Day 109
We had time to kill this morning so we sat at the pavilion when a familiar face showed up - Trail Momma! She gave us the ride the 1 mile to town to get to the post office and also gave us Gatorade and candy. We sorted through our drops at the library and then hopped back out on the road for a quick hitch to the trail. We immediately began climbing Hammersly Ridge. The ridge was a bit tough, but the scenery was beautiful and I saw a fawn and doe on the ridge. We descended to a point only 1 mile from the CT border and got some trail magic from Mac and Cheese, who welcomed us to the state with ice water and cookies! We got to the first CT border quickly and crossed into and out of the state 3 times. We climbed Ten Mile Hill and then back down to Ten Mile River. We sat down there for a break before our big ascent into camp. Testament decided his shoes were too wet to walk in, so he took them off and continued barefoot! We climbed a huge mountain up to Indian Rocks and then slowly walked on an undulating ridge to our campsite. We got there totally out of water after passing several dry streams to find there was a small, muddy, mosquito-filled pool of water. Overdrive and Peach were also there! I haven’t seen Overdrive since Damascus, Va over 1000 miles ago! We pumped water and hung out for a few hours after eating all the junk food we had in our drop boxes. The photo is me at the CT border.

Day 108
We woke up at 6:45 and got ready for breakfast - homemade waffles and bacon with juice and coffee! We also got another surprise - showers! After the shower and some phone calls, we headed out to get into Pawling as we all three needed to get to the post office Monday morning. We headed up the first of a few ascents and the trail was beautifully maintained. There were switchbacks and even the rocks sticking out of the ground were painted white so you could see them. Lots of Hikers came past us this morning and were lunching at the shelter, but we pushed on to sit down by the railroad tracks. After lunch, we ran in to trail magic from Mom, an orange soda and a ride in to Pawling! We got to town just as it started to rain and ran into Chiba at the laundromat. We did laundry and sat at the pub eating wings and drinking beer while waiting for Testament. We ended up camping at the pavilion in the park about a mile from town and were able to tent out of the rain. The photo is me at a large oak tree on trail this day.

Day 107
We left the awesome stealth site all at different times. There was a short and easy 1.9-mile walk to a spigot with potable water, so I was motivated to say the least. I got there as Raindancer was leaving. She was saying she just wanted to shower in that water, so I decided to do what I could. I ended up washing my hair in the spigot and it made me feel like a brand new woman. We walked further through a beautiful area that looked like an old railroad bed and the waking to Fahestock State Park was easy. We passed a crew doing trail magic and I was the first hiker to walk on some new stone steps! I got to the top and Nokey caught up. We walked together for less than 500 yards when I rolled my ankle HARD. It popped twice and I nearly fell off the hill. I yelled it out for a bit before feeling better and walking. By this time, there was a due trail down to the lake area, which Nokey and I skipped. Turns out, the whole park was kind of crappy with no drinking water (a salt supply, like the kind for icy roads) had leeched into all the water. The lake was low and made for bad swimming as well, so I feel we made a great choice. We walked uphill twice, first up an unnamed and rocky summit and then up Shenandoah Mtn. There was an American flag painted on top, but it was way to hot to stop for photos. On the way down, it was hot and the air was stagnant. We stopped off at the Shenandoah Tent Area for water at a pump and it turned out to be a real oasis for us! There was an awning, picnic table, and a pump for water. We took turns washing off and washing our clothes in the pump and then laid out to dry in the shade. After sitting for an hour, Chiba joined us and we sat for another hour before deciding to hike on. We made it steeply downhill to the RPH Shelter at 5 and there were a ton of people there. It turned out to be epic trail magic from the crew working on all those steps! They cooked us giant steaks with salad, chili, corn on the cob, and all the cold drinks we wanted! We ate until 7:30 or so and decided to hike on to get in some more miles since we were fueled up. Testament decided to stay behind and catch us in the morning. Manboy, Voice of Reason, Catnap, Raindancer, Nokey, and me decided to head up the mountain to flat spot to camp when all of a sudden VOR had news we could stay at a woman’s house who was doing trail magic! It was nearly 4 miles and be barely made it before it was crazy dark (9:10 pm!) but it was totally worth it. When we got there, there was an entire deep freeze full of Ben and Jerry’s and we could have all we wanted! We ate happily before setting up our tents in the yard and calling it a night. The photo is the trail sign outside of RPH shelter. CT, here I come!