Started the day in Kent, CT finishing up some personal admin. It was right down to wire getting it submitted before I was ousted from the inn I was staying at.
I was doing the work on a laptop brought out for the Philly trip, but there was no way I was going to hike with it: too delicate and too heavy. So I walked to the post office and mailed it home.
From there it was less than a mile walk back to the northbound trail. It felt good to be walking again, but it did take a better part of the day to really get back into the walking flow state. Being off the trail for 6 days clearly did something to my brain.
There was a nice view from the ridge when I got up there. The pictures are greener now because everything is greener. It's like an entire season passed while I was gone.
Crossed paths with a toad, it was about the size of my hand.
And encountered a mysterious duck sign.
I thought this might be a reminder to duck under the tree but it had to be 7ft up in the air. Who knows?
The main excitement for the day came from fording a stream. It was flowing fairly quickly but the depth was OK, only coming up to my knees. It's times like these I'm happy I carry Crocs as "camp shoes" despite how hideous they look. Crossing barefoot was not an option and it would have been a bummer to soak the walking shoes.
Towards the end of the day I came upon a couple who exclaimed "you are a sight for sore eyes!". They had gotten lost hiking on a nearby loop trail. I was happy to show them our location on my offline map and how they could get back to the loop. This was the second group of folks lost without a map on this trip (but who is counting?).
Ended up at Cesar Brook campground. The shelter I wanted to go to three miles up trail was closed due to dangerous, storm damaged trees around it.
I met K-Won and Round About at the site. K-Won traveled from from Seoul to hike the AT! He is retired and does long distance hiking all over the world for fun.