and basically trying not to add to my (already growing) misery.
My first time with back-packing in rain was not an added problem -- since I was already covered in water from sweat, water from another source actually turned out to be pleasant.
One other positive surprise: having sprayed permethrin on the brim of my sun hat, I found that keeping the brim near the back of my head meant less insect buzzing in my ears.

As is typical for me, I was moving less than a mile an hour. It was after 4 pm when I saw that I had walked the four miles to Sharon Mountain Road, so I asked a NOBO how far to the next shelter. After his "Just an hour" reply, I figured I might get "up to" a mile an hour, and do the four miles to Caesar Brook Campsite before dark. Besides, I thought, the rain had let up a bit.
As I trudged to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter, I decided the following: if I got there before 5:30, I would make a dash for CB; after 6 pm, I'd stop there; between those two times, and I'd see what the weather looked like. It was 5:55 as I arrived, it was still cloudy, and (this was the deciding factor) I was tired. So I just settled into the Pine Swamp Shelter for the night.
This, it turned out, was my BEST EVER decision on the A.T. Within ten minutes of arrival, the rain re-started. Pretty soon it was coming down REALLY hard, and, through the night, it came down in buckets. Meanwhile I under was a roof the whole time.
Bugs were still a problem. Despite not needing a cover for warmth, and not wanting to get my sweat on the inside of my sleeping bag, I HAD to crawl into the bag just to get away from bites. I simply put my hat over my face and made the best of it.

The next morning, as I hiked that part of the trail I would have hiked had I continued on to Caesar Brook, I grew increasingly dumb-founded at what a blessing it was for me to have stopped for the night. Continuing on to CB would have meant walking on some pretty difficult (for me, anyway) parts of the Trail, during a thunderstorm, and certainly in a few hours of darkness. I kept looking at where I would have stopped if I had made ANOTHER bone-headed choice. Even in daylight and no rain, it was five hours to walk the 3.5 miles to CB -- meaning a 10 pm arrival even if I had left Pine Swamp by 5 pm!
By the afternoon; the heat, humidity, bugs, lack of breeze (probably the worst aspect), and just plain boredom had reduced this walk to putting one foot in front of another. The only mental exercise was when to stop for a drink -- and, when stopping, whether to worry more about changing out socks wet from sweat, making certain I had no ticks on my legs, cleaning off the dirt and sweat from my body, applying more DEET, or putting sun screen to my bare arms. The reason I didn't do the former was because all three of my under-socks were getting wet, and none were drying out. It was hard to do the second task when I couldn't tell whether those little black dots were bugs or just pieces of dirt. Cleaning off the dirt meant I was also removing the sun and insect protection I was trying to maintain. And ANY stop would make it harder to make any kind of progress to the camp site I was hoping for.
I was tempted to stop at the Silver Hill Campsite: pump water, a sink for cleaning, shelter if it started to rain, and even a bench with a view. But I decided I could go on to Stony Brook Camp.
It was thus a blessing that the Trail goes along the Housatonic River for several miles. Even *I* can travel over a mile an hour on level dirt. I arrived at camp well before dark, set up my tent, went inside to get away from the bugs, and got everything ready for the night. I even managed to hang out some washed clothes for drying.

Awoke to find that almost nothing I had hung had fully dried -- too high a humidity for anything to lose dampness. For a poly-pro undershirt, no problem; for under-socks, big problem. I simply chose the least wet of the three I had, and started off.
I resolved this day to get to the Schaghticoke Mountain Campsite -- almost eleven miles, more than I've done on the Trail in one day, even on a day hike.
The day went fairly well, even if it was a repeat of yesterday. I was able to find a place to dry some clothes -- rocks in the sun, branches to hang stuff on if any breeze appeared, and shade nearby to keep from drying myself out. Spent about an hour FINALLY getting my socks dry.

As I got to Mount Algo, word kept coming from NOBO's -- "No water at Schaghticoke." Despite the warnings, I decided to plod along and just carry enough water to get by.
And this is the word I want to make clear to anyone doing Connecticut in the next month or so -- get water WHEREVER you can, as most streams, creeks, and springs have definitely dried up.
Maybe another warning: the pronunciation of 'Schaghticoke' isn't "shag-ti-coke" (like I kept saying), it's "skat-i-cook."

Once again, I got to the camp just at dusk, and thus had little trouble setting up camp in my typical exhausted manner. I even found a few pools of dirty, stagnant water -- no problem if you have a pump filter!
Sorry I got so close this night, neighbor, but I was REALLY tired and the spot we shared was the only one I had the energy to get to!

Wednesday July 18 was a lot like the previous two days -- hot, muggy, no breeze -- again making the day little beyond deciding when to drink, how to dry my socks, and whether to apply soap, DEET, or sunscreen to my skin. I handled a few minutes of profuse sweating with a liter of filtered water.
Tried out a loose, very thin cotton shirt to see if that would be better than poly-pro in the heat. Let me say it: the Earth is round, and synthetics are better than cotton.

It was while approaching Ten-Mile River Shelter that the fun REALLY started. Storms had been predicted for this day, and all the signs were there: wind, dark clouds, turbulence, and thunder. I got my rain coat ready for a downpour -- after which the Sun came out. Even though it took me a few minutes to find the shelter (if walking south, you get to the group camping site first), I arrived literally without a drop of rain on me.

One funny thing about that group site -- as you walk into it, you see a privy behind a sign stating "Pack out everything you pack in." As much as I value LNT, I couldn't accept THAT rule for a privy!

Spent an hour at the shelter, drying off clothes and counting the seconds between lightning and thunder (three seconds was the least). With the initial downpour, I did the "Shawshank Redemption" Bit:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2250080256/tt0111161

The storm seemed to break about 4 pm, and I resolved to walk the last three miles to Wiley Shelter. Despite that meaning going over a hill, my topo map indicated a fairly easy climb up and down. What REALLY sped me along, however, was the lightning flash at the top! Literally, right at the sign telling me I was at the highest point of the hill, I saw a flash -- and didn't even have time to begin counting before I heard the thunder! Top of mountain, lightning closing in, me wearing a metal frame -- NOT the combination I wanted! The extra incentive to get off the hill allowed me to reach Wiley before dark. Spent the night needing the rain cover over me.

The rain stopped long enough on Thursday July 19 for me to dry off my tent (but not too many of my clothes) and head for Pawling. I started later than usual, turned back after realizing my walking stick was still at the camp, got turned around at a poorly marked spot, and heard many warnings of downed trees. Some of the latter were barely a problem -- just needed to walk around. Two were some of the most difficult obstacles I've come across -- couldn't walk around them, under them, or over them -- and could barely go through them.

FINALLY left the woods where the Trail goes through a cow pasture -- a walking hazard not mentioned in trail books! Got to Highway 22-55 at about 2 pm. Problem is, the next train to NYC would be at 2:45, and there was no way I was going to get into town in 45 minutes. Worse, the next train to NYC after that wouldn't be till 4:45, meaning I wasn't going to arrive in Philly till 10:30 pm! Sure enough, I got into Pawling at 3 pm, and started counting all the ways I could have gotten there fifteen minutes sooner. But, bottom line, I had done a 41 mile hike -- my longest ever -- and was now in a cool shade where I could take my shoes off and relax. The commuter train rides from Pawling to NYC to Trenton to Philly to Upper Darby went without trouble. Got back home at the time I had expected; and enjoyed a huge meal, my first shower in days, a flush toilet, air conditioning, a comfy bed, and Shuttle by my side.

My thanks to all who helped me, gave me warnings, and (most of all) didn't laugh at me to my face. As you can guess, I'm already planning my next section hike.