Miles today: 17.3
Total miles: 723.3
It was a nice easy day today, complete with a five mile flat section along the Housatonic River. It was so enjoyable: the air was crisp and leaves were falling to the ground as I walked beside the river glistening in the fall sun. There were sections with rolling fields and bales of hay and trees changing colors in the mountains in the distance.
Before getting to this serene setting I had to descend a hill. As I was nearing the bottom by the river, a dog came barreling up the hill full speed at me. It didn’t slow down as it got to me and was jumping up at me and baring its teeth. Its owners down below yelled “you can kick her!!” which I definitely did not. But I did try to fend her off with my poles as she lunged toward my face. She wasn’t biting but her visible teeth and relentless jumping was slightly terrifying. Her owners caught up and apologized and I found out the dog was a Rottweiler Doberman mix, which made me realize part of the reason she was so terrifying. In reality she was just an excited puppy but she caught up to me twice more in the day and each time I was slightly scared shed bite me. My luck with animals lately is not the best.
I hiked with Blondie all day. Or more like I hiked behind him as he sprinted and then waited for me every now and then. Our plan was to go into Kent CT at the end of the day for dinner and then after dinner go back to the trail and walk 0.3 to the next shelter. We’d heard Kent isn’t the most hiker friendly. In fact, the laundromat has banned hikers. Granted, the reason is that one thru hiker stripped naked to wash his clothes there, but still. As soon as we got to the road into Kent we ran into a family that was so Connecticut. They were wearing polos and khakis and one even had a sweater draped around them. And this was for a walk in the woods they were doing. Blondie and I talked to them and they were really friendly but it was just funny how different the people seemed from other towns we’ve been to. At the road we also met a thru hiker I haven’t met yet. I was super excited because she was a girl–there are no other girl hikers around, I miss my shuffle. Anyway, her name was Mosey and she was pretty quiet and shy and no where near as excited to meet me as I was to meet her.
Blondie and I walked into kent and passed the fanciest looking buildings which we deduced belonged to a fancy boarding school, the Kent School. A lot of people stared at us. We started worrying a little about going into town. BUT THEN. The best thing ever happened. This woman holding a covered plate approached us and asked if we wanted the plate. She lifted the cover to reveal a plate full of brownies, cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries. She said she thought we could use the calories and gave us the plate. Our opinion of the town immediately changed and we devoured the entire plate. The rest of our stay in town wasn’t too eventful. We resupplied and got dinner at a pizza place where we watched some football and relaxed. We headed out for the shelter around 7 as it was getting dark and set up our tents an went to bed.