2019 Summer Hike- Day 23- Cornwall Bridge CT(CT4) to Limestone Spring Shelter

Date: July 8
Total Miles Today: 17.2

Total Miles this Summer: 277.3
Total Trail Miles: 1077.7

Advocado slept in after our long day on Sunday, so she didn't have time to prep prior to our shuttle. We got dropped at the trail, and foot maintenance was still needed.

Not many views on this section, but some serious climbs.

Sage was in front of me and I was hiking fast to try to catch up. My knees were twinging from our previous fast hike..it's easy to hurt your knees on the descents when you are going fast. The trick is to slow down, use your poles, and squat/ keep a bend in your knees as much as possible. Every straight legged step down is pounding your knees. I failed to follow that approach yesterday, but I was careful today hoping my knees will recover.

I went for a couple miles...unable to catch up. I chatted with another hiker at the bottom of a long descent...and he told me she was behind me.  So ..I turned around and started climbing southbound to find her.

While climbing sobo, I saw some trail maintainers, in this picture they are discussing how to improve and fix the stone staircase below them.

I hiked back into cell coverage and made contact with Advocado. We burned about 90 minutes of prime hiking time, but we finally got back together. She had stepped off the trail to use the restroom, and followed our protocol which is to leave your pack on the ground next to the trail. Apparently, I never saw it and hiked right past.

A late start, lots of time wasted..amd the day was getting hotter. Not off to a good start. To make matters worse, it was a difficult section of trail, so we had not covered many miles.

Beaver Fail...didn't even manage to fill the streambed. 

Rocky climb, but Avocado found a cool spot.

Oh dear...Pine Swamp...did we get off trail and hike to South Carolina?

Dunno..it's hot. Let's hang out hammocks and take a nap until the heat breaks.

So we did. Then we cooked some food. 2 hours later, we started hiking again. At this pace we will do well to finish 10 miles today.

The AT is maintained by volunteers. I appreciate their work. Sometimes...the use overwhelms the volunteer maintenance. Let's just say that this privy has no more room for deposits....filled to the top. I decided to hike on and hope for a better opportunity. 

Sun is getting low.

Sage wants to go to the Shelter that is a long way away. It's almost dark. 

Cold water....wonderful cold water. 

We can stay at a campsite right here. It is getting dark. Advocado- your choice. 

Let's go!

So, we pressed on.

More roadwalks.

Detour through the Middle East?

Getting really dark.

And then we did a climb in complete darkness. A big one. Thankfully it was smooth trail, because we were spent. Also, the temperature dropped and the cold breeze felt great.

After 1030pm..after hiking in the dark for a long time...we came to the sign for the shelter.  By 11pm, we set up our hammocks and went to bed.  17.2 miles...4400 feet of climbing. 36 miles with lots of climbing in the past two days.