Day 120

Day 120 – July 5 – 15.2 miles.  AT Railroad Station to Schaghticoke Mountain Campsite

We had cereal and coffee for breakfast.  That was a nice surprise.

Amy had a few things she had to do before she could give us a ride back to the trail.  That was fine.  That gave us more time to eat and drink coffee.

Zeus and Flashfire headed out.  They were technically 17 miles behind us, because of Zeus’ temporary blindness . Flashfire was upset that the Tramily had split.  We tried to reassure her that it was only temporary, but I don’t think it helped any.

Amy eventually was ready to give us a ride, with one caveat.  She had to drop off her daughter at theater class along the way.  Four hikers crammed into Amy’s compact car along with Amy and her daughter Bluebird.

When we got to the place where Bluebird took her theater lessons, there was a group of people in the parking lot.  We got a few curious looks.  We must have been quite the sight.  Four bearded, homeless looking people showing up to a children’s theater class.  We just smiled and waved.

When we got dropped off at the trail, I stayed behind to thank Amy for everything.  I was surprised to feel myself getting choked up as I spoke to her.  No one who knows me would describe me as emotional.  They may even say the I’m the opposite of emotional.  Never the less, there I was, trying not to cry as I said goodbye to someone I just met.

For several miles we hiked through rolling farmland.

About six miles into the day we came to the Wiley Shelter.  Stoat had to use the privy, so we decided to take a break.  Around the side of the shelter we saw someone left beer for us.  Trail magic!

I was waiting for Stoat to get out of the privy,  when suddenly I heard a commotion and cursing come from his direction.  Stoat exited the privy in a huff.  He said, “Well, I just peed my pants!   The planks that make up the part of the privy I was sitting on, apparently have gaps between them.   I peed all over my shorts and I didn’t even know it until I stood up to pull them back up!”

I thought that was hilarious.  Stoat, not so much.

A mile a and half after we left the shelter, we crossed into Connecticut, our 10th state.

Over the next 7 miles, the trail would pass back into NY twice before staying in CT for good.

We ended our day at the Schaghticoke Mountain Campsite.  Over dinner Stoat and I wondered how the hikers that had gone skydiving were doing.

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When we first started hiking with Flashfire and Zeus, we said goodnight to Flashfire in German.  She looked at us, and said we were pronouncing it wrong.  It supposed to be pronounced Gute Nacht.  Which is what I thought we were saying.

What we actually said was Gute Nackt,  which means good naked.  So, from then on when we went to bed the Tramily would say, “Good naked” to each other.  Much to the confusion of anyone within earshot.

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Before Stoat and I went to bed, we sent a text to Zeus and Flashfire.

“Good Naked”